My husband and I are hoping to purchase a house in Radyr and are in fact using a Radyr conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. TSB have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Radyr solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Radyr lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

Given that I am about to part with over three hundred thousand on a terraced house in Radyr I would like to talk to a solicitor concerning thehouse move in advance of appointing the firm. Is this something that you can arrange?

Absolutely - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you speaking to the conveyancer due to be conducting your property ownership legalities in Radyr.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is an important person, not a file reference. The law firms that we put you in touch with believe that the fees you are provided with for residential conveyancing in Radyr should be the amount on the final invoice that you are charged.

My husband and I are new on the property ladder - agreed a price, but the estate agent advised that the vendor will only go ahead if we instruct their chosen conveyancers as they want an ‘expedited deal’. We would rather use a family conveyancer who is familiar with conveyancing in Radyr

It is unlikely the vendors are driving this. Should the seller desire ‘a quick sale', alienating a motivated purchaser is counter productive. Try to communicate with the sellers directly and make the point that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you are chain free (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)but you are going to appoint your preferred Radyr conveyancing lawyers - rather thanthose that will earn the estate agent a introducer fee or meet his conveyancing thresholds demanded by corporate headquarters.

Back In 2007, I bought a leasehold flat in Radyr. Conveyancing and Birmingham Midshires mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing solicitor in Radyr who previously acted has long since retired. What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Radyr conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I purchased a studio flat in Radyr, conveyancing was carried out 7 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Radyr with an extended lease are worth £216,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease expires on 21st October 2093

You have 70 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £9,500 and £11,000 plus legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

I purchased a property in Radyr last 11/10/2022 and to date it is still not recorded with HMLR. It was part of a new estate and my conveyancer told me that it may take 12 months to complete the registration formalities. I have contacted the Land Registry directly and they have informed me the initial application was cancelled due to failure to reply to requisitions. Do I need to be concerned?

It is your conveyancer that you should contact in order to satisfy any concerns which have been raised as part of the registration process for your Radyr property. Normal Radyr conveyancing practice includes an undertaking on the part of the seller's property lawyer that they will assist in resolving any requisition raised by HMLR so it may be a case of taking action to enforce that undertaking if necessary.