Scottish vs English Conveyancing: 10 Key Differences

1. Scotland has its own legal system

This is the foundation everything else rests on. Scots property law is not a variant of English law: it is a separate legal tradition with different roots, different terminology and different procedure. A solicitor qualified in England and Wales cannot act on a Scottish conveyance, and vice versa. If you are moving between the jurisdictions you will need a solicitor at each end.

2. Missives, not exchange of contracts

In England, the binding moment is exchange of contracts. Before exchange either side can walk away without penalty; after exchange, withdrawing means losing your deposit and potentially facing a claim.

In Scotland there is no exchange. Instead, solicitors negotiate through a formal series of letters called missives. An offer is made, a qualified acceptance responds with conditions, further letters resolve those conditions, and when everything is agreed the missives are concluded. That is the binding moment. Once missives are concluded, the contract is complete.

3. Gazumping works differently

Because Scottish missives are typically concluded earlier in the process than English exchange, the window in which a seller can accept a higher offer is shorter. This is why Scotland is often described as having less gazumping. The description is broadly fair but not absolute, before missives conclude, a Scottish seller can still accept a better offer.

The trade-off is that Scottish buyers commit earlier, which means surveys and mortgage arrangements need to be further advanced before offering.

4. The Home Report

Scottish sellers must provide a Home Report before marketing, containing a single survey and valuation, an energy report and a property questionnaire. Buyers get substantive condition information before they offer, at the seller's expense.

England has no equivalent. English buyers commission and pay for their own survey, and typically do so after an offer is accepted, meaning money is spent on a property that may still fall through.

5. Offers over, and closing dates

Scottish properties are frequently marketed at an "offers over" figure, with a closing date set when interest is strong. All interested parties submit sealed bids by a deadline. There is no public auction dynamic and no opportunity to improve on a rival bid.

The English model (an asking price, negotiation, and an accepted offer subject to contract) allows more back and forth but leaves both parties uncommitted for longer.

6. Solicitor estate agency and property centres

In Scotland, solicitors commonly act as estate agents as well as conveyancers, marketing properties through solicitors' property centres: ASPC in Aberdeen, ESPC in Edinburgh, HSPC in the Highlands and SSPC across Tayside and Fife. These are cooperative marketing platforms owned by member firms.

This is largely unknown in England, where estate agency and legal work are almost always separate businesses.

7. Different property taxes

Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, collected by Revenue Scotland. England and Northern Ireland charge Stamp Duty Land Tax, collected by HMRC. Wales charges Land Transaction Tax.

The differences are not cosmetic. Scotland's nil-rate band starts at £145,000 against £125,000 in England, and Scottish first-time buyer relief lifts that to £175,000 with no upper price cap: whereas English first-time buyer relief is lost entirely above £500,000.

8. The second-home surcharge is much heavier in Scotland

This is the difference that catches people out most expensively. England's additional property surcharge is 5%, applied band by band. Scotland's Additional Dwelling Supplement is 8%, and it is charged on the whole purchase price as a single sum.

On a £300,000 second home, that is £24,000 in Scotland against £15,000 in England, a £9,000 difference on the same purchase price. ADS is refundable if you sell your previous main residence within 36 months.

9. Different land registers

Completed Scottish titles are registered with Registers of Scotland, which operates the Land Register of Scotland alongside the older General Register of Sasines. English titles go to HM Land Registry. The registers work differently, and Scotland's transition from Sasines to the Land Register is still ongoing, which occasionally affects older titles.

10. Different regulators and quality marks

Scottish solicitors are regulated by the Law Society of Scotland. English and Welsh solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and licensed conveyancers by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers.

The Conveyancing Quality Scheme, the accreditation most English mortgage lenders require, is a Law Society of England and Wales scheme and does not apply in Scotland. Scottish buyers should not expect to see it, and its absence on a Scottish firm means nothing at all.

Buying across the border

If you are selling in one jurisdiction and buying in the other, you will need solicitors in both, and the two timelines do not naturally align. A Scottish sale becomes binding at conclusion of missives; an English purchase becomes binding at exchange. Coordinating those two moments takes deliberate management, and it is worth telling both firms at the outset that a cross-border transaction is involved.

Budget carefully, too. Someone selling in Scotland and buying a second property in England, or the reverse, can face a materially different tax bill than expected.

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