The difference between selling your home in Scotland and the rest of the UK

When you sell a house in Scotland, the legal process is very different to the rest of the UK. Not only is it different, but many say it is more superior to the outdated practice in England and the rest of the UK. In Scotland everything moves faster and gazumping is practically unheard of because contracts are binding as soon as the seller accepts the offer.

When you sell or even buy in Scotland, the lawyers get involved in the sale much earlier than in England. They also get involved in the marketing and sale of the house, a bit like the work of estate agents in England, meaning the seller can deal with one person and not have to be involved with an estate agent at all, which is music for some vendors. ears and some buyers too.

The main advantage of selling a house in Scotland is that the sale goes through much faster than in the rest of the UK. The other good thing is that there is rarely any chance of being Gazumped, as once the missives are concluded, the person can make an offer and know that the sale will go through. Generally, once the offer has been made, the lawyers get to work, coming up with a series of letters of exchange to complete the sale. Unlike in England, the offers that are made are generally above the asking price. The price is set by the seller as the minimum they are willing to accept and it is recommended to offer above the asking price to secure the deal. As soon as your offer is accepted, the sale should go smoothly. England is the opposite. Offers are usually placed below the asking price, as the seller usually sets the price hoping to get some kind of discount.

The problem with the English system is that the seller may be tempted by a higher offer and then could end up losing the property in the middle of the transaction after a lot of money has already been spent on surveys and the like. The Scottish system is better organized, which means there are fewer sleepless nights during the process.

As the process is much quicker in Scotland, it is more important to ensure that most of your paperwork is in order much sooner. Otherwise, you may accept an offer before your attorney has everything in order. When you are selling in Scotland it is important that you inform a solicitor as soon as you are thinking of selling as they will need to do some work before the property can actually be put on the market. The other advantage with the Scottish system is that the solicitors also help with advertising, so you may want your solicitor to find you a buyer as well, saving you one more job.

You can now see that there are different procedures for selling your home if you live in Scotland or England and Wales. The Scottish system appears to be faster, with less risk of not completing and with fewer people to deal with than the system in England and Wales and the rest of the UK.