Our solicitor has uncovered a a problem with the lease for the apartment we are buying in Resolven. The seller’s lawyers have offered defective title insurance as a solution. We are content with insurance and will cover the costs. Our solicitor says that he must ensure that the bank is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the lender?

The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the risk of a conflict of interest, you and the bank are the client. Your conveyancing practitioner must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects with the lease so that the lender can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your conveyancer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.

I am assisting my step-mother sell her house in Resolven. Will the conveyancing solicitor commission an energy assessment or it is for me to coordinate?

After the demise of Home Packs, EPC’s became a compulsory element of moving property. An EPC should be to hand before the property is advertised. This is not a task that solicitors normally arrange. Where you are using a Resolven conveyancing lawyer they may be able to arrange energy performance certificates given their contacts with reputable Resolven accredited person

I have been advised by my solicitor that absentee landlord insurance is necessary on my purchase. What is the typical level of cover needed for conveyancing in Resolven?

The right level of absentee landlord indemnity insurance depends on who your lender is. It would differ for example between Lloyds TSB Bank and Virgin Money. Conveyancing lawyers as opposed to borrowers take out such policies.

Is it the case that all Resolven solicitor firms on the Santander conveyancing panel are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As solicitors, in order to be on the Santander approved list of solicitors they would need to be governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. The majority of mortgage companies do list licenced conveyancers on their panel and in that case the practice would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

I need to appoint a conveyancing solicitor for my conveyancing in Resolven. I happened to discover a web site which appears to be the perfect answer If there is a chance to get all this stuff completed via web that would be preferable. Do I need to be wary? What are the potential pitfalls?

As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Resolven. Before diving in I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and almost all are in Resolven - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I acquired a 1 bedroom flat in Resolven, conveyancing formalities finalised 5 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Corresponding flats in Resolven with a long lease are worth £180,000. The ground rent is £65 levied per year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2084

With just 59 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £20,900 and £24,200 as well as legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.

Me and my husband have just had an offer agreed on a flat and had an appointment on Wednesday with HSBC for the mortgage. They advised me that when it comes to appointing a lawyer that unless they are on their approved panel of conveyancers then we will incur an extra charge of £200. This is is due to the fact that they will then have to select a solicitor to act for them as well as the one we select on our behalf and we will be on the hook for their costs. I have asked HSBC to provide me with a list so I can obtain estimates only from their approved solicitors but was told they dont have such a list to hand over. Is their an easier way of going about this?

You should ask HSBC what their panel criteria is for a conveyancer.Then ask the conveyancer of your choice whether they fit that criteria and have they acted on loans for HSBC in the past. Where the answer to those is yes, then just clarify this with HSBC. Another option is to use our search facility and we may be able to locate a lawyer in Resolven on the approved list for HSBC.