We have bought and sold houses in England and Wales and in Scotland. There are good things and bad things about both systems. A lot depends on how good your solicitor or estate agents are and sellers/buyers ability to proceed. Both systems need an overhaul which would prevent a lot of the stress involved in moving home.
Things now take far longer to exchange contracts/conclude missives as your solicitor has to be certain before you do so that all searches, conditions etc are satisfactory and that there are funds in place including mortgages before you can legally enter into a contract. This is where the delays occur, particularly as obtaining mortgages is now are far more complex process.
For those saying the Scottish system is better, in some ways yes as you tend to have a smaller chain however concluding missives can take time. In our last Scottish house we had one buyer pull out after 2 months of trying to conclude missives and a week before they were due to move in. The next purchaser again took two months to conclude missives, constant excuses, lied about their ability to proceed and only just concluded on time before completion. We were then told on the day of completion that their solicitor would be settling by cheque (standard practice) despite us insisting that only an electronic bank transfer of funds on the day would be acceptable. We refused as we knew the buyer was getting a 95% mortgage so effectively cleared funds which if we had accepted would have meant the solicitor having benefit of those funds for the few days it took the cheque to clear. Amazingly after we refused their solicitor was able to electronically send the funds through within an hour for the sale to conclude!
My advice, if you are selling make sure you really question any buyers ability to buy your house, the position they are in and ability to proceed and timescales before accepting any offers. Also make sure you have all your paperwork and answers to any queries the buyers may raise about the property especially if there may be work to do. If you are buying again ask questions of the sellers to establish their position, where they are going to and timescales and ability to proceed. Make sure you are as advanced as possible in securing your funding, mortgages take an age to be processed these days!
Don't be afraid to push things with your solicitors/estate agents to get things moving. If in Scotland don't accept cheques!
Good luck, it's really an area which needs reforming to remove a lot of the stress or worry.