I'm the only beneficiary of my late mum's will with all property in now in my sole name, including the house in Duston. The Duston property was put into my name in January. I now wish to sell up. I do know about the Mortgage Lenders 6 month 'rule', which means that my proprietorship may be treated the same way as though I had purchased the house in January. Do I have to wait 6 months to sell?

The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook obliges conveyancers 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 sensible a view lenders take of it, depend on the lender as this requirement principally exists to capture the purchase and immediately sell or the wholesaling and assigning of properties.

We had appointed solicitors located in Duston on the Skipton solicitor approved list. They have just billed me a further amount for handling the Skipton mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee set by Skipton?

Provided it is contained in their Terms of Engagement or estimate then yes your conveyancer can charge a fee for this. The charge is not set by Skipton but by your Duston solicitor. Numerous firms on the Skipton panel will levy ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.

HSBC have agreed my mortgage in principle, my offer on a house in Duston has been accepted, now what?

Your estate agent will want to be informed of your property lawyer's details (make sure the solicitors are on the lender’s approved list). Telephone HSBC or your broker and finalise any outstanding documentation. HSBC will sellect a valuer who will get in touch with the estate agent or seller to book an appointment. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes about a fortnight to get a mortgage offer. HSBC will send the offer to you and your conveyancing practitioners. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Duston.

I used Stirling Law a few years ago for my conveyancing in Duston. I now require my file however the law firm has closed. What do I do?

You should contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Duston of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously instructed, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

Just had an offer accepted on a new build flat in Duston. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.

Here is a sample of a few leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Duston

Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier?

I am looking for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and identified one close by in Duston I like with amenity areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 51 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Duston for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer about this.

I have been told by various friends to expect 6-8 weeks for Duston conveyancing to complete.This was four weeks ago. The draft contract was only sent to my conveyancing practitioner yesterday so now does it countdown?

One should treat with suspicion of any lawyer promising fast completion times. Rather you should enquire about the average timeframe to complete Duston conveyancing deals and whether they are happy to work towards your proposed completion date for your home move in Duston