My fiance and I swapping mortgage lender for our maisonette in Cathays with Kent Reliance. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 3 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?

On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Kent Reliance. This is solely used to protect Kent Reliance if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Kent Reliance had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.

I am helping my mother sell her property in Cathays. Will the solicitor commission the energy assessment or do I organise this?

Following the demise of Home Information Packs, energy performance certificates was left as a mandatory component of selling a house. An energy performance certificate must be to hand prior to the property being advertised. It is not a task that law firms ordinarily organise. Where you are instructing a Cathays conveyancing solicitor they may help arrange EPC’s given their contacts with reputable local accredited person

My bid for a property was accepted at auction in Cathays. Conveyancing is necessary. What is next?

Now that you have exchanged you now have to appoint a conveyancing lawyer quickly as you are facing a fast approaching a fixed date to complete the conveyancing. Every auction property will ordinarily have an associated auction pack. This will include the copy title deeds, local authority and drainage searches. If you have purchased leasehold premises the auction papers may contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing paperwork pertinent to a leasehold property. You need to give this to your appointed conveyancing solicitor at the earliest opportunity. You also need to ensure that you have funds organised to complete the transaction on the set completion date.

I've digested plenty of mortgage guides, I note that it is considered advisable to get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Cathays solicitor - who is on the HSBC conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?

HSBC will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually HSBC will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Cathays surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.

3 months have elapsed following my purchase conveyancing in Cathays concluded. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £170,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

I opted to have a survey completed on a house in Cathays ahead of instructing solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. The surveyor has said that some mortgage companies will not grant a mortgage on a flying freehold property.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements from Halifax. If you contact us we can check with the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Cathays. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Cathays especially if they are familiar with such properties in Cathays.

What are the common deficiencies that you come across in leases for Cathays properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Cathays is not unique. Most leases are drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts. Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. National Westminster Bank, Bank of Scotland, and Barclays Direct all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to pull out.

I purchased a studio flat in Cathays, conveyancing having been completed 10 years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Corresponding properties in Cathays with a long lease are worth £265,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease ceases on 21st October 2100

You have 76 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £8,600 and £9,800 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.