We can advise you on all aspects of buying or selling a property in Scotland, so please contact us about any queries you have.

However to help you understand the processes involved, here is a basic explanation of the jargon and processes involved which we hope will assist.

1. Noting Interest
If you are really interested in a property on the market and may wish to offer for this, you should note interest by letting the selling agents have your details. They can then keep in contact with you and if there is a closing date (see below) you should be informed of this.

2. Under Offer
This indicates that an offer has been accepted for the property being sold, but the contract has not been made binding yet by the conclusion of missives (see below) (a bit like the ‘Sold Subject to Contract’ in the English system).

3. Sold
This means that the contract for the house sale has been made legally binding, i.e. the missives are concluded (like exchange of contracts in England).

4. Offers Over
This is the usual way of pricing in Scotland. The seller is obviously looking for more than the figure quoted. How much more and what the seller will get for a price will depend on a variety of factors including the buoyancy of the market at the time.

5. Fixed Price
Indicates that an offer at this price should be accepted. This is more common when the market is slower and may mean it is a difficult property to sell, but may also indicate that the sellers are looking for a quick sale.

6. The Missives
Certainty and speed are said to be amongst the strengths of the process of buying and selling a property in Scotland. This arises from the legal theory that if you make a written offer for a property and a written acceptance of that offer is given by the seller without any qualifications to the terms of the original offer and both the offer and acceptance are in proper legal form, then both sides are legally bound.

Historically, when solicitors were only really dealing with title matters, contracts were made in this straightforward way. However, in the purchase and sale of property solicitors now deal with much more than just the title to the property. The position as regards Local Authority matters, services for the property, alterations to the property, the condition of the property and the working appliances and the environmental position with the property, represent but a few of the matters which solicitors may now be dealing with in some respect, in a purchase or sale transaction. There is no standard form of wording in a contract acceptable to all solicitors and their clients in relation to such matters. Consequently the terms of the contract in relation to such matters are negotiated between the parties in what is known as the missives.

The first of these missives is the offer, which is usually met by an acceptance subject to qualifications from the seller’s solicitors. Quite often the purchaser’s solicitors will be able to reply to this with a written acceptance of these qualifications making no further changes to the terms of the sale and at that point there will be a legally binding contract. However, frequently the seller’s qualified acceptance is met with another qualified acceptance from the purchaser’s solicitors and further qualified acceptances can be issued by both sides until such time as one accepts, without qualification and in writing, the other’s qualifications and a legally binding contract is made.

As a result of this, the stage of the transaction when both sides become legally bound to proceed (known as conclusion of missives and the equivalent of exchange of contracts in the English system) is not necessarily reached all that quickly. Two to three weeks is probably about normal, but sometimes the missives are not concluded until shortly before the date of entry when the purchasers are due to move into the property. Consequently, in theory at least, although it is unusual in practice, the purchaser or the seller could withdraw from the

transaction for a considerable period of time after the purchaser’s solicitor has been told that the seller is going to accept the purchaser’s offer.

7. Offering Subject to Survey
Although the system does not create as much certainty quite so soon as the theory of a written offer and an unqualified written acceptance suggests, this does colour how the process is dealt with. Your offer for a property could be met by an unqualified acceptance, so conventionally you have to be sure about the property and your finance for this before you offer. However, you can offer for a property making it subject to a survey (which is quite common) or even subject to selling one’s own property or otherwise obtaining finance to buy (which is much rarer).

This is often a good idea if the purchaser simply wants to test the water or, for instance, does not wish to waste money on survey fees for unsuccessful offers. However, even if the seller does otherwise like the offer, he will not conclude missives with such a condition as part of the contract. Instead it will be up to the seller to withdraw the condition, which the seller should do after receiving a satisfactory survey report, or receiving confirmation from their lender that the necessary loan will be made available or entering into a contract for the sale of his own property, as the case may be. The seller may then accept the offer but equally by the time that the condition is withdrawn (which could be a long time particularly if a house requires to be sold by the purchaser) the seller may have sold to someone else.

It is fairly unusual to see offers subject to survey or finance at a closing date and even more unusual for such an offer to be accepted.

As a result of the problems with offering subject to survey and finance, most purchasers still proceed in the conventional way by arranging their survey and finance before offering.

8. Arranging a Survey
Not only do you need to be sure that this is the property for you, but you should also have it checked out by a Surveyor to ascertain its value and to see what, if any, problems it has. Different types of survey are available and we can help you decide which is appropriate for you and also instruct the Surveyor on your behalf.

9. Finance
This may be a question of obtaining a loan from a Bank or Building Society, but it need not be. For example, it may be a question of selling a property elsewhere before being able to proceed with a purchase. Although this can be a problem even for those moving from one house in Scotland to another in Scotland, it is quite often more of a problem for those moving from a property which they own in England where the transaction generally proceeds slower and is less certain, to Scotland where the purchaser is expected to commit himself a good deal quicker. We have a great deal of experience in dealing with those crossing the Border in both directions and in liasing with the legal representatives on the other side of the Border and can therefore keep you right with this.

10. Submitting an Offer
If you are happy with the property and the Survey results and have your finance sorted out, you can proceed to offer. Apart from knowing who the selling agents are, who are the sellers of the property and the price you want to offer, the main information we need from you is what extras are to be included in the price and when you want to take over the property.

The extras are the things which do not form part of the property itself and are more often referred to by the solicitors as the moveables. Typically fitted carpets will be included, but this could include washing machines, freezers, etc. The seller will normally stipulate in the Particulars of Sale issued by the selling agents what they wish to include in the sale by way of moveables.

The purchaser’s take over date is referred to as the date of entry. Normally this will be between four and eight weeks from the date of the offer.

You may also want to put other special conditions on the offer and your Surveyor may well have recommended these.

You may be the only person interested in a property, or the property may be advertised at a fixed price. In these cases you may be able to offer straight away and secure the property.

11. Offering at a Closing Date
If there are other people interested in a property, the seller may well fix a closing date. On this date all parties who are interested must submit their best offers for consideration by the seller. Normally the offers have to be in by 12 noon and during the course of the afternoon the various offerers will hear from the seller’s agents as to whether their offer is to be accepted.

12. Checking Titles and Other Documents
Usually while the process of adjusting the missives is going on, the selling solicitor will be supplying to the purchaser’s solicitor the necessary documents for the property, by way of title deeds, Searches in the Registers against the property and against the persons involved with it, Certificates showing the Local Authority position with the property and documents in connection with work carried out to the property etc. The title deeds will likely describe the extent of the property and also any conditions applying to ownership of it.

The solicitors involved in the purchase and sale are also involved in adjusting the terms of the title deed in favour of the purchaser and the accompanying forms to have this registered. They will also arrange for this to be signed and completed. The selling solicitor will deal with the repayment of any mortgage and the documents required for this. The purchasing solicitor will deal with the preparation of the appropriate mortgage document giving the lender a Security over the property and will arrange to have this signed.

The transaction invariably is completed on the entry date agreed between the parties. At that time the keys for the property are handed over in exchange for payment of the price and the various title deeds and documents relating to the property. In Scotland this process is referred to as settlement and is the same as what the English call completion.

The purchasing solicitor will then arrange for the appropriate stamp duty to be paid if any is due and then for the title to be registered in the Land Register, along with any mortgage relating to the property.