Can your site be used to recommend a Conveyancing solicitor in Snowdonia even where I’m not buying or disposing of a house, for example if I want to acquire a shop in Snowdonia with a mortgage from Barclays ?

Our comparison service is predominantly used to select domestic conveyancing solicitors in Snowdonia but we have listed towards the end of this page a selection of Snowdonia commercial conveyancing firms. You should make contact with the solicitors directly to see if they can also act for Barclays

We are selling our house in Snowdonia. Does my conveyancing practitioner have to be required to be on the UBS conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the UBS conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their specifications fairly frequently currently.

I own a renovated Victorian house in Snowdonia. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Birmingham Midshires. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold under the matching address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?

You should review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Snowdonia and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also question the situation with your conveyancing solicitor who completed the work.

Am I best advised to use a Snowdonia conveyancing practitioner in close proximity to the house I am purchasing? We have a good friend who can deal with the legal work but they are based over three hundred miles away.

The benefit of a high street Snowdonia conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to execute documents, present your ID and apply pressure on them where appropriate. They will also have local knowledge which is a benefit. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If you know people who used your friend and they were impressed that must trump using an unfamiliar Snowdonia conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being based in the area.

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

If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Snowdonia conveyancing practice) it is imperative that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggest that you speak with several firms including non Snowdonia conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. The following questions might be useful:

How familiar is the firm with lease extension legislation? How many lease extensions has the firm completed in Snowdonia in the last twenty four months?

I bought a 1st floor flat in Snowdonia, conveyancing was carried out June 1997. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Similar properties in Snowdonia with over 90 years remaining are worth £211,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease finishes on 21st October 2094

With just 68 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.