• House Buying Process
• Mortgages
• Income Protection Planning
• Critical Illness Cover
• Life Assurance
• House Insurance
• Saving & Investing
• Retirement Planning

House Buying Process

The Scottish and English house buying systems are not radically different, however, there are some distinct differences in the realm of land and property ownership law.  These have a knock-on effect on the house buying process.

The main differences are as follows:-

• The tenure on all Scottish property is different, there are no freeholds or leaseholds.  The purchaser has the right to live in the property and make use of it in any way acceptable to the lender.
  
• Under the Scottish system, the mortgage is applied for much earlier in the process.  Not only that, but a mortgage application can be “Agreed in Principle” before you even start looking for a house.
  
• A solicitor is much more involved in and from an earlier stage.
  
• In Scotland, the survey is usually carried out before you make an offer and can help decide how much you want to bid.  You can also opt to bid “subject to survey” however, this is not accepted in all cases.
  
• In Scotland, prices are set, above which, offers are invited and set a closing date by when bids must be received.  In some instances, a fixed price is set.  In England , the buyer can normally negotiate the sellers price down.
  
• The two parties are legally obliged to the transaction at an earlier stage known as “concluding Missives.”  This helps minimise the risk of being “gazumped”.
  
• A formal moving date is set which makes it easier to coordinate the concurrent sale and purchase of properties and helps reduce some of the problems of a chain.
  

• The duration from agreement of sale to completion is usually much quicker in Scotland.

  With these differences in mind, the main steps in the process can be seen as follows:
  

  1.      Apply for mortgage “agreement in principle”
  2.      Appoint a solicitor
  3.      Find your new home
  4.      Ask your solicitor to “note interest”
  5.      Arrange a survey
  6.      Ask your solicitor to make an offer
  7.      Offer accepted
  8.      Finalise mortgage application
  9.      Arrange house insurance and life assurance
  10.      Solicitor concludes missives
  11.      Completion
  12.   Move in! 

      Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.