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Buying and selling property in Scotland differs from the system in the rest of Britain. The main difference is that in Scotland once a written Offer is accepted the Purchaser, and Seller, are fully bound to the Missive which is a bilateral Contract to purchase/sell. In the rest of the UK the "Offer subject to Contract" situation applies where either the buyer or seller can withdraw at any time up until the exchange of Contracts, which is usually fairly near the actual sale/purchase date.

The Scottish legal "Missive" procedure therefore gives the Purchaser and Seller absolute certainty of a legally binding Contract. If there is a breach of Contract, the party who is in breach will almost certainly be liable to pay compensation to the other party. It is therefore very important that legal advice is taken at an early stage in respect of the following matters:-

Noting an Interest The Solicitor acting for the Purchaser will "note an interest" with either the Estate Agent or Solicitor acting for the Seller which has the effect of officially marking the Purchaser's interest in proceeding to lodge an Offer for the property.

The Survey The Solicitor can arrange for a Chartered Surveyor to carry out a Valuation Report. This can either be a basic (Option 1) Valuation, a more detailed (Option 2) Homebuyers' Report or a full Structural Survey. The Law Society of Scotland and, indeed, most Solicitors recommend a Homebuyers Report due to its affording greater protection to the Purchaser should the Surveyor fail to note a defect which later becomes apparent and requires to be rectified by the Purchaser.

The Mortgage Your Solicitor, even if not arranging your mortgage, will liaise with your mortgage lender to make sure that full approval is available in respect of the mortgage that you require.

Fixed Price Offers or Closing Date for Offers A property marketed at a "Fixed Price" indicates that the first legal Offer at the Fixed Price shown, subject to a suitable date of entry, will be accepted.

Closing Date for Offers When more than one person has noted an interest, indicating that they are prepared to submit an Offer for a particular property, the Selling Agent may set a "Closing Date" for Offers. The Closing Date is a precise time on a particular day, set by the selling party or their Agents when the prospective Purchasers are required to submit their formal Offers into the hands of the Selling Agent for consideration.*

Note The Seller is under no legal obligation to accept the highest or, indeed, any of the Offers submitted at the Closing Date. Your Solicitor will take your instructions and frame the legal OFFER, which if successful, will be passed to the Seller's Solicitor who will issue the legal QUALIFIED ACCEPTANCE of the Offer. This negotiating of the content of the final version of the MISSIVE, ie, legal Contract to buy/sell, is relatively complex involving legal conveyancing expertise. When matters have been agreed, a CONCLUDED CONTRACT, otherwise referred to as a MISSIVE will be achieved. In Scotland once Missives have been concluded, you know that you have a binding Contract and that you cannot be "gazumped". Your Solicitor will carry out the CONVEYANCING, liaise with your mortgage lender and prepare your mortgage document, called a STANDARD SECURITY and generally finalise the legal conveyancing work for the date of entry which has been set in the Missive. In the main, conveyancing fees in Scotland are higher than elsewhere in the UK due to the higher level of work involved for the Solicitor.

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Property Purchase and Sale