Are the Penarth conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Aldermore conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Aldermore?

Penarth conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Aldermore conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Aldermore directly.

The Penarth conveyancing solicitors that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Penarth have without warning closed. They were on acting for me because I needed a lawyer on the RBS conveyancing panel and my previous Penarth lawyer was not. I paid them funds in advance. What do I do now?

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 RBS 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 should be in a position to assist.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Penarth. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.

Set out below are examples of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Penarth

Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose? There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore.

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on two weeks back in what should have been a quick, no chain conveyancing. Penarth is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?

Flying freeholds in Penarth are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Penarth you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Penarth may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.

One month into purchasing a residence in Penarth. Conveyancing lawyer has called to say the title is "Leasehold". Will this likely impact our Santander valuation?

Penarth conveyancing does not ordinarily involve leasehold houses. The crucial factor here is the length of lease and the ground rent. If there are over a hundred years remaining with a nominal rent, it's essentially freehold, so it shouldn't impact the value too much.

On the flip side, if it's, say, 50 years it is bound to have a significant impact on the saleability, and probably wouldn't be mortgageable. The length of lease and ground rent will be set out in the lease provided to your property lawyer.