I had intended to instruct a conveyancing solicitor in St Fagans for our house purchase. Our broker informed us that our mortgage lenders won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unfair competition?

A decade ago most banks had an appetite for risk which was higher than today. Almost all St Fagans conveyancing firms would have been on most bank panels. The Financial Services Authority in 2010 completed a thematic investigation into mortgage fraud which come to the conclusion: know the conveyancing solicitors dealt with. Consequently, mortgage companies have regularly sought more data from law firms relating to their operations and their employees and set certain criteria such a completing on a minimum amount of conveyancing. Many St Fagans conveyancing firms that have been excluded from lender panels have a 100% healthy track record, no complaints and no claims and didn't just 'dabble' in conveyancing. St Fagans is amongst the thousands of locations where the lawyers we recommend are members of the panel for .

We are purchasing a flat in St Fagans. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a conveyancer? At some point we have to send money into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our deposit?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

I'm the single recipient of my late grandmother’s will and I have everything in my name now, including the house in St Fagans. The St Fagans property was put into my name in . I want to move. I understand that there is a CML 6 month 'rule', which means that my property ownership may be considered the same way as though I had purchased the property in . Do I have to wait half a year to sell?

The CML handbook instructs 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 lenders take of it, depend on the bank as this clause principally exists to capture the purchase and immediately sell or the flipping of property.

I was told four weeks ago that my mortgage has been agreed to by . Is it usual for to only issue the offer once my solicitor in St Fagans is approved on their conveyancing panel? have asked my solicitor to see a copy of their Professional Indemnity Insurance Schedule.

Mortgage companies tend not to not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

We are close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our house in St Fagans and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was constructed land that was not decontaminated. Any local conveyancer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the buyers are using a national conveyancing outfit as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in St Fagans. Having lived in St Fagans for three years we know that this is a non issue. Should we get in touch with our local Authority to seek clarification that there is no issue.

It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing lawyer currently acting for you. What do they say? You should enquire of 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 sickness)

I am purchasing a new build house in St Fagans with the aid of help to buy. The developers would not reduce the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent advised me not disclose to my solicitor about this deal as it would put at risk my mortgage with the bank. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and identified one near me in St Fagans I like with amenity areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 61 years on the lease. There is not much else in St Fagans suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will be an issue. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.