As a novice what is the most important piece of guidance you can give me about purchase conveyancing in West Cross?

Not many law firms or advisers will tell you this but conveyancing in West Cross and elsewhere in Swansea is an adversarial process. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there exists an abundance of opportunity for confrontation between you and other parties involved in the ownership transfer. E.g., the seller, property agent and even potentially the mortgage company. Selecting a law firm for your conveyancing in West Cross an important selection as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the SOLE party in the process whose role it is to protect your best interests and to keep you safe.

We are witnessing a definite ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone must be at fault for the process taking so long. We recommend that you your first instinct should be to trust your lawyer ahead of all other players when it comes to the legal assignment of property.

Forgive me if this question is silly but I am wet behind the ears as a first time buyer of a ground floor flat in West Cross. Do I collect the keys to the property on the completion date from my conveyancer? If so, I will use a High Street conveyancing solicitor in West Cross?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will arrange to send the purchase money to the seller's conveyancers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be able to pick up the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.

I am purchasing a property in West Cross. One unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Yorkshire BS have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?

Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Yorkshire BS your lawyer must comply with the conveyancing requirements contained in Part two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Yorkshire BS. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook contains minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and lawyers are required to report to Yorkshire BS where a lease fails to meet these provisions. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties countrywide and is not isolated to West Cross.

Lloyds have agreed my mortgage in principle, my offer on a property in West Cross has been accepted, what happens next?

The property agent will want to know who your solicitors are (ensure that the solicitors are on the lender’s panel). Contact Lloyds or the broker and finalise any appropriate forms. Lloyds will instruct a valuer who will get in contact with the selling agent or vendor to book an appointment. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes about a fortnight for the mortgage offer to be issued. Lloyds will send the offer to you and your conveyancers. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in West Cross.

My wife and I have a terraced Victorian property in West Cross. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Bank of Scotland. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the matching address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??

You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in West Cross and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also question the situation with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the work.

My wife and I may need to rent out our West Cross garden flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We instructed a West Cross conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Your lease governs relations between the freeholder and you the flat owner; in particular, it will indicate if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. Most leases in West Cross do not contain strict prohibition on subletting – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the flat. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the tenancy agreement.

Leasehold Conveyancing in West Cross - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

Best to be warned whether fixing the lift or some other significant cost is pending that will be shared by the leaseholders and will dramatically impact the level of the maintenance costs or result in a one time payment. What restrictions are there in the West Cross Lease? How is the lease structured?

I am short of a 10% deposit on my house purchase in West Cross , but I still want to go ahead. Do I have options?

You can agree a smaller deposit. Most property owners will agree to a smaller deposit or even no deposit for a first time buyer or 100% mortgage. Be aware though that if you fail to complete you will still need to hand over a minimum of 10% of the purchase price regardless of how much deposit was agreed.

You can also agree a simultaneous exchange and completion as no deposit is required for this however neither party will be tied in until completion actually takes place and it can be risky if sellers change their mind at the last second