I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Bank of Ireland. I assume I don't need a Sea Mills property lawyer on the Bank of Ireland panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.

If you have finished paying off your Bank of Ireland mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Bank of Ireland mortgage from the register. Bank of Ireland, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where Bank of Ireland has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Bank of Ireland has instructed the Land Registry to do so

I currently have a mortgage with Lloyds for my property in Sea Mills. Conveyancing has been completed some time ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Lloyds?

Your original mortgage agreement with Lloyds will provide that you need their approval prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Lloyds’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Lloyds will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Lloyds directly. You need not do this via a Lloyds conveyancing panel solicitor.

Planning on purchasing a apartment in Sea Mills. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Principality conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.

They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the Sea Mills property lawyer is on the Principality conveyancing panel.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in Sea Mills?

Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Sea Mills. 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…’

I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and found one near me in Sea Mills I like with amenity areas and transport links nearby, however it only has 49 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Sea Mills for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a short lease?

Should you require a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term may be an issue. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you may request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.

I have just appointed agents to market my 2 bed apartment in Sea Mills. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed, but I have recently had a yearly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should pay the invoice as you normally would because all rents and maintenance charges will be apportioned on completion, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I acquired a 1 bedroom flat in Sea Mills, conveyancing having been completed 4 years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Comparable properties in Sea Mills with a long lease are worth £222,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2096

With just 70 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 plus professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account 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 seeking the advice of a professional.

We have instructed a Sea Mills conveyancing solicitor for our house purchase (novice purchasers) and have noticed in the engagement letter that they are not covered by the Financial Conduct Authority. Am I right to be worried or is that the norm with solicitor?

We can't see why they should be. Most solicitor don't lend money. You should check that they are governed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, who dictate strict conditions covering monies sitting by them.