As someone not used to the Kidwelly conveyancing process what’s your top tip you can give me for the ownership transfer in Kidwelly

Not many law firms or advisers will tell you this but conveyancing in Kidwelly and elsewhere in Ammanford is often a confrontational process. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there is plenty of room for friction between you and other parties involved in the transaction. For example, the vendor, estate agent and sometimes a lender. Choosing a lawyer for your conveyancing in Kidwelly should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY party in the transaction whose responsibility is to protect your best interests and to keep you safe.

There is a worrying ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone has to be at fault for the process being so protracted. You your first instinct should be to trust your conveyancer above all other parties when it comes to the legal assignment of property.

The Kidwelly conveyancing lawyers that just started acting on my house acquisition in Kidwelly have suddenly shut down. I chose them because I had to have a solicitor on the Barclays conveyancing panel and my family Kidwelly lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What should be my next steps?

If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Barclays conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to assist.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Kidwelly?

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Kidwelly. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Kidwelly ahead of instructing conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the house. The surveyor has said that some mortgage companies may refuse to grant a mortgage on a flying freehold house.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different requirements from Halifax. If you e-mail us we can check via the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Kidwelly. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Kidwelly with the purpose of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Kidwelly can be reduced where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers’ solicitors.
You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is less than 80 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale. If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved. If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Kidwelly leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. Where you fail to have the consents to hand do not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance.

I inherited a basement flat in Kidwelly, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Kidwelly with a long lease are worth £191,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 charged once a year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2076

With only 53 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £27,600 and £31,800 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.