I am purchasing a new build flat in Aberporth and my conveyancer is telling me that she has to the bank to reveal incentives from the seller. I am under pressure to exchange and my preference is not to prolong matters. is my lawyer playing by the book?

You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancing practitioner. A precondition to being on a bank panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.

I am the registered owner of a freehold residence in Aberporth but still invoiced for rent, why is this and what is this?

It’s unusual for properties in Aberporth and has limited impact for conveyancing in Aberporth but some freehold properties in England (particularly common in North West England) pay an annual sum known as a Chief Rent or a Rentcharge to a third party who has no other legal interest in the land.

Rentcharge payments are usually between £2.00 and £5.00 per year. Rentcharges date back hundreds of years, but the Rent Charge Act 1977 barred the establishment of new rentcharges from 1977 onwards.

Old rentcharges can now be extinguished by making a lump sum payment under the Act. Any rentcharges that are still in existence in 2037 will be extinguished.

The Aberporth conveyancing firm that I recently instructed on my purchase in Aberporth have without warning shut down. I only went with them because I had to have a lawyer on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel and my family Aberporth lawyer was not. I paid them 275 plus VAT in advance. What are my options?

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. 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 Clydesdale 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 solicitors should be in a position to assist.

I am hoping to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Aberporth. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Aberporth should include some of the following:

Who has the liability to repair and maintain the building. It is essential that you know which party is responsible the repair and maintenance of every part of the building You would want to be sent a copy of the lease specifics of the parties to the lease, e.g. these could be the tennant, head lessor, freeholder Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?

I inherited a 2 bed flat in Aberporth, conveyancing formalities finalised 7 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Aberporth with an extended lease are worth £176,000. The ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 2104

With just 80 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £8,600 and £9,800 plus professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. You should 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 clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.

We have been informed by numerous family members that it may take up to two months for Aberporth conveyancing to complete.This was 3 ago. The draft contract was only sent from the vendors conveyancing practitioner last week so does the clock start running now?

You need to be realistic concerning timelines. Moving home in Aberporth usually takes about ten weeks. This timeframe is not due to property lawyer being slow and purposely delay matters. The amount of money involved in purchasing any property is so high, the purchaser's lawyer having to carry out a wide range of questions, searches and supplemental checks to protect the purchaser and their mortgage company (if there is to be a mortgage) from expensive, avoidable problems. These checks involves seeking information from various different parties, for example other solicitor, local councils, private companies, mortgage companies. Many of these are well organised. Plenty aren't. It is worth noting that, no matter how quickly your property lawyer do their job, if the people you are purchasing from or are selling to aren't ready, nothing can move forward until they are up to speed.