Swapping Houses, Scotland

retiredin2011 · 7 May 2017 at 3:58PM

My wife and I own a 3 bedroom semi, roughly valued at £175,000.

No mortgage.

There is also a garage which can be built above to give another bedroom. My next door neighbour has already done this.

A neighbour across the road owns a 2 bed bungalow also roughly valued at £175,000.

It was inherited from parents so also no mortgage.

His wife has recently given birth to identical twins which makes 3 children in all.

A boy aged 7 and 2 girls.

We were talking to the neighbours at a party and my wife mentioned that we were thinking of selling up and getting a bungalow like theirs and of course someone, not the neighbours,
said, why don't you just swap houses and build an extension like next door?

Can it be done without selling and buying and selling and buying if we agree that both houses are the same value and all we need to do is pay the solicitors?

Or is it not as simple as that?

This is in Scotland.

agrinnall · 7 May 2017 at 4:23PM

I would recommend speaking to a solicitor about it before you make any plans, but my initial thought is that yes, you can do what you suggest, although I think you would both have to pay any LBTT that is due (through your solicitors).

davidmcn · 7 May 2017 at 5:52PM

You are essentially both selling and buying, so the process isn't that much different from selling/buying any other properties for cash. The costs will be much the same (LBTT, registration dues, searches etc). I suppose you might be able to get a discount on the solicitors' fee on the basis they don't have mortgages to worry about and are dealing with the same solicitors for both sale and purchase.