My wife and I are looking to acquire a property in Splott and have appointed a Splott conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Chelsea Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Splott solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?

If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 solicitor should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Splott solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

I am assisting my niece sell her house in Splott. Will the conveyancer commission the energy assessment or should I organise this?

After the abolition of HIPs, EPC’s remained a compulsory element of selling a house. An energy assessment needs to be to hand before the property is advertised. It is not as aspect of the sale process that solicitors ordinarily arrange. If you are instructing a Splott conveyancing practitioner they may be willing to arrange energy performance certificates due to their contacts with long established Splott providers

A colleague advised me that in buying a property in Splott there may be various restrictions affecting the ability to carry out external changes to a property. Is this right?

We are aware of a number of properties in Splott which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external variations. Part of the conveyancing in Splott should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

We have a mortgage agreed in principle with Clydesdale. Splott conveyancing practitioners are chosen. What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from Clydesdale?

Some lenders take longer than others. Have Clydesdale conducted the valuation? Have you informed Clydesdale as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through.

We are selling our home in Splott and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was constructed land that was not decontaminated. Any local lawyer would know that there is no such problem. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers are using a national conveyancing outfit as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Splott. We have lived in Splott for 5 years we know of no issue. Should we get in touch with our local Authority to get confirmation need.

It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing lawyer currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You need to check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same illness)

All being well we will complete the sale of our £375,000 apartment in Splott on Thursday in a week. The management company has quoted £300 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Splott?

Splott conveyancing on leasehold apartments usually involves the purchaser’s solicitor submitting questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries most will be willing to assist. They may levy a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it is above £800. The administration charge demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the charge is not strictly payable. In reality one has little option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

I bought a 2 bed flat in Splott, conveyancing formalities finalised March 2011. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Corresponding properties in Splott with over 90 years remaining are worth £227,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2096

With only 72 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £9,500 and £11,000 plus professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues 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 without first seeking the advice of a professional.

My financial adviser has suggested using their conveyancing practitioner for our conveyancing in Splott - Is it not simpler advisable to just use them?

It is not always the case and you are entitled to use whichever conveyancer of your choosing for your Splott conveyancing. The conveyancer recommended by an estate agent may not always be the best conveyancer, they may recommend their preferred conveyancing firm who are based far away. In this instance you may not have contact with your conveyancing practitioner and due to the lack of continuity in the transaction, it may be difficult to obtain updates.