Buying in Scotland - timescale?

[Edgeofthesea]

Hi all,

I'm feeling frustrated with our solicitors and would really appreciate some advice/perspective from those who are familiar with buying in Scotland!

We moved from England 18 months ago, have been renting while our house sold (took ages!). We're now ready to buy.

We initially viewed the house early Jan, Solicitor made our offer by email on 10th Jan which was accepted by seemingly very nice sellers , but we had a few conditions such as electrical report and inspection of a boundary wall. We paid for all of this and organised it ASAP while our mortgage application was being processed. We confirmed all conditions satisfied and that we were ready to proceed on the 26th Jan.

We still haven't had a qualified acceptance or had confirmation that searches have been ordered. When we've pushed our solicitor, she says everything is fine and on schedule, but we really want to move forward and get it set in stone ASAP!

The sellers asked us to agree to a move in date of 22nd March, which is fine by us, but obviously as we're renting we need to give notice on our house soon. I feel that because there's still over a month until our proposed completion, both solicitors are dragging their feet. The house is listed as "Under offer" online but has a for sale sign outside it, which is incredibly frustrating.

During our last contact with our solicitor, she said she'd chase the legal team, but she's only dealt with the sales team so far. This blew my mind as surely its her entire job to be in touch with the legal team, and from my POV, more progress should have been made in the last 2 weeks.

AIBU to push harder/complain about lack of progress? How long does it usually take to receive the Qualified Acceptance and have searches done? Many thanks 😊

Very roughly it takes at least 6 weeks to get to the end of the process.its just a waiting game just now,but there will be a lot going on behind the scenes.
But your solicitor should be keeping you up to speed with it all .push him for the information.
In Scotland the deal isn't finalised until it's concluded .which if you are a buyer it's better for you to conclude as late as possible ( the week you are due to get the keys) as you can still get out of the sale at the last minute.

Thanks for the reply, I will certainly push our solicitor to keep chasing and provide more updates.

The problem mainly is that from everything we've heard, nothing is going on behind the scenes. Or if it is, our solicitor isn't aware of it.

Do you know how long it usually takes to obtain the acceptance/Qualified acceptance from the sellers?

If you are talking about a date to get the keys then it's pretty safe to assume your offer has been accepted. There will be a list of conditions to work through with your solicitor. Your offer would only have become formal when your mortgage was agreed.
Don't worry too much about there still being a for sale sign up as they do that incase it all falls through .
To put your mind at ease about the status of the house you could put in a phone call to the estate agent and ask to view it ( use a fake name or get a friend to do it) you should be told then that the house is under offer.
If you have agreed the 22nd of March then until anyone tells you otherwise that is the date you get the keys.
I have never received a formal acceptance for anywhere I have bought .my solicitor has just told me over the phone whether my offer was accepted. It sounds as if things are moving behind the scenes.
But ask your solicitor to clarify things for you,just remind them that you haven't bought a property in Scotland before and you are unsure of the way things are done here.
It does sound like your offer has been accepted and things are now just moving towards the 22nd. There will be a flurry of legal stuff to go through in the next few weeks .
It's always a bit nerve wracking until you conclude. But it is looking good.

We are buying in Scotland at the moment. It does seem to take some time.

Checks have to be done to ensure that the vendors are the legal owners of the property and they are entitled to sell. Your solicitor will be doing searches to make sure there are no legal disputes involving the property.

You as the buyer will have to go through various checks to prove where your money has come from. Were you legally entitled to sell your house, where did your savings come from etc. There is a strict Anti Money Laundering protocol to follow.

It’s a scary time because until the missives have been exchanged either party can walk away. The missives used to be exchanged earlier in the process but it now seems this doesn’t happen till later on.

Sellers are usually very keen to get to the stage of concluded missives as that then binds the buyer in and they’d need to pay various costs if they then pulled out.
If your solicitor says everything is under control, I’d be tempted to trust them. Do they know your position regarding giving notice on your rented property?
Unless you have reason to believe the seller is hoping for a better offer (seems unlikely in current climate) I’d trust the process and plan your move. Good luck!

Thanks both for the replies. We've done all of our money laundering and ID checks, some of our deposit was a gift from family and their checks have also been done, and our mortgage offer was made over a week ago. Solicitor has received a copy of the mortgage offer. So as far as I can tell, we should be well underway!

Good idea about ringing the agent though, I may do that tomorrow. I know we probably don't have any reason to panic and there's still time before the 22nd March, but we have two young kids, a third on the way, and we need to give notice/pay/arrange movers, none of which I want to do last minute...

Just seen this, yes our solicitor does know we have to give notice but doesn't seem concerned, unfortunately. My husband is prepared to chase a little more fervently now. Our solicitor came recommended from our broker but unfortunately she is very inexperienced and only recently qualified. It's disappointing not to be kept up to date more and to have to chase so much, especially as we haven't bought in Scotland before, and had our confidence knocked by flaky agents/solicitors/buyers during the lengthy process of selling our last house.

@Edgeofthesea I hope it all goes to plan. I’ve bought a few times here in Scotland but the last time was in 2006 so maybe timescales are slightly different now. I always remembered being stressed about it though!
The last time we moved, the solicitor encouraged us to conclude missives quickly with our sellers (possibly under pressure from sellers’ solicitor?) and we had a bit of bad luck when our buyers then refused to conclude - it turned out they hadn’t even put their house on the market 6 weeks after their offer! A proactive estate agent managed to get us another buyer with a slightly lower offer and only two weeks of us bridging. It all worked out in the end. Can only imagine how extra stressy it all must be when you have young children and one on the way when navigating moving home. Really hope it all goes well. X

It is so stressful! I'm really glad it all worked out for you though, and I hope it'll be the same for us.

I'm also surprised that the sellers solicitors aren't more on, or that the sellers aren't pushing it through, but maybe everyone is so relaxed because it all looks pretty straightforward (no chain etc). I've chased our solicitor again today, I just want them to be more proactive in pushing on so that we can make proper plans. 6 weeks doesn't feel like very long.

You only need to give 28 days notice on your rental so just make an agreement that missives must be concluded 28 days before completion (or three weeks as you'll likely want about a week's crossover, surely that's one of the benefits of renting). It all sounds completely standard so far re timescales etc. Our qualified acceptance turned up well into the process, my solicitor said not to worry about it, they'll have already accepted via email/verbally with your solicitor and the rest of the process will be underway (starts when your mortgage is approved). Things take longer in Scotland than they used to, no longer a six week turnaround.

Thank you for sharing, it's good to hear that we shouldn't get too hung up on the Qualified Acceptance. I guess I'm just struggling to believe that it's locked in until we reach that point at a minimum. Unfortunately I know that nothing else has been going on in the background, as it only just got passed from Sales to Legal. But apparently searches don't take as long here once submitted as they do in England, so I'm holding out hope.

You're right that we only need to give 28 days notice, and yes we're planning about 10 days overlap so technically less, but we're renting from a friend who really helped us out when our previous house sale fell through and we were stuck in a tiny rental that was meant to be short term. I want to give my friend as much notice as possible, while not stirring things up unnecessarily if it falls through. I will mention it informally now and say we still haven't concluded missives and will give notice officially when we have.

Any update on this? Going thru quite similar!

6-8 weeks and lawyers in Scotland seem to leave it all till the last minute!

Seller solicitor is relatively responsive in other respects but is stalling on the qualified acceptance, 6 weeks in now. Red flag or not?

Not necessarily. If the seller is also buying another house then their solicitor won’t do anything with your missives until such time as their purchase is a bit more concrete. Missives are never concluded without loan papers from the mortgage lender so if there is a back log there, it can take several weeks.

Me too .
I put my offer in on the 21st of march.
It was accepted .i don't anticipate any hold ups but even though mine is cash purchase and the place i am buying is empty and no chain.my solicitor tells me it can still take the 6/8 weeks because of all the searches etc.
I really thought this could be a very quick purchase.
And I haven't had anything regarding my offer other than a verbal acceptance .i take more comfort from the sale sign now saying sold.
The waiting is horrible .
How did yours go in the end OP? if you are still on this thread .