| The
process - Very simply, buyers 'offer' to buy
a property. That means the buyer's solicitor makes an
offer, including the price, entry date and other terms
and conditions, to the seller or their agent.
| Prior
to instructing the solicitor to make the offer,
the buyer needs from them:
- Details of his fees
-
Details of
other sums, known as outlays, such as Stamp
Duty Land Tax, Land Register fees and local
search/Property Enquiry Certificate fees which
will find out if there are any roads, for
example, to be constructed within the vicinity
of your property or Statutory Notices served
on the property or the tenement of which it
forms part.
You should also have begun the mortgage process,
if necessary, which may include a building
society instructing a surveyor to inspect
the property.
|
|
The seller’s solicitor
then discusses the terms of the offer with the seller
in detail and issues a written acceptance (normally
with a number of qualifications). The buyer’s
solicitor likewise discusses these qualifications with
the buyer and either accepts them all and issues a letter
concluding the missives (contract) or issues further
qualifications for consideration by the seller. This
process goes on until one party is content with the
last set of qualifications and issues the concluding
letter. A contract in Scotland requires to be concluded
in writing.
Once an offer or one of the counter offers has been
fully accepted and the missives are said to be concluded
a legally binding contract will normally be formed.
If one party withdraws after this, other than as permitted
by the missives, they will in all probability be liable
to pay penalties to the other party.
Please note that the law in this regard in Scotland
is very different from that in England. These
formal contractual letter are signed by the solicitors
on behalf of the buyer and seller and not by the parties
themselves – therefore there is not a situation
where the contract is encapsulated in the one document
for signature by the parties as it the case in England.
Both parties' solicitors
will then make contact. During this period your solicitor
will check the person purporting to sell
the property does indeed own the property (the
title) and carry out the other checks.
Assuming that these checks are satisfactory, the payment
will then be exchanged for the disposition (the document
transferring the title to the property) and other settlement
documents. The title will then be recorded in the appropriate
register.
|
