Me and my partner are buying a 3 bedroom apartment in Roath with a mortgage. We have a Roath lawyer, but the bank says he's not on their "panel". It seems we have no choice but to select one of the bank panel solicitors or retain our Roath solicitor as well as pay for one of their panel lawyers to act for them. This feels very unfair; is there anything we can do?

No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Roath conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

I had intended to instruct a conveyancing solicitor in Roath for our house purchase. Our broker informed us that our mortgage lenders Yorkshire Building Society won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unduly restrictive?

A lender may direct that an approved solicitor act for it. You would be liable to meet the cost of this. Do use our tool to find a solicitor to carry conveyancing in Roath on the Yorkshire Building Society conveyancing panel.

The deeds to my property are lost. The lawyers who dealt with the conveyancing in Roath 4 years ago are no longer around. What are my options?

Assuming you have a registered title the information relating to your proprietorship will be recorded by the Land Registry with a Title Number. It is easy to carry out a search at the Land Registry, locate your property and secure up to date copies of the property title for less than a fiver. Where the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will also normally hold a certified duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for a small fee.

Should I appoint a Roath conveyancing solicitor based in the area that I am buying? An old friend can deal with the conveyancing but his firm is located a couple of hundredkilometers away.

The primary upside of using a high street Roath conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to sign paperwork, deliver your ID and pester them if necessary. They will also have local intelligence which is a bonus. That being said it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If other friends have used your friend and they were content that should outweigh using an unknown Roath conveyancing solicitor solely due to them being Roath based.

What are your top tips when it comes to appointing a Roath conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Roath conveyancing firm) it is essential that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggest that you speak with two or three firms including non Roath conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. The following questions could be helpful:

If they are not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

I inherited a garden flat in Roath, conveyancing having been completed January 2001. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Roath with an extended lease are worth £211,000. The ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease finishes on 21st October 2092

With only 67 years left to run the likely cost is going to range between £10,500 and £12,000 plus costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.