SELLING A HOUSE IN SCOTLAND
OUR ESTATE AGENCY SERVICE
Sturrock, Armstrong & Thomson’s experienced estate agency team will assist
you at every stage of selling your property. We offer invaluable advice on all
relevant aspects of the process with a view to achieving your goal of selling
your property at the best possible price.
One of our estate agency team will first come and visit you at your property.
They can discuss your requirements, provide you with an indication of your
property’s value and provide you with general advice in relation to the selling
process. We will also provide you with a very detailed and clear written
quotation for both the estate agency and conveyancing of your property, setting
out our fees and all the standard outlays.
Next, we visit your home in order to take measurements and details, for the
production of a sales brochure. We offer different styles of brochure, all of
which will be discussed with you. A cartography firm will produce a floor plan
of your property and a location plan for the sales brochure. We also arrange for
a professional photographer to take photos of your property. We will work with
you to complete the property questionnaire and arrange for surveyors to provide
the Single Survey and Energy Performance Certificate needed to complete the
Home Report. You will be given the opportunity to comment on the draft
schedule and Home Report before these are finalised and we will advise you on
any issues which arise out of the Survey Report.
In the east of Scotland around 90% of properties are sold through Solicitors
Property Centres (www.sspc.co.uk). Sturrock, Armstrong & Thomson are
members of the Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre (www.espc.com). All our
properties are advertised in the ESPC Centre, the new style ESPC weekly
newspaper and the ESPC website. In addition your property will also be
displayed in our property shop at 7a Dundas Street and in the window of our
office at 2 Randolph Place, whilst also being advertised on our own web site
and on the national web sites, Rightmove (www.rightmove.co.uk) and Zoopla
(www.zoopla.co.uk). Should you wish we can arrange for a for sale sign to be
displayed at your property. You would be surprised how many people are not
thinking of moving until they see a For Sale sign! Advertising in the Scotsman
and other local press will be discussed with you as an option.
LAW RELATING TO ESTATE AGENCY
It is now a legal requirement that all properties advertised must have a Home
Report. We will guide you through the Home Report process to ensure you are
fully compliant with the law. You should be aware of The Property
Misdescriptions Act 1991, which makes it an offence for an estate agent or a
property developer to make false or misleading statements in the course of their
business. Unfortunately it is perfectly possible to make an incorrect statement
entirely innocently. The Act itself is enforced by the local Trading Standards
Office. We therefore work closely with you to ensure compliance with all
appropriate legislation.
VIEWINGS
Edinburgh is rare, in that many sellers advertise their properties with Open
Viewings, often on a Thursday evening and a Sunday afternoon, so any
prospective purchaser can visit the property without making a specific
appointment. This is not for everyone and for a variety of reasons you may
prefer to have the property viewed by appointment only. We can arrange this
for you through our experienced property team. We always aim to follow up on
viewings and provide you with any feedback received.
COMMUNICATION
While your property is on the market we will keep you fully informed,
particularly if your property is taking longer than you might expect to sell. If
you wish to discuss any aspect of the marketing of your property at any time
then please do not hesitate to contact us.
NOTES OF INTEREST
Generally if a viewer is interested in purchasing your property they will register
a note of interest with us through their solicitor. If they request a copy of the
Home Report we will provide them with this on your behalf. You may find that
a viewer tries to discuss an offer with you personally but we would generally
advise that it is best their solicitor contact us so that we can negotiate on your
behalf. If you are lucky enough to generate more than one interested party in
your property, our property team will discuss with you setting a closing date for
receipt of offers. This means all interested parties submit an offer to us in
writing through their solicitors. There is no requirement to have a Closing Date.
We will always be willing to negotiate an offer with any interested party should
this be in your interests. Sometimes a purchaser may offer a good price to avoid
a closing date and accepting this may be to your advantage.
CLOSING DATE
Where it is appropriate to set a closing date, and you have agreed, a closing date
is set at a specific time, typically four to five days after the decision is made,
and all interested parties’ solicitors are advised that they should submit in
writing their “best offer”. Offers received will be discussed with you and any
appropriate advice given to enable you to decide which, if any, offer to accept.
There is no obligation on you as the seller to accept the highest, or indeed any,
offer.
MISSIVES
It is a common misconception in Scotland that a verbal offer means that a
property is sold. This is not the case. Certainly once an offer is received there
is a high probability of the sale running to conclusion but at that stage the
property is simply “under offer”. You must not therefore assume that your
property is irrevocably sold until your solicitor confirms that this is the case.
Once an Offer has been accepted verbally it will be passed to one of our
solicitors who will go through with you the whole conditions of the Offer and
identify any which you cannot or should not accept. Most Offers are made with
the Combined Standard Clauses (see below). A written conditional acceptance
is then sent by your solicitor on your behalf to the purchaser’s solicitor and only
when the purchaser’s solicitor sends a clean acceptance in writing to us does the
contract become binding on both buyer and seller. We usually aim to reach that
stage within around 10 days after the date upon which we receive the offer.
STANDARD CONDITIONS
While the most important parts of any offer for your property will be the price,
the date of entry (the date upon which the buyer wishes to move into your
property) and what is included in the price, there will be a number of additional
legal clauses. Almost certainly these clauses will be the Combined Standard
Clauses (2011) Edition. These clauses have been agreed by solicitors in
Glasgow, Edinburgh and the surrounding areas and cover all matters which a
normal purchaser would require to know for his or her proper protection while
at the same time being fair to the interests of a seller. It is intended that these
clauses should be acceptable to most sellers. As a result the introduction of
these clauses has been extremely successful, and resulted in the process of
buying and selling property being both quicker and less stressful. We will go
through with you all the conditions contained in the Standard Clauses so that
you fully understand the contract that you are entering into.
COMPLETION
On the date of entry, we will exchange the title deeds, keys and the signed deed
for the price of the property and, after settlement by us on your behalf of any
outstanding mortgage and the sale costs, the balance will be transferred to you
to bring to a conclusion the sale of your property.