English buyers in Scotland

jaxjax123

So we’ve had an offer on our house and things are moving along. We like the idea of moving to Scotland. We found a property, went to view it. We liked it enough to want to proceed. I called the agent told them we were interested and asked for guidance. Their response was that Scottish sellers don’t accept offers from English buyers. 

Has anyone else experienced this? 

theoretica

Hmm - could have been simple anti-Sassenach, but assuming it was not they could have meant that Scottish purchases don't fit into a chain with English sales at all well. I have seen advice that English home sellers should have exchanged contracts before offering on Scottish properties.

To put in a formal offer in Scotland you would need a solicitor to do it for you, and they could advise if you ar ein a position to do so.

canaldumidi

jaxjax123 said:

....Their response was that Scottish sellers don’t accept offers from English buyers. 

The Scottish buying process is very different and I believe you need a solicitor to make the offer on your behalf (happy to be corrected). So perhaps they mean they only accept offers from a (Scottish) conveyancing solicitor on behalf of an English buyer.

If they genuinely won't sell to anyone English, that would be illegal.

user1977

You'll need a Scottish solicitor at an early stage anyway, so I suggest you find one and then they can guide you through the process.

But obviously it's pretty commonplace for people from outside Scotland to buy here, so as above I suspect they either meant (a) they won't treat an offer personally from you as being as meaningful as a formal one from your solicitor, and/or (b) being "sold" in England (but still subject to contract) isn't as proceedable as being "sold" in Scotland, given the difference in typical timescales before a binding contract is reached.

jaxjax123

canaldumidi said:

jaxjax123 said:

....Their response was that Scottish sellers don’t accept offers from English buyers. 

The Scottish buying process is very different and I believe you need a solicitor to make the offer on your behalf (happy to be corrected). So perhaps they mean they only accept offers from a (Scottish) conveyancing solicitor on behalf of an English buyer.

If they genuinely won't sell to anyone English, that would be illegal.

She said that they had been stung too many times due to the English process taking too long creating chain failures. 

jaxjax123

theoretica said:

Hmm - could have been simple anti-Sassenach, but assuming it was not they could have meant that Scottish purchases don't fit into a chain with English sales at all well. I have seen advice that English home sellers should have exchanged contracts before offering on Scottish properties.

To put in a formal offer in Scotland you would need a solicitor to do it for you, and they could advise if you ar ein a position to do so.

We have decided we’ll wait until we have exchanged contracts then look at the houses available again. Things are selling so quickly. 

jaxjax123

user1977 said:

You'll need a Scottish solicitor at an early stage anyway, so I suggest you find one and then they can guide you through the process.

But obviously it's pretty commonplace for people from outside Scotland to buy here, so as above I suspect they either meant (a) they won't treat an offer personally from you as being as meaningful as a formal one from your solicitor, and/or (b) being "sold" in England (but still subject to contract) isn't as proceedable as being "sold" in Scotland, given the difference in typical timescales before a binding contract is reached.

Ah, I didn’t realise we’d need a Scottish solicitor. I imagined we could use the one we are using for our sale. 

canaldumidi

jaxjax123 said:

canaldumidi said:

jaxjax123 said:

....Their response was that Scottish sellers don’t accept offers from English buyers. 

The Scottish buying process is very different and I believe you need a solicitor to make the offer on your behalf (happy to be corrected). So perhaps they mean they only accept offers from a (Scottish) conveyancing solicitor on behalf of an English buyer.

If they genuinely won't sell to anyone English, that would be illegal.

She said that they had been stung too many times due to the English process taking too long creating chain failures. 

Then that sounds like illegal discrimination.

user1977

jaxjax123 said:

user1977 said:

You'll need a Scottish solicitor at an early stage anyway, so I suggest you find one and then they can guide you through the process.

But obviously it's pretty commonplace for people from outside Scotland to buy here, so as above I suspect they either meant (a) they won't treat an offer personally from you as being as meaningful as a formal one from your solicitor, and/or (b) being "sold" in England (but still subject to contract) isn't as proceedable as being "sold" in Scotland, given the difference in typical timescales before a binding contract is reached.

Ah, I didn’t realise we’d need a Scottish solicitor. I imagined we could use the one we are using for our sale. 

They'll have absolutely no idea about Scottish law or processes.

theoretica

canaldumidi said:

jaxjax123 said:

canaldumidi said:

jaxjax123 said:

....Their response was that Scottish sellers don’t accept offers from English buyers. 

The Scottish buying process is very different and I believe you need a solicitor to make the offer on your behalf (happy to be corrected). So perhaps they mean they only accept offers from a (Scottish) conveyancing solicitor on behalf of an English buyer.

If they genuinely won't sell to anyone English, that would be illegal.

She said that they had been stung too many times due to the English process taking too long creating chain failures. 

Then that sounds like illegal discrimination.

I don't think so, it sounds like accepting proceedable buyers only. 

jaxjax123

user1977 said:

jaxjax123 said:

user1977 said:

You'll need a Scottish solicitor at an early stage anyway, so I suggest you find one and then they can guide you through the process.

But obviously it's pretty commonplace for people from outside Scotland to buy here, so as above I suspect they either meant (a) they won't treat an offer personally from you as being as meaningful as a formal one from your solicitor, and/or (b) being "sold" in England (but still subject to contract) isn't as proceedable as being "sold" in Scotland, given the difference in typical timescales before a binding contract is reached.

Ah, I didn’t realise we’d need a Scottish solicitor. I imagined we could use the one we are using for our sale. 

They'll have absolutely no idea about Scottish law or processes.

Thank you. This is all a massive learning curve for us. We knew it was different we didn’t realise it was quite so different.