How does one move house (yes, it's a genuine question)?

I'll keep it short. I've never bought a house, I built the one I currently live in. I've lived here for 20 years and was with parents before then - I've lived my entire (sheltered) existence on one road, in one sleepy town.

Circumstances have changed and I think I may need to move from the Midlands, to Scotland.

How does one do that...?

Scotland seems to have some form of closed bid system, whereby if successful you are committed to buy - does that mean I need to sell my current abode (and presumably rent somewhere) so that I have funds available to buy immediately?

I have two properties (current home and a rental) with plenty of equity and a pittance of a mortgage remaining (a good position to be in) - am I better to go for a large deposit from savings, sell one house, sell both, refinance one or both!? There are so many options... The financial logistics of just moving house seem insurmountable!

I've a financial advisor coming on Friday, I assume they'll also guide me in the right direction?

Easier to put in bullet points.............

The vendor produces a homebuyer's report which should save potential bidders the requirement to continually pay for surveys to miss out. BUT -as was highlighted by RICS (in England) - there appears to be/is a conflict of interest whereby the vendor pays for the survey but the purchaser may be the claimant for any deficiencies. On an older property - you'd be wise to get your own survey even if you didn't need a mortgage.

Some sales in Scotland are by sealed bids, but more and more are fixed price in a stagnant market - but that doesn't prevent someone submitting a higher offer.

There is no requirement for a seller to accept the highest bid - there may be some factor which makes one buyer more attractive (entry date, no mortgage, etc)

An offer is not totally binding even when accepted - the 'missives' must be signed to make that the case.

The missives generally get signed much earlier than contract exchange in ROUK.

BUT -once missives are signed, then either party pulling out - is liable to the tangible losses of the other party (maybe if there is a significant disclosure not made - might get the party off the hook)

In Scotland - best to enter a purchase with NO property to sell. An offer 'Subject to selling your own house' is merely a 'note of comfort' and isn't generally entertained (unless their house isn't selling and your offer seems attractive)

A neighbour of mine - put her house for sale and with the solicitor/property agent - prequalified that only potential buyers with no chain and funds in place - were even shown around.

All I can think of - of the top of my head.

(Engineer - not Solicitor)

Having done it a couple of times, first, slow down.

Ask around friends to find a well regarded solicitor and have a chat with them. The same for a surveyor.

I'd get at least three estate agents in for a valuation. They will all appear lovely, keen, helpful and trustworthy. All will surprise you with remarkable insider knowledge - some of which may be true. My experience is that they are great as long as their needs and yours align. Beyond that...

Take advice from your solicitor before doing anything.

Beyond that, I bet this thread will be incredibly helpful because this sort of thing brings out the best in TZ-UK and there's a lot of knowledge here.

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Originally Posted by M4tt

Having done it a couple of times, first, slow down.

Ask around friends to find a well regarded solicitor and have a chat with them. The same for a surveyor.

I'd get at least three estate agents in for a valuation. They will all appear lovely, keen, helpful and trustworthy. All will surprise you with remarkable insider knowledge - some of which may be true. My experience is that they are great as long as their needs and yours align. Beyond that...

Take advice from your solicitor before doing anything.

Beyond that, I bet this thread will be incredibly helpful because this sort of thing brings out the best in TZ-UK and there's a lot of knowledge here.

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Scotland? three estate agents for a valuation?

Mmmmmmm.............

Have to agree with Matt on the first point. Find a good solicitor. Preferably recommended. Don't use a conveyancing type company. It's a long winded and frustrating process . With a good solicitor you can talk to someone and it's worth the money for that alone.

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Originally Posted by blackal

Scotland? three estate agents for a valuation?

Mmmmmmm.............

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I think M4tt means three valuations for my current property, with a view to selling prior to me buying somewhere in Scotland.

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Originally Posted by RickChard

I think M4tt means three valuations for my current property, with a view to selling prior to me buying somewhere in Scotland.

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Ah-hah!

It all becomes clear - now!:crushed:

Before considering any of this advice above (and it’s all good), you first need to decide what you want to do with your current properties.

Of the options given, there’s no correct answer, it’s entirely your decision. Once you’ve made that decision, your way forward will become clearer.

Good luck with the move whatever you decide.

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Originally Posted by blackal

In Scotland - best to enter a purchase with NO property to sell.

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Isn't this best across the four nations, Ireland, the entire western world and beyond?

And in reality, how many buyers can actually get themselves in this position, and how often does it happen?

It's fine if you have several properties and capital, but selling your house and then watching the money drain away in rent isn't a plan.

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Originally Posted by Onelasttime

Isn't this best across the four nations, Ireland, the entire western world and beyond?

And in reality, how many buyers can actually get themselves in this position, and how often does it happen?

It's fine if you have several properties and capital, but selling your house and then watching the money drain away in rent isn't a plan.

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So is it best, or not? Hard to tell from above…………


but since missives are generally signed much earlier than in ROUK, you wanna commit early, with no contract signed to sell your house in england?

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Originally Posted by Onelasttime

Isn't this best across the four nations, Ireland, the entire western world and beyond?

And in reality, how many buyers can actually get themselves in this position, and how often does it happen?

It's fine if you have several properties and capital, but selling your house and then watching the money drain away in rent isn't a plan.

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That’s what we did; sold our house and moved to the area we wanted to move to in a rental; meant we were proceedable in what was a very busy market and could go and view houses very easily when they came on the market. Also meant we could explore the area and get a sense of where we would (and would not) want to be that you just can’t get online or the odd visit. We were in rental for a year, the cost was 100% worth it. It wasn’t much more than our previous mortgage repayment so affordability was fine and the loss of not paying capital (obviously some is interest so that’s dead money too) was well worth getting to know the area and not making a mistake in the move, which would ultimately be far more costly. In the end, we’re not too far from the place we rented and have kept a number of friends from there as well, so some social capital there!

Everyone’s situation is different but I think if you’re moving to a new area that’s quite far away from your current location and you’re expecting to be in the new house for a long time then it’s worth the hassle and cost of a two step rental move.

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Originally Posted by Jack83

That’s what we did; sold our house and moved to the area we wanted to move to in a rental; meant we were proceedable in what was a very busy market and could go and view houses very easily when they came on the market. Also meant we could explore the area and get a sense of where we would (and would not) want to be that you just can’t get online or the odd visit. We were in rental for a year, the cost was 100% worth it. It wasn’t much more than our previous mortgage repayment so affordability was fine and the loss of not paying capital (obviously some is interest so that’s dead money too) was well worth getting to know the area and not making a mistake in the move, which would ultimately be far more costly. In the end, we’re not too far from the place we rented and have kept a number of friends from there as well, so some social capital there!

Everyone’s situation is different but I think if you’re moving to a new area that’s quite far away from your current location and you’re expecting to be in the new house for a long time then it’s worth the hassle and cost of a two step rental move.

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I can understand that. But in the OP's case we don't know why he's moving to Scotland or if it's feasible to rent in the area first?

We wanted to do building work on our house which required us to move out for a year. The rental for a year was horrendous so we moved instead, and the only way we could do that was by putting the house on the market and entering a chain.

I should point out this is in London and rent would have been 3 times our mortgage payment. Crazy.

As per the comment above, it is really worth getting to know the location before committing to buying so i would seriously consider renting for a spell if i were in your shoes. We did this when moving across the country - even though weekend trips were doable (only 4hrs drive...), it took a few months living in the area until we knew where we really wanted to live. The good thing is that you won't be chasing the market right now so FOMO shouldn't influence your decision. It sounds as though you are well set, best of luck!

Logistics wise for moving unless you have few possessions then spending the money for a removals firm is a great stress reducer.

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Originally Posted by Onelasttime

I can understand that. But in the OP's case we don't know why he's moving to Scotland or if it's feasible to rent in the area first?

We wanted to do building work on our house which required us to move out for a year. The rental for a year was horrendous so we moved instead, and the only way we could do that was by putting the house on the market and entering a chain.

I should point out this is in London and rent would have been 3 times our mortgage payment. Crazy.

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Yep, agreed - it’s very circumstance-led. So, impossible to give specific advice. I suppose I’m just highlighting a scenario where it did make sense to go down a certain route so someone can judge if those circumstances and that route applies to them.

Interesting circumstances you found yourself in; I lived in London for 20 years until recently and have bought/sold a number of properties there - crazy definitely describes it!

Sorry if this adds to your confusion OP, but the English and Scottish conveyancing laws are rather different so you might find it best to engage separately - i.e. a local estate agent to sell your current property (singular or plural) and a Scottish solicitor to represent you in any purchase.
Under Scottish law you must make any bid or offer via a solicitor, and often a solicitor local to the area that you are interested in is a wise move as they will have the best knowledge of current market and realistic values of listed properties. The Scottish “offers over” system may have required a bid of 20% over the asking price a couple of years ago, but now a bid of 10-20% below might be accepted if a property has been marketed at an unrealistic asking price.
Rightmove is the best website to peruse listings, followed by ESPC (Edinburgh) or GSPC (Glasgow).

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Originally Posted by Jack83

Yep, agreed - it’s very circumstance-led. So, impossible to give specific advice. I suppose I’m just highlighting a scenario where it did make sense to go down a certain route so someone can judge if those circumstances and that route applies to them.

Interesting circumstances you found yourself in; I lived in London for 20 years until recently and have bought/sold a number of properties there - crazy definitely describes it!

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It cost us more to move but the cost of the work we wanted to do just didn’t stack up against the gains in space compared to moving up the road a bit.

This was all in the maelstrom of covid and Brexit so the timing was terrible.

We made the right decision in the end though. But I hope we don’t have to go through that again for at least another 20 years.

First big decision is what you want to do with your old house.

We were thinking about moving and keeping our old house, but have put that on hold thanks to the uncertainty in the market (no rush for us). However I was surprised at how costly keeping the old house can be, both in up-front stamp duty cost for a second property (you pay a lot more for a 2nd property) and egregious tax on any rental income. Of course without a crystal ball to know how the property market will go it's impossible to say for sure, but I sort of think the ship has sailed on buying property as a retirement strategy, unless there's a big dip in the market.

(p.s. I have no idea if any of this works differently in Scotland regarding stamp duty / tax)

Some great advice flowing, thanks all.

We’ve an AirBnB booked for a week at the end of July in the region we’re looking at. We were planning to use that time to look at new-build estates and general areas we’re considering.

Very good point made about tax implications on a second rental. I hadn’t considered that.

Ideally we’d keep our current house (it was built next door to my parents), it has sentimental value over our existing rental property.

As for motivation, my job (currently being done remotely) is based in Edinburgh. I feel my career would improve if I headed into office more. Ties here in the Midlands have changed, I lost my mother last year and my wife just lost her Dad - my wife’s business is closing down too.

I don’t think it’s a grief led decision, but family losses weigh heavy.

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Originally Posted by M1011

First big decision is what you want to do with your old house.

We were thinking about moving and keeping our old house, but have put that on hold thanks to the uncertainty in the market (no rush for us). However I was surprised at how costly keeping the old house can be, both in up-front stamp duty cost for a second property (you pay a lot more for a 2nd property) and egregious tax on any rental income. Of course without a crystal ball to know how the property market will go it's impossible to say for sure, but I sort of think the ship has sailed on buying property as a retirement strategy, unless there's a big dip in the market.

(p.s. I have no idea if any of this works differently in Scotland regarding stamp duty / tax)

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Yes - keeping your existing home and buying in Scotland will mean incurring ADS at a flat rate of 6% of the purchase price of the new property and that is in addition to LBTT (Scottish Stamp Duty) charged at layered rates. If your previous home is sold within 18 months of the purchase you can apply for a rebate of the ADS.

There's a calculator here

https://revenue.scot/calculate-tax/c...y-transactions


ETA I used the word "home" above. The ADS rules are a little complex but so long as a home is replaced within 18 months keeping a rental property you already own may not trigger an irrecoverable ADS charge

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Originally Posted by RickChard

I think M4tt means three valuations for my current property, with a view to selling prior to me buying somewhere in Scotland.

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Just so.

I would also argue that chains can be a frustrating misery as you end up at the mercy of other folks circumstances, whims and random events. Being a cash buyer is not only a strong negotiating tool, it also gives a degree of freedom. Whether renting is a good or bad idea largely depends on the market. In a rising market, it’s daft, but in a falling market, and I think that’s broadly where we are, it can be a canny move. Yes, you pay rent, or storage and make do on the kindness of friends or relatives, but you will also be able to make keener offers with more certainty, you can move to the area and learn about it from the inside and right now, you will almost certainly sell for more and buy for less, because the market is tottering. I didn’t much enjoy the one time I bought a house first then sold the old one, but that was just for a few months and I didn’t bother renting. It’s a lot of extra paperwork. If you plan to rent in the long term I’m sure there are many here who can advise.

I’d also argue that financial advisers are in the same category as estate agents. I’d trust the wisdom of crowds here far more, but a solicitor first.