London to Glasgow...

[Learningdaybyday]

DH and I are considering moving to Scotland in June 2025.

We currently (private) rent in London and have never owned a house, so aren't 100% sure on the process. From looking online, we gather these are the basic initial steps:

1. Get a mortgage in principle
2. Find a place we like via estate agent.
3. Get a solicitor and surveyor.
4. Put down our offer.

Is this an accurate outline?
Is it in the correct order?
With a big move like this, are there other things we should know about or consider?
Should the solicitor be based in London or Glasgow?

Not sure what other questions to ask.
Any help/advice provided us much appreciated.
Tyia.

Yes !

Oops sorry.. better with a Scottish solicitor as laws etc are different .

The weather up here alone would put me off! Lovely people and beautiful scenery but god it rains and is cold 🥶 😂

I’d get the solicitor first, you need one to note interest & make offers.

All property listed for sale will have a home report - read that before making an offer, quite often offers are made based on the home report rather that your own survey. You can of course instruct your own survey but if the property has lots of viewings the seller may not allow another surveyor into the property.

As well as a seller having to provide a survey (which is reasonable but you may want to get a better one of your own if there's any uncertainty about anything), it's generally not fixed prices or "offers in the region of", it's more likely to be 'offers over' situation.

And it can sometimes be like 40% over or whatever!

So you might want to do a bit of research in zoopla or rightmove at sold house prices and take on board what your solicitor says.

Once you say you're buying and your solicitor put your offer in and it gets accepted then it's generally accepted that you will follow through.

People would not expect you to pull out or change your mind. The Scottish system doesn't work like that.

Nearly all properties are freehold. No lease costs. If you buy a fist or a house in a new estate there may be Factors charges (maintenance/running costs charges) you need to be aware of. These can be like £200 a month so it's important to find out.

Flat. Not fist lol!

We moved from Surrey to Glasgow on August, 16th. Would definitely recommend having a Scottish based solicitor. We found a fabulous solicitor based in Glasgow with an excellent understanding of market nuances and a wealth of knowledge of the different areas of the city. Please PM if you like some more advice and her name.

It took us 4 months to find the right house, albeit we have four teenagers.

Good Luck!

You will be in a good position to buy. Often people will take a slightly lower offer if they dont have to wait for a buyer to seller their own home

You'll need a Scottish solicitor and don't need a surveyor as we have home reports here now- the seller pays.

Expect to pay 20% over the offers over price.

You will often only get a mortgage to the honest report value. A sale price over that you will have to pay in cash.

Your solicitor can put in a 'note of interest' if you want something but it does t have a closing date yet.

On the closing date you put in closed bids.

Expect to have to offer on a few places before you are successful.

Sorry haven't replied.

Thank you to all of you for your advice. Once DH is off we will start looking into it.