Purchase Conveyancing Solicitors in Scotland

What a Scottish purchase solicitor does for you

Buying a home in Scotland moves quickly at the start. Offers are often made within days of a viewing, and a closing date can be set with very little notice. The legal work that follows then decides whether you get what you think you are paying for: a good title, a property free of hidden bills, and a mortgage that is ready on the day.

We act for first-time buyers, home movers, buy-to-let investors and people buying a second home, on a fixed fee that we confirm in writing before you instruct us. The work is done by Scottish solicitors and paralegals who deal with purchases every day, under the supervision of our Head of Residential Conveyancing.

Step one: noting interest and making an offer

Once you have seen the Home Report and viewed the property, we can note your interest with the selling agent. That tells the agent you are serious and that you want to hear if a closing date is set. Noting interest costs you nothing and does not commit you.

When you are ready to offer, we prepare a formal written offer, usually based on the Scottish Standard Clauses (Edition 6), with any conditions you need added. That could be a condition about planning consent for a past extension, or a date of entry that fits your own sale. If there is a closing date, your offer must reach the agent by the stated time, and we talk you through how the price, the date of entry and any conditions might affect whether it is chosen.

Before you offer, make sure you have a mortgage in principle and that the lender's valuation is likely to support the price. In competitive areas, buyers often offer above the Home Report valuation, and any shortfall between the price and your mortgage has to come from your own funds.

Step two: the missives

If your offer is accepted, the seller's solicitor sends a qualified acceptance, and we negotiate the terms until everything is agreed. The missives are concluded when one side issues a final acceptance, and at that point you are in a binding contract.

Some of the Scottish Standard Clauses that protect you as a buyer:

• The seller must deliver a property enquiry certificate, and if it shows something materially prejudicial, you can withdraw within ten working days, unless the problem is resolved within six weeks.
• The seller remains liable for local authority repair notices issued before missives were concluded, and money can be retained at settlement to cover work not yet done.
• The seller must produce building warrants and completion certificates for alterations carried out in the last 20 years, and planning permission for work in the last 10 years.
• Smoke alarms, heat detectors and carbon monoxide alarms are included in the sale as fixtures.

Once the missives are concluded, the price must be paid in full on the date of entry. If it is paid late, interest runs at 4% above the Royal Bank of Scotland base rate, and the seller can eventually cancel the contract and claim damages. That is why we make sure your mortgage offer and deposit are in place before we conclude.

Step three: checking the title

This is where most of our work happens. We examine the title sheet in the Land Register of Scotland, or the older Sasine title if the property has never been registered, and check:

• that the seller owns what they are selling, and that the boundaries on the title plan match the property you viewed
• the real burdens, which can restrict how you use or alter the property, and the rules for sharing repairs to common parts (our guide to real burdens explains these)
• rights of access and servitudes for drains, pipes and shared driveways
• whether the road and footpath outside are adopted by the council
• the property enquiry certificate, the searches in the Land and Personal Registers, and a coal mining report in former mining areas

If we find a problem, we tell you in plain English what it means, what it could cost and what we suggest, before you are committed. Our guide to the searches a solicitor carries out in Scotland goes into more detail.

Step four: mortgage, tax and settlement

We usually act for your mortgage lender as well as for you. We report on the title to the lender, prepare the standard security, which is the Scottish name for a mortgage deed, and request the funds so they arrive in time for the date of entry.

In the days before settlement, we lodge an advance notice with Registers of Scotland. It protects your purchase for 35 days against competing deeds and against an inhibition registered against the seller. On the date of entry we send the price to the seller's solicitor, you collect the keys, and we submit your LBTT return to Revenue Scotland within the 30-day deadline. We then register the disposition and your lender's standard security in the Land Register, and send you confirmation when the title sheet shows you as owner.

Buying a new build

New homes are usually sold on the developer's own missives rather than the Scottish Standard Clauses, and there is normally no Home Report. The builder's terms tend to favour the builder, for example on completion dates and deposits, so we review the reservation agreement, the missives, the new-home warranty, the road and sewer adoption arrangements and any factoring for shared areas before you sign. We also check the warranty cover required by your lender.

What a purchase costs

Our purchase fee starts from £750 plus VAT. The main outlays on a typical home are:

If you have a mortgage, the standard security costs a further £80 to register. Searches and the property enquiry certificate are shown in your quote. The Registers of Scotland figures are the fees in force from 7 July 2026. For your own figures, use our instant quote calculator.

Ready to buy?

Instruct us as soon as you start viewing, so we can note interest the moment you find the right place. Our checklist for buying a property in Scotland sets out what to have ready, and if you are selling too, see our residential sale service.