I am the registered owner of a freehold property in Dolwyddelan but still charged rent, why is this and what is this?

It is rare for properties in Dolwyddelan and has limited impact for conveyancing in Dolwyddelan 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 have existed for hundreds of years, but the Rent Charge Act 1977 barred the establishment of new rentcharges from 1977 onwards.

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

I'm the only beneficiary of my late grandmother’s will and I have everything in my name now, including the house in Dolwyddelan. The Dolwyddelan property was put into my name in December. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a Mortgage Lenders 6 month 'rule', which means that my proprietorship will be regarded the same way as though I had purchased the house in December. Is the property unsalable for six months?

The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook requires solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you could be impacted by that. How practical a view banks take of it, depend on the bank as this obligation is chiefly there to identify subsales or the quick reselling of properties.

My partner and I are in the process of looking at houses in Dolwyddelan and I am about to put in an offer. Should I already have a lawyer in place at this stage? I am planning to take a home loan with Yorkshire BS.

You should start obtaining conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their contact information on to the EA. Given that you are taking out a mortgage with Yorkshire BS, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

After what feels like an age I have had an offer on a flat in Dolwyddelan agreed to, but there is a chain. The sellers have offered on a flat, but it’s not yet agreed to, and are looking at other apartments in the pipeline. I have instructed a high street conveyancing solicitor in Dolwyddelan. What should be my next step? When should I get the mortgage application with Barclays started?

It is normal to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur expenses too early (home loan application is approx one thousand pounds, then valuation, Dolwyddelan conveyancing search costs, etc). First, you should check that your property lawyer is on the Barclays approved list. Regarding the next phase this very much depends on the circumstances of your transaction, desire for the property and on the state of the market. In a rising market the majority of purchasers will apply for the mortgage with Barclays and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they pay their lawyer to press on with the conveyancing in Dolwyddelan.

I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and identified one near me in Dolwyddelan I like with amenity areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it only has 61 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Dolwyddelan for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?

Should you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will be problematic. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.

In my capacity as executor for the will of my father I am disposing of a property in Newport but live in Dolwyddelan. My lawyer (approximately 250 miles from merequires that I sign a statutory declaration ahead of the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing practitioner in Dolwyddelan to witness and place their company stamp on the document?

Technically speaking you are not likely to need to have the documents attested by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or qualified solicitor will do regardless of whether they are located in Dolwyddelan

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Dolwyddelan. Before I set the wheels in motion I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Dolwyddelan - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Dolwyddelan Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

The answer will be important as a) areas can result in problems in the building as the communal areas may start to deteriorate where maintenance are not paid for b) if the leaseholders have a dispute with the managing agents you will need to have complete disclosure Best to be warned whether fixing the lift or some other significant cost is coming up to be shared between the leaseholders and will dramatically impact the level of the maintenance charges or require a specific payment. In the main the outlay for major works are not included within maintenance charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Dolwyddelan ask leaseholders to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific intention of establishing a fund for larger repairs or maintenance.