I am the single recipient of my late mum's will and I have everything in my name alone, including the house in Leek. The Leek property was put into my name in November. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a CML 6 month 'rule', which means that my property ownership will be regarded the same way as if I'd bought the property in November. Is the property unsalable for six months?

The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook instructs 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 may be caught by that. How practical a view banks take of it, depend on the bank as this obligation is principally there to capture subsales or the flipping of properties.

I'm in the process of viewing apartments in Leek and I am now considering a potential offer. Should I already have a property lawyer in place at this point? I am planning to take a home loan with Clydesdale.

You should start requesting 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 pass their contact information on to the EA. As you are obtaining a mortgage with Clydesdale, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel.

I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Leek. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancing practitioner. I paid an on account payment of £225. Not long after, the conveyancer contacted me to say that they were not on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Leeds Building Society panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

I am purchasing a new build house in Leek with a loan from Barclays Direct. The sellers would not budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative suggested that I not reveal to my solicitor about the side-deal as it may affect my loan with Barclays Direct. Should I keep quiet?.

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.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I have offered on a fortnight ago in what should have been a simple, chain free conveyancing. Leek is where the house is located. Is there any guidance you can give?

Flying freeholds in Leek are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Leek you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds diligently. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Leek may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.

My cousin has urged me to appoint his conveyancing solicitors in Leek. Do I take his guidance?

No doubt it’s preferable to choose a conveyancing solicitor is to seek feedback from friends or family who have actually previously instructed the conveyancer you're contemplating using.

There are numerous properties in Leek on private roads. We are purchasing one such house. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of purchasing a house on a private road?

Leek conveyancing lawyers are familiar with conveyancing propertieson unadopted roads. The property lawyer will investigate Land Registry data to find any rights or liabilities. In many cases there is a residents association that residents pay into to maintain the road. Where one exists, the road will likely be maintained and appear nicer than council owned.