Buying a house in scotland

[Theworldisfullofgs]

Please could someone explain the Scottish house buying system, particularly offers over and guide price.
Dh would love to live there as would at least one dc. Just trying to work out if it's remotely viable.

Is there a particular area in Scotland
The Home report is your starting point
In some areas eg Glasgow Wet end,and suburbs where people move to for the good schools eg East Ren property is going for over HR value but in other parts of Scotland prices are around Or slightly below HR bay

It's fairly straightforward.

Most people will use their solicitors estate agency (round here, anyway) to access their local Solicitors Property Centre for advertising, so ASPC for Aberdeenshire, TSPC for Tayside etc.

You'll see more and more people advertising through Purple Bricks, Express Estate Agency etc. Good luck ever getting someone to phone you back for a viewing.

You usually request a home report via the estate agent. Some online, some you have to phone. The Scottish home report is about as detailed as a survey gets, so will give you as much information as you need to estimate for repairs etc. It will also state a fair market value and cost to rebuild for insurance purposes. Banks won't typically lend above the HR value, so bear in mind if you intend to offer over asking. In this area (Angus- it's fab. Come for a holiday!), I think most people start offering at around 10% below asking and negotiate from there, unless it's a very desirable house or area. The agent should be able to guide you.

Once the vendor has accepted your offer, the house is advertised as 'Under Offer' while Missives are concluded. This is the negotiation, searches etc for conveyancing. You appoint your own solicitor to do this for you at the point you wish to make a formal offer. You should have a Mortgage in Principle offer before doing this.

We went on in February, sold in May, conveyancing has been relatively but not completely straightforward and we're moving next Friday to give an idea of timescale.

We're not set on an area yet, it depends what happens job wise. It does have to have a good secondary school and a good rugby team for the ds.

Thanks for the help. It's made it a lot clearer.
We're holidaying there this summer and going to have a nose.

The price you pay compared to the asking price varies hugely by area, so do your homework via a local estate agent or solicitor. A friend is buying in Leith and flats are going for 10% or more over the asking price. They are also going to a closing date, so nobody puts an offer in until the last minute.

Aren't you bound legally as soon as your offer is accepted? (Unlike England where you aren't bound until contracts are exchanged).

We are in Edinburgh, and here the "offers over" price means sweet FA. If you move here, or to nice parts of East Lothian, you'll want to look at the valuation price on the Home report (which is always more than offers over) & that's the absolute minimum you'll pay for that property (unless there's something wrong with it!)

Nice parts of edinburgh will command between 5% & 20% over valuation, and as previous mentioned by another poster, that % over won't be covered by mortgage lending.

If you can get an offer in on a property before it goes to "closing date" then you'll avoid bidding blindly against others.

Edinburgh/East Lothian is a phenomenal place to live and has great schools & plenty of rugby! Check out ESPC for an idea of prices & you can get home reports emailed to you v quickly

Good luck!

Estimate for 10-20% about o/o price.

Most offers will be made subject to survey or subject to mortgage -so although legally biding you can get out of them. But once an offer is accepted the vendor can't pull out easily without financial impact, so no gazumping.

Oh - and if a popular property the vendor will put a closing date on - all interected buyers put in their best offer as a sealed bid. All bids opened on closing date.

Also you get fixed price properties where (roughly) first come first buys. There can be lots of reasons properties are listed like this but it’s not that common. You can get guidance from your solicitor about what houses are going for and how to offer.

@theworldisfullofgs - what age is your ds and what level of rugby does he want to play?

Bear in mind that the survey provided by the seller is extremely basic, and it is very difficult to find anyone who will be prepared to give you a more detailed survey. And it is expected that you as the buyer ask almost no questions about the property. It is a far less thorough process from the buyer's point of view, compared with the English conveyancing process.

Ds is 11 and first year seniors. He's an August bday and is yet to grow height wise but is v broad chested. Dh is 6' 4" so I expect he'll shoot up at some point. He wants to play high level. Not v fast yet, but v good at tackling and getting stuck in. Likelihood we'd need to be in commuter distance to Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Thank you so much for all the info. It's starting to make more sense.

So he'd be going into S1 (in August) if you were to move this summer (I realise it's not likely to be as quick as that). He'd end up being in the middle of the year, rather than one of the youngest.

We have 7 years at Primary and 6 at Secondary, so he's not actually going back a year. He'd still sit his Nat 5s (equivalent to GCSEs) in S4 (equivalent to Y11).

If you wanted to consider Glasgow, Shawlands Academy is a good school and there is a variety of (nice) housing available - and much better value than the West End I might be biased Plenty of parks, good transport links and easy access into the city centre.

It is also a School of Rugby - so the kids in the "rugby" class(es) in S1 and S2 to play extra rugby (they "sacrifice" a period of English, a period of Maths and a period of PE - but the school makes sure they don't miss our on the curriculum).

Shawlands Academy won the Scottish Power Networks Cup for the 2nd year in a row this year - for state(?) schools across the West of Scotland (and up to Stirling), combining the results of the S1 boys' team, the S2 boys' team and the U15 Girls' Team. The Final (this year against Wallace High, which is a Stirling school) is held before the Glasgow Warriors' final game of the season at Scotstoun and then they get to parade around in front of the crowd at half time.

There is a close relationship with Cartha QP Rugby Clubwhich gets a big influx of boys "new" to rugby in S1. But there are also kids who have been through the Minis section and progressed into S1. The Cartha U16s got to the Scottish Cup Final this year, playing Boroughmuir we'll gloss over the result

Your ds would play U13 rugby this coming season, but in practice the team would consist of his S1 classmates and they would probably progress together until U16 (as you're allowed to play "up" one year group). Many of his team/class mates would technically be U12 (as in, they only turn 12 after 1 September) - this is the challenge that Scottish rugby faces with school cut-off dates that aren't (unlike England) 1 September.

If you don't want to be in either Glasgow or Edinburgh, areas with good Junior sections are Livingston and Dunfermline - but you'd need to ask on Scotsnet about the schools. Stirling also has an excellent reputation for its rugby (and Wallace High seems to be a good school. Dunblane Academy also has a good reputation).

Your ds would be very welcome at any rugby club if he is big - the S1s are usually tiny (although you really see the difference by the end of S2 as they start to mature). Good tacklers are also welcome.

Ds was in the first year of the school of rugby at Shawlands, but he'd played since P1. He's not big though - he's a very good natural scrum half! He's just finished S6 and is off to Aberdeen (planning on joining the Uni team but also Aberdeen Grammar - and occasionally coming back down to play U18 rugby his birthday is in September, so technically he still can, although it might break the SRU Registration system ) He's also going to be looking at coaching opportunities, as for the last 2 years he has been coaching the (now) S2 team, both at school (when his timetable allows) and at the local club (U18s play on a Saturday and the rest of the Midis play on a Sunday). "His" team plays a good "fast hands", passing game - very much the SRU's "technical blue print".

I think it's this September that CBBC is going to broadcast a series about "starting secondary school" which focuses on the S1s who started at Shawlands Academy last August. They apparently focussed a lot on one boy who'd just moved up from England and was in the School of Rugby. He's a talented player. (I think there was a degree of the producers/interviewers could understand him - one of the main rugby coaches is quite broad Glaswegian and according to ds, they had to keep re-shooting his bits )

This has turned in to quite an epistle. PM me if you want more info.

Thanks. That's brilliant info!

I'd choose Glasgow for schooling & house prices over Edinburgh.

Realistically we will probably have to wait 2 years until dd has finished her a levels.
Ds would be going into yr 10 and just starting gcses in the english system. Would that work?

And do you think Scotland will go for independence?

Schools start the National 5 curriculum in S3 or S4 (Y10 or Y11) It's supposed to be S4 but some, like Shawlands, start in S3 on order to fit more Nat 5s in (in theory, those that leave it until S4 can crash a wider range of Highers in S5 or S6). So that would work.

The important year is S5. Academically able pupils are expected to sit 5 Highers. In S6 they can sit (normally) up to 3 Advanced Highers (occasionally 4, but that's unusual), re-sit Highers, crash new Highers - or even re-sit/sit Nat 5s.

Technically, they can go to a Scottish Uni after S5 - but in practice most kids stay on and do S6.

If you arrive in S3 or (beginning of) S4, you've got enough time to get the residency required to get free tuition fees and a low cost student loan (interest rate is only c1.5% )

Re Independence, you will get a variety of views on this board! Personally, I would like to hope that it happens, and think that Brexit and the Westminster power grab will make it more likely. Others may have different views Support for it is fairly steady at 45% with no active campaigning yet

Hope that helps!

Oh - and dh says your ds would have to learn to make sure he tackled below the waist. This year the Age Grade Law Variations mean that U13s and U14s will be warned if they tackle above the waist (think the sanction is a penalty) and if they persist, the referee is supposed to ask for them to be substituted. It's a trial that the SRU is running to encourage good technique.

There are other AGLVs (no lifting in the line out at U14 and I don't think the line outs can even be contested, to encourage better throwing) but I can't remember the details (this is just from overhearing dh, who is both a referee, specialising in youth games and a coach).

He already tackles below the waist. He's like a machine. He's not fast and he's a great captain. At the moment he plays hooker or prop, strong in a ruck. He's not a showboater, sets lots of stuff up

DH is technically half Scottish..so if independence happens.

We would be looking to move both for lifestyle and we love Scotland. We hope that there wouldn't be lots of anti English feeling.

The trial on the tackling is to make sure that kids take extra care - as in theory they'll be penalised even if they tackle higher than the waist unintentionally.

Hookers or props are always being looked for in the Pathway process (the first Pathway selection camps are in the latter half of the U14 season, but it becomes more serious at U15; nominations go from both the clubs and the schools which we manipulate to maximise if we have a few good players )

I'm an immigrant myself (but 55 years ago ) from South Africa (my parents escaping apartheid)

Ds likes to think that he would turn down South Africa in order to play for Scotland Would that he ever had to make that choice!

I have one friend (met via MN Woolly Hugs) who moved up here with her dh and dd c6 years ago from England - 100% English - precisely so she could vote Yes in the Indyref (and escape Conservative England). Her dd is just going into S2 (or is it S3?) at Shawlands. They're very happy up here and say they'd never go back. Her dd now has a Scottish accent, but my friend still has a very English accent

Quite a few English families and/or family members at Cartha. The 3 Unis in Glasgow also means that there are many English/international lecturers and students. Ditto with Edinburgh.

Glasgow voted Yes

The White Paper that the Scottish Government produced in the run up to the Indyref said that anyone living in Scotland at the point of independence - no matter their heritage - and anyone with Scottish heritage (can't remember how far back - either parents or grandparents) could claim Scottish citizenship if they wished.

For those asking about the offer being legally binding...

Although the deal is not formally done until the missives are signed, it used to be considered unforgivable/absolutely not the done thing to pull out after your offer was accepted. However, that started to change a while back and now, while it’s not common, people do pull out after an offer has been accepted. There are three houses in surrounding streets to me that had sold signs up but have now gone back on the market this week.

(Also, I see someone suggested Dunfermline. Be aware there are issues with High School capacities here at the moment. New school is desperately needed but no cash so we are currently on the council’s THIRD attempt to redraw the catchments for all Dunfermline non-denominational High Schools. If you’re not coming for a couple of years it should all have been resolved by then (it bloody better be because I can’t take much more of it!) but it something to bear in mind. They’ve already said the current proposal is just a sticking plaster for the next few years so who knows. Anyway, rant over!!

It would be in a couple of years. Dd just got into a really good sixth form (assuming she gets her grades) and it would be unfair to move her.