Selling in England and buying in Scotland - any tips?

ccbrowning

DoaM said:

If you're planning to move to the Highlands or Argyle area the midges are a thing to be aware of. Most other places (central and coastal - east or west) tend to be OK. When I've stayed in places in the Highlands and Argyle I've never noticed mesh on the doors or windows.

As well as Avon, the other favoured option is Smidge.

Thanks! We're looking at Ayrshire near the coast, so not such a problem. I can deal with them on trips!

On the rental front, is there such a thing as a long term rent which is separate from PRT? (anyone know) Or is that just a wish of the landlord?

ccbrowning

ProDave said:

You will need TWO solicitors, one to handle the English sale and a Scottish one to handle the Scottish purchase.  They need to communicate well.

We solved the issue when we moved by buying a building plot which we were able to do in advance of selling the English house, and then moved into a static caravan on the site while we built the house.

The other option is to rent a house up here for 6 months to give you chance to fins and buy the Scottish house.

Yeah that doesn't sound super fun. Not a much on the market where we've been looking (aside from tons of new builds on large estates). Building plot seems preferable to renting... really hate the idea of renting again. But, haven't even seen a plot we liked in 18 months of looking so far.

[Deleted User]

ccbrowning said:

DoaM said:

If you're planning to move to the Highlands or Argyle area the midges are a thing to be aware of. Most other places (central and coastal - east or west) tend to be OK. When I've stayed in places in the Highlands and Argyle I've never noticed mesh on the doors or windows.

As well as Avon, the other favoured option is Smidge.

Thanks! We're looking at Ayrshire near the coast, so not such a problem. I can deal with them on trips!

On the rental front, is there such a thing as a long term rent which is separate from PRT? (anyone know) Or is that just a wish of the landlord?

It's just a PRT and you don't require the wish of the landlord to live there long term.  If the landlord wishes to end the tenancy then the landlord needs a ground in order to evict.  The tenant on the other hand only has to give 28 days notice.

https://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/renting_rights/renting_from_a_private_landlord/the_private_residential_tenancy

ccbrowning

Thanks - that's pretty good! So the terms aren't an issue now, but storage + having a dog will make it all fun. So many months of looking for a home we like with no luck...

[Deleted User]

ccbrowning said:

ProDave said:

You will need TWO solicitors, one to handle the English sale and a Scottish one to handle the Scottish purchase.  They need to communicate well.

We solved the issue when we moved by buying a building plot which we were able to do in advance of selling the English house, and then moved into a static caravan on the site while we built the house.

The other option is to rent a house up here for 6 months to give you chance to fins and buy the Scottish house.

Yeah that doesn't sound super fun. Not a much on the market where we've been looking (aside from tons of new builds on large estates). Building plot seems preferable to renting... really hate the idea of renting again. But, haven't even seen a plot we liked in 18 months of looking so far.

You can find dual qualified solicitors that can handle both. 

The Scottish sale is only binding upon the conclusion of the meeting missives but I'd be upfront when making an initial offer that you've got the English property to sell.

davidmcn

dahj said:

ccbrowning said:

ProDave said:

You will need TWO solicitors, one to handle the English sale and a Scottish one to handle the Scottish purchase.  They need to communicate well.

We solved the issue when we moved by buying a building plot which we were able to do in advance of selling the English house, and then moved into a static caravan on the site while we built the house.

The other option is to rent a house up here for 6 months to give you chance to fins and buy the Scottish house.

Yeah that doesn't sound super fun. Not a much on the market where we've been looking (aside from tons of new builds on large estates). Building plot seems preferable to renting... really hate the idea of renting again. But, haven't even seen a plot we liked in 18 months of looking so far.

You can find dual qualified solicitors that can handle both.

I'm not sure you can, really? There are dual-qualified solicitors but I'm not aware of any working in firms which offer residential conveyancing in both jurisdictions.

MovingForwards

davidmcn said:

dahj said:

ccbrowning said:

ProDave said:

You will need TWO solicitors, one to handle the English sale and a Scottish one to handle the Scottish purchase.  They need to communicate well.

We solved the issue when we moved by buying a building plot which we were able to do in advance of selling the English house, and then moved into a static caravan on the site while we built the house.

The other option is to rent a house up here for 6 months to give you chance to fins and buy the Scottish house.

Yeah that doesn't sound super fun. Not a much on the market where we've been looking (aside from tons of new builds on large estates). Building plot seems preferable to renting... really hate the idea of renting again. But, haven't even seen a plot we liked in 18 months of looking so far.

You can find dual qualified solicitors that can handle both.

I'm not sure you can, really? There are dual-qualified solicitors but I'm not aware of any working in firms which offer residential conveyancing in both jurisdictions.

I've only found one firm up here who will handle both jurisdictions, based a lot further north.

ccbrowning

Thanks for all of the comments and help. Now if we could even find a place to rent (that took dogs) that we liked we could just sell + rent and look. I'd be willing to try two separate lawyers to buy if we actually saw something, but the market seems very hot right now.

Scotbot

I have moved very long distances due to work and always sold then rented in the new area. This allows you to get to know it and is less stressful financially.  I also have a dog and that has resulted in me renting places that were pretty shabby I but it was only short term. Explain you have a dog and offer to pay more rent each month. Someone will bite.

kate5555

Hi, exactly same situation here but we've decided to rent (with dog). We started looking in January and made some offers but were outbid on all of them. Post lockdown, we started looking again but didn't find a lot that we were really interested in and it didn't seem sensible to go for a house that wouldn't be a long term home. Plus we could only go to viewings on weekends and it was complicated to arrange a few in the same day, and travelling up there was tiring and time consuming. We also found properties were going under offer within days, before we'd even had our booked viewing.
So we've decided to sell our house in England and rent, which will make it easier when it comes to going to viewings and buying in the future. The rental property is definitely not a long term home and smaller than our current place, but I figured it doesn't need to be perfect as it will just be for a year or so. I struggled finding a suitable rental that accepts dogs via agency websites so I put a 'property wanted' advert on gumtree explaining about ourselves and our requirements and got quite a lot of responses from private landlords who were happy to accept dogs.