Moving to Scotland

[MinniesAndMickeysNeedCounting]

I'm hoping for some guidance.
We've recently been told my dh job is being moved to Scotland, we're currently in England.
I know that your house buying system is different to ours and would love any practical advice on combining the two systems, can you combine them or do you have to seperate sale and purchase.
I've read a few things but thought it might be easier to ask here because I'm unsure of it.
You have a survey done prior to putting a house on the market? Sellers pack, presumably that means sellers are more serious than in England because the initial financial outlay.
Houses are listed and you're expected to offer over that price? How much over? Seen something about sealed bids too.
Can you view the survey/report before deciding to view a house or do you only get to see it after viewing.
Are missives the equivalent of searches.
It become legally binding in Scotland earlier in the process, here its very late, at exchange, when does it become legally binding please.
I think this is what's concerning me with the two different processes coming together.

Sorry if I've rambled and it's a bit garbled, things came to whilst typing

I can’t answer all your questions but have been a similar situation buying in Scotland selling in England. You can’t really have a chain that combines the two transactions and you are locked in in Scotland once missives are exchanged which is much earlier than in England. The stress was vvvv high when we did this and we were facing a huge bridging loan. I would strongly recommend selling first.

If you find a house you are interested in you can ask to see a copy of the home buyers report. Depending on the house you are buying you may want to commission a more detailed survey.

Yes typically offers over how much will depend on where you are buying your solicitor should be able to advise.

celtiethree
Thank you, that's helpful.
We need to have a solicitor before we find a house? do you submit offers through the solicitor instead of throught the agent?
Will I have to talk to a solicitor about every house we're interested in?
Sorry for additional questions, your answers threw up some more for me.

I would recommend selling and renting short term. Then purchasing in Scotland.

Oh no, I was hoping you were going to say the two systems work fine together, happens all the time
Guess not

Which part of Scotland?

Different process, but basically missives (binding contract) being completed to the wire these days. One of the biggest differences is dealing with your lawyer/solicitor earlier in process, so yes, every house you want to offer on.

I’d strongly advise renting anyway (not tied to contract minimum terms in Scotland, so you can leave with a month’s notice, no need for break clause etc), as buying within the two systems can be a nightmare, plus you’ve more chance of getting a house in a closing date offers situation if you’re without a chain. Also depends where you’re thinking of, Edinburgh, for example, was/is (tbc) crazy amounts over at closing dates and your offer would be rejected there anyway if you aren’t in a position to proceed, as demand is so strong someone else would easily replace you. Not so much in rural towns, but even there once you hit the missives stage, if you’d not exchanged on your England property, you’d hit major problems.

In short the two systems running concurrently is v.stressful.
All the above subject to how the rest of this year looks for the housing market anyway
🤷‍♀️
Good luck with your move.

If you let us know where on Scotland then posters might be able to give you better insight into the local market.

As pp said you’ll need to engage a solicitor to buy in order to make offers.

When we moved up from England to Scotland, we rented initially as we couldn't afford to be caught bridging if the English sale fell through and we were committed to a Scottish property. We were lucky in that our sale went through as planned, unlucky in that it took us a while to find our home and it needed a lot of work before we could move in.

Offers over (ridiculous system) varies depending on desirability of area. As PP said, good neighbourhoods in the better parts of Edinburgh can go for way over asking price, rural or less popular towns can go for asking price or under. If you gave a rough idea of which area you're looking at, we could be more specific.

I’ve only ever bought in Scotland but think the system is horrible. I always assumed “exchange of missives” was an actual stage which we would be informed of, but the solicitor eventually explained that it’s just the general communication between the solicitors. We offered subject to survey, the survey came back saying it needed a load of work, so we didn’t want to go ahead. Solicitor said we were already committed and we eventually had to pay tens of thousands to buy our way out if the contract. Hopefully with homebuyers reports it is now a bit more straight forward.

I'm from England and I actually found it easier to buy in Scotland but I do agree with others that you don't want the sale running parallel.

The reason being is once your offer has been accepted and details ironed out/papers swapped you are then liable for the house even if your house sale falls through.

As for offers over this is dependent on the area so worth speaking to a local lawyer who will let you know. Crucially especially now the over part usually has to be paid by you unless the mortgage company agree with the sale price. Some mortgage companies simply won't do this. In my area it used to be between 5-10% over asking price but it has been under the asking price for a lot of properties for the last few years. Hence getting the local information.

Most estate agent websites have the survey reports on the listing which makes life easier (not rightmove but the local estate agent) as you see upfront before going to view the property.

I really really wish we were given this advice 15 years ago when we were selling our flat in London and buying a house in Scotland. All was going well until the seller in London pulled out and we couldn’t complete on the property in Scotland. We ended up facing penalities and paying £900 a month whilst we couldn’t complete. Luckily I had been made redundant from my job in London whilst on maternity leave (wasn’t going back had a very nice boss) so my redundancy kept us from going bankrupt and homeless. At one point we still had the flat in London, paying the penalties and renting a flat in Scotland whilst having a toddler and I was pregnant I’ll never forget it and it took us years to recover financially.

I truly wish someone, anyone had just said sell in England first, rent in Scotland then but would have saved us so much money and stress.

Husband going to be based at Faslane, so within around 30 minutes driving time.
Looking at Helensburgh, Gearlochhead, Alexandria, Balloch type areas, no further than Dumbarton I think.
We have 2 children, currently 15 and 7

Buying and selling is far more straight forward and faster than in England.
To put a house on the market you have to have a home survey. The agents will arrange this and you can request the survey through the agent or download it online before viewing.
It depends where you are purchasing. Some are offers over and some are guide price.
My advice is to select a local solicitor or conveyancer in the area you are purchasing that knows the local market. Find out how many viewings there have been, are there any notes of interest and have there been any offers. Please note that in Scotland they cannot disclose the Offer.
If there are 2+ notes of interest the property can go to a closing date. They will close for offers and offers have to be submitted via a Scottish (not English) solicitor or conveyancer in writing.
Your English solicitor cannot act in the purchase of a Scottish property.
You can complete on a property within 6 weeks that is the norm. Once you agree a date of entry and the contract is formed, the money is paid on the date of entry and then you get the keys that day. You cannot gazump in Scotland.
I can tell you that due to the English system in comparison to the quick Scottish system, that you would be in a far stronger position of you sold in England first. Even if you accept an offer on your English property the Scottish solicitor will likely not be satisfied until contracts are exchanged.
Once missives have concluded in Scotland the contract is binding and there can be penalties for breaking the contract.
I agree with other posts here that you are best to sell and rent first. Gives you time to get to know the area too and shop around for solicitors. The solicitor will likely want to meet you or you'll have to have your ID verified by a solicitors and formally stamped. Best just to go chat to them. It's true Edinburgh go far over the market. If you look just outside of Edinburgh it becomes more straight forward.
I hope that helps all the best of luck.

Do you know about the Future Accommodation Model pilot that Faslane is part of?

Good news on the areas re property as I wouldn’t describe them as ‘hot’ though someone more local may say I’m wrong 😬. So you may be able to snap something up without going over by a lot.

Slightly of more concern is your 15 year old. Are they sitting GCSEs this year?

Gosh that sounds awful sweetkitty
Its unanimous about not buying and selling together then. At least I know now.
I was hoping to avoid renting only because of settling the children into schools/colleges and then having to move them again (well not the older one so much, I imagine she'll be at the same college wherever we end up) I think I read that children have to attend the catchment school if not going private.

Education is very different, there are no 6th form colleges. When does your oldest DC turn 16? Catchment school is typical but you can put in a placement request for a different school - success will depend on any space in the requested school,

If the property you're looking at has been on the market a while you shouldn't need to offer much over the home report value. I'd only offer more if there were multiple potential buyers and it was going to a closing date.

You can normally get home reports online automatically nowadays. Important to note is the condition of the property ideally it should be 1 (top) for condition for most things, unless you want a 'fixer upper'.

The areas you mention are very diverse in character so I'd also recommend renting. I'd focus on an area with good schools and on a train line for the teenager to be more mobile.

celtiethree they were, all exams here cancelled and a vague teacher assessment plan. Why?
Can't she apply to do the scottish equivalent of a levels are they called higher or advanced higher?

Timeandtune No, what is this please?

Thank you everyone, you're all giving me alot of information to think about.

I'd rent in the best school catchment area you can find, that would help.

Is your husband serving in the Navy OP?

celtiethree she turns 16 very soon, I think she'll be 17 by the time we go though, we were only told about the move recently and have been trying to get our heads around it. Dh has a meeting soon to discuss the job move and then things take around a year to happen.

Hi, Op I hope you don't mind me piggy-backing your thread . I'm a Scot living in England and attempting to move my family to Scotland , to be closer to extended family mainly. We've a mature progressing sale and we were meant to exchange contracts early Jan but we still haven't... realistically it's looking like it will be mid to late Feb now , completion early March. Our plan was to sell up and bank the money...rent near my parents then buy once over the border and in a hood position. We've seen a house that we LOVE now though so are toying with the idea of putting in an offer now... but at this stage out English sale could still collapse (we are the end point in a chain). I didn't realise that the penalties were so high if you have an offer accepted in Scotland but then have to pull out.

It's so hard to know what to do but my head is saying "stick to the plan, bank money and rent!". Hard when you fall for a new house though !

Following with interest!

I was just trying to understand where she was in terms of gaining qualifications. If she has completed her GCSEs and has grades then it’s much better than trying to switch to the Scottish equivalent which are Nat 5s. Sounds like your DC will be moving into 5th year and sitting highers in 2022.

Some schools start their higher courses end of May beginning of June before the summer break as they are one year courses and that teaching time is required to squeeze in all the content. Target is often 5 highers. With additional highers or advanced highers taken in 6th year. Pupils stay at their high school to sit highers/advanced highers.

Sorry for any confusion just trying to help.

No, but his position which is currently on a uk base has been moved to the Faslane navy base.