Concluding missives in Scotland - how late is normal?

Eilidh1970

EssexHebridean said:

Congratulations - I hope everything goes smoothly tomorrow! 

Thank you!

sheramber

Eilidh1970 said:

Missives concluded at 4.20pm the day before the move, and a lesson learned to try and avoid becoming part of a chain next time!

I was not in a chain. 

I was a cash buyer and my seller was moving to an empty house. 

MADMEN

To be clear, this isn’t how things normally work in Scotland. It sounds like the solicitor hasn’t done the Scottish system justice — standard missives were introduced in Scotland and were specifically designed to streamline the process and avoid this kind of uncertainty. It’s the English system that allows last-minute signing, which, as you say, is a complete nightmare when everything is already booked and you’re still none the wiser. If your buyer is from England then this will be the hold up. 

user1977

MADMEN said:

To be clear, this isn’t how things normally work in Scotland. It sounds like the solicitor hasn’t done the Scottish system justice — standard missives were introduced in Scotland and were specifically designed to streamline the process and avoid this kind of uncertainty.

Depends how you interpret "normally"! As I mentioned upthread, it's often not what happens in practice. The standard form of missives may be streamlined but there are more reasons for delays, people being reluctant to commit too early, and any deal can only occur as quickly as the slowest solicitor in the chain. 

Eilidh1970

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81841584#Comment_81841584

There wasn't any involvement of the English system in our chain. From what I have heard, last minute conclusion of missives is becoming more the norm here, unfortunately. In our case it turned out that the people at the bottom of the chain were first time buyers relying on money from a Help to Buy ISA, and apparently these are notorious for causing hold ups. Their solicitor was on holiday at the crucial time and no one was given the task of chasing up the funds for their purchase, so it all sat there until the very last minute.