Buying property in Scotland - help please!

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I was brought up in Scotland but moved away over 30 years ago and am settled in England. However,my elderly parents are still in Scotland as are other family members.

i’m approaching retirement and am contemplating spending my lump sum (public sector pension) on a small flat close to where my parents live. It’d make visiting easier as I would go more frequently and be able to do other things when I’m there rather than feeling like a visitor sitting around in their living room! It’d also be a good option for my two DC who want to visit more, but likewise would like a little more freedom and their own space when they do.

however,I have never bought property in Scotland and don’t know where to start. For example, everything is advertised as ‘offers over’ and I’m used the opposite where the price advertised is never what you’d offer initiallay. How much over is expected? Does everything go to sealed bids? Anything else vital need to know?

thanks for any advice.

I've just bought a house. It's usually offers over but sometimes fixed price. Houses are always valued with a home report like rest of uk. Standard seems to be that the offers over price will be less than the valuation. Expectation at the moment here would be 5% over valuation. It will go to a closing date if there's lots of interest, in which case it's blind bids before midday usually, highest bidder usually wins, or sometimes a competitive bidder with good terms like no chain. HTH

Final sale price would be 5% over valuation that is. This would vary across different areas. Mine is fairly sought after for school catchment.

As it’s a second home you’ll have extra stamp duty. Not sure if that’s the same in England?

Depends on location - offers over in popular and desirable areas, 10-20% over. Even further over the HR value in some places hard stare at central Edinburgh not many proeprties are selling below HR value but sticky ones with motivated sellers are.

That said, the property market across Scotland is not quite depressed at the moment but is sluggish. Like everywhere popular and desirable pockets are still moving but it's slower than it was last year or the year before.

Properties will all come with a Home Report paid for by the seller. It will outline broadly the condition of the property and the value. It's not much more than a guide to be honest.

I'm not clear if it's to be a second home? There are tax implications for second homes here, you pay an additional amount on top of your LBTT. The LBTT is set at different rates to the stamp duty rates in England too so watch out for that.

If it's a flat, ask about a factor (ie property management company) as these are not mandatory and it will depend where you live. Almost everywhere in Glasgow tenements, almost nowhere in Edinburgh tenements, for example.

It's hard to say without knowing whether you're buying a 3 bed New Town/St Andrews etc for £750k or a 1 bed in Paisley for £100k but hopefully it all goes smoothly.

Engage a local solicitor to the conveyancing btw! One with an estate agents attached will probably give you a bit of help and advice too.

Good luck 🙂

Also Note Interest through your solicitor, that way you are kept up to date with a closing date being set (equivalent of sealed bids). Once a seller has a few notes of interest they'll set a closing date.

We sold a flat over the summer and set a closing date but didn't like the offers we got, so went to a fixed price and sold within a few days.

Be very wary if the Home Report - it’s written on behalf of the seller

This is all so helpful thank you. Yes, it would be a second home as I’d still have my home in England and I hadn’t even thought of tax implications. That might make this a less realistic option as my income will be reduced when I retire.

I wouldn’t be looking at a city centre, more small town in the central belt.

At the moment things are not meeting asking prices and lots are being reduced due to not selling .

Use the home report price as your starting point.

If it's a sought after area lots of places can go for 10-20% over the home report.

Scottish EA here. The market varies massively at the moment, where I am it’s still reasonably busy but bigger, more expensive houses are taking longer to sell. 20 miles up the road it’s dead as a dodo. Do your research into the area and don’t assume that because it’s dead a few towns over that will be the case where you want to buy.

Home reports are paid for by the seller but for the benefit of the buyer, they should be independent valuations however a lot of national chains have their own firm of surveyors, under a different name of course. Even if you wanted to have your own survey carried out, your surveyor wouldn’t do anything different from the HR surveyor unless you get a full structural report or something like that. They can be useful but they can also make a perfectly good house sound like it’s a gust of wind away from falling down so don’t let it put you off looking at anything.

The company I work for price everything right below HR value, with a HR of 100k will be priced at o/o 99,500 for example. But every company is different and some will put a 100k house on at offers over 50k to try and get people through the door. In a closing date situation with lots of interested parties (more than 2 or 3) I have seen properties sell at around 40% over value but where I am property is especially cheap.

If it’s a second home you will need to pay 6% ADS (additional dwelling supplement) on the full purchase price of anything over £40k, plus LBTT on top of it is in that price bracket, make sure you factor it into your budget at the start because it can add up.

Finally, If you don’t already have a solicitor up here get one, your English solicitor can’t act for you up here.

The company I work for price everything right below HR value, with a HR of 100k will be priced at o/o 99,500 for example

This is good - there are a few fairly dominant EAs here who will get an HR value of say, £275k, and put the house on at o/o £275k. I am probably being unreasonable but it really, really riles me! Even a little bit below is less annoying.

We sold in Edinburgh in the summer, we were o/o £10k under the valuation but the HR valuation had been pitched quite high.

Thanks again everyone, this is really informative.

Sorry, just a couple more questions now! When would I be able to see the home report? Is it after viewing or can it be requested before? Presumably it’s before putting in an offer?

Also, would I need to have a solicitor appointed sooner rather than later so I would be ready to act, or can it wait until I’ve found something I’m interested in?

on the back of the advice about stamp duty on second homes, I had a google and found an article suggesting that the law may change to allow a 200% increase in council tax for second homes. I totally understand the reasoning for this, it’s just something I wouldn’t have clicked without hearing your other comments, so thank you.

You can request the home report before you view. I would get a solicitor lined up, one based close to where you want to buy, a good one can give advice on what to offer and general information on the local market.

What’s your budget and where? I love house hunting

I think this must depend on location, definitely not the case near me!

Get a solicitor now, they will need various things from you before they can offer so if they have it in advance it saves time getting it to them when it may be more urgent. Any solicitor in Scotland can act for you but if your search of focused on a particular area then a local one with an office on the area you are looking will always be best.

You can request the HR at any time, not just after you have viewed.

On the ESPC there is a link to send the HR immediately to anyone who requests it. So if you see one there, you get a look at the HR straight away.

Remember not just to look on Rightmove - ESPC, GSPC, TSPC, ASPC - they list thousands of properties. They are usually listed on ESPC 72 hours before RM.

Hi OP, I've just bought a house in Scotland central belt (previously living in London).

My solicitor has been amazing- she works for Harper Macleod and I really recommend them. She knew we were first time buyers and was very patient with all our questions! She helped us with making the right offers. Definitely get sorted with one asap because as soon as you find somewhere you like, you don't want to be faffing around trying to find one.

Home report should always be given before seeing a property- lots of estate agents just put it on the Rightmove listing now, but for those that don't just call them and ask them to email it to you (they can't say no, it's a legal requirement to share the home report before viewings).

My town is going for 5-20% offers over BUT we went in with a cheeky offer of the home report (0 over) and were accepted, because we were FTB, they had higher offers but needed to move asap so we were the best option. Our solicitor was shocked we'd got it for 0 over, so it does happen!

Good luck and I'll answer anything I can.