Sale Conveyancing Solicitors in Scotland

Selling under Scots law

A sale in Scotland is front-loaded. You pay for a Home Report before marketing, the buyer's solicitor examines your title in the first few days after an offer is accepted, and the missives can be concluded within a couple of weeks. Most delays in a Scottish sale come from paperwork that could have been found and fixed before the property went on the market.

We act for sellers across Scotland on a fixed fee, with the outlays confirmed in writing. We work alongside your estate agent, and if you do not have one, we can tell you how the marketing and closing date process works so you can decide how to sell.

Before you market: getting ready

When you instruct us, we do the checks a buyer's solicitor will make, so there are no surprises later:

• Your title. We obtain your title sheet from the Land Register of Scotland, or your Sasine deeds if the property has never been registered, and check the boundaries and real burdens.
• Alterations. Under the Scottish Standard Clauses you must produce building warrants and completion certificates for alterations in the last 20 years, and planning permission for work in the last 10 years. If a document is missing, it is far cheaper to find a solution now than in the middle of the missives.
• Your mortgage. We ask your lender for a redemption figure so you know how much will be repaid at settlement.
• The Home Report. We check that it is less than 12 weeks old when the home goes on the market, and that the property questionnaire matches what we find in the title.
• Shared buildings. For a flat, we ask the factor for details of common charges and any repairs that have been agreed but not yet billed.
• Smoke and heat alarms. Scottish homes must have interlinked smoke and heat alarms, and carbon monoxide detectors where there is a fuel-burning appliance. Buyers' surveyors look for them, and the Scottish Standard Clauses now treat these alarms as fixtures included in the sale. Our guide to smoke and fire alarm rules when selling explains what is needed.

Our list of the documents you need to sell a house is a good place to start.

Notes of interest, closing dates and choosing an offer

When buyers' solicitors note interest, your agent can set a closing date so that everyone offers at the same time. Before the closing date, we talk you through what to look for besides the price: the date of entry, whether the buyer has a mortgage in principle or needs to sell first, and any conditions in the offer. The highest price is not always the safest offer, and we give you our view on each one so you can choose with confidence.

Missives and what you promise as a seller

After you accept an offer, we issue a qualified acceptance, usually on the Scottish Standard Clauses (Edition 6), and negotiate the terms with the buyer's solicitor. Edition 6 came into use from January 2025, and some of the promises it asks of you are worth knowing in advance:

• The central heating, drainage, electrical and plumbing systems will be in working order, allowing for their age, at the date of entry. Electrical and gas appliances are no longer covered by this warranty.
• You are not aware of flooding from a river or watercourse in the last five years, structural defects, Japanese knotweed or damp, unless you have disclosed them.
• All utility meters are inside the property, the property has been insured on normal terms, and no alteration has been made that would affect the council tax band.
• You remain liable for any council repair notice issued before the missives were concluded.

If something in the standard terms does not fit your property, we disclose or qualify it in the missives, rather than leaving you exposed after the sale. Our guide on what you must disclose when selling covers this in more detail.

Settlement day

On the date of entry, the buyer's solicitor sends the price to us by same-day bank transfer. Once it arrives, we tell your agent to release the keys. We then:

1. repay your mortgage in full, using the redemption figure from your lender
2. arrange for your lender's discharge to be registered, which we can do through the Registers of Scotland digital discharge service
3. pay the estate agent's fee and any other costs you have asked us to settle
4. send the balance to you, the same day wherever possible

If you are buying another home at the same time, the money from your sale goes straight into your purchase, and we coordinate both dates of entry so you move on the same day.

What a sale costs

Our sale fee starts from £880 plus VAT, on a fixed scale set by the price of the property (see our fees page). The outlays on a sale are usually modest: the property enquiry certificate, searches in the Land and Personal Registers, and the fee for the discharge of your mortgage (£60 through the digital discharge service). Sellers do not pay LBTT. Your quote sets out every figure before you instruct us, and our quote calculator will price a sale and purchase together.

If you are also buying, see our purchase conveyancing service, and our complete guide to selling a house in Scotland.