The property buying process in the UK is a pretty straight forward one, and is governed by a strong set of laws in place to protect the interests of all involved parties. The process is slightly different in Scotland, which is covered below, but for England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is the same. First and foremost, a local trusted lawyer (solicitor) should be employed to help with all dealings and to make sure the process goes smoothly, avoiding potential legal pitfalls.

Once a property has been decided upon, an offer is made to the seller – if this is accepted, an agreement is signed and deposit paid, usually of around five to ten percent of the total cost. At this point a survey is carried out by the lawyer and professional surveyors, to make sure there are no legal issues or structural issues that may need highlighting. Once these checks are complete, the final contract can be signed, all remaining fees are paid and documents are sent to the local authorities for everything to be made official.

Lawyer, notary, surveyor and estate agent fees vary, and taxes tend to be from around four to seven percent of the total cost, depending on the value of the property.

Scottish Buying Process

The process for buying property in Scotland is very similar to that of the rest of the UK, but legally binding contracts come in to play much earlier, meaning the order of the process is shuffled around a bit.

First of all (after hiring a lawyer, as always) a survey is carried out on the property to assess the value of it – once this has been completed, an offer can be made – it is at this point that the process is legally binding, meaning if either party pulls out they will be liable for the costs incurred by the other party. In Scotland the initial contract is negotiated by each side’s solicitors – ‘missives’ are sent between them to discuss the finer points of the documents, they do not require anything to be signed by the buyer or seller and usually go back and forth a few times before a final contract is agreed on. Once this is finalised, the agreement is signed.

Another way in which Scottish sales operate is on ‘offers over’ terms, whereby the potential buyer makes an offer, in secret, which is held by the seller until a set date. Once this date is reached, all the offers are revealed to the seller and they decide which one to accept. Again, once the offer is accepted, the process is legally binding.

Once either of these processes are complete, the purchase method continues in a straight forward manner, akin to that of the rest of Britain