Buying a house in Scotland

When purchasing a home in Scotland it is worth noting that there are some major differences to that of the English system.

In England
The house buying process may be described in the following way:
Find a house that you want to buy and make an offer through the estate agent who has the house on the market (the offer is usually at the asking price or in the region of the asking price). If the offer is accepted you would then appoint a solicitor for the next stages of the process.

In Scotland however...
Normally a property is advertised as 'offers over' this means that the seller is looking to sell at an amount that is 'over' the stated price. Rarely, a property will be advertised at a 'fixed' price which means that this is the price the seller is looking for. Where a property is advertised as "offers over' the buyer needs to decide how much he is prepared to pay over the guide price. and then an offer is made by the buyers solicitor to either the estate agent acting for the seller or the sellers solicitor. This offer can be made 'subject to a satisfactory valuation' but normally the survey will have already been carried out (at the buyers expense) to ensure that there are no major defects within the property.

The sellers solicitor then accepts the buyers offer subject to certain qualifications....once those qualifications have been satisfied a legally binding agreement has been entered into by both sides and withdrawal can result in costs being claimed by the other party for losses and/or expenses..
Where two or more parties show an interest in a property then the seller can set a 'closing date' this then results in the interested parties submitting their best offer.

Bids are opened at a specific date and time and the seller selects the bid that he considers to be the best (not necessarily the highest).
Once an offer has been made and formally accepted then a moving date is agreed between parties to the satisfaction of both.
In conclusion, the house buying process in Scotland tends to move more smoothly than in England because of the ordered way in which transactions are concluded.

At Mortgage Minds we have consultants who are able to cover the Scottish market place.

Our consultants are on hand to help you find the best mortgage deal for you from our sourceing system that has access to many of the best mortgages in the marketplace. We will not only be with you at the beginning of your house buying process, we can also help you with your conveyancing and provide support and expertise during every step of your mortgage and house search.

Please call us on 08704 10 11 12 or Click Here to contact us.