Home Reports, offers and missives
Scotland's buying process is not England's, and the differences are the ones that cost money to learn late.
The Home Report comes first, and the seller pays for it
In Scotland the seller commissions a survey before the house is advertised, and has to make it available to anyone who asks. That is the Home Report, and it is in three parts. The single survey and valuation is a chartered surveyor's account of the property's condition and accessibility, the repairs it needs, and an opinion of what it is worth. The property questionnaire is completed by the seller and covers sixteen categories of the things a surveyor cannot see. The energy report carries the Energy Performance Certificate and an estimate of what the heating, lighting and hot water cost.
A seller or selling agent has to give you the Home Report within nine days of your asking for it. For anyone buying from a distance this is the single most useful document to have before spending a day and a fare on a viewing, and asking for it costs nothing.
Some properties are exempt. A house that has been on the market since before 1 December 2008 is exempt, as is a new house sold off-plan or to its first occupier, a newly converted home that has not been used in its converted state, a dual-use home used for both residential and other purposes, and a seasonal holiday home that can only be used at certain times of year. That last one does not mean any second home: a house you could use all year round is not exempt. An exempt property still needs an Energy Performance Certificate.
Noting interest, and what the price wording means
Once you are ready to bid, everything runs through solicitors. The first step is noting interest: your solicitor tells the seller's solicitor that you are interested. That is what puts you on the list to be told if a closing date is set, and it is why noting interest early on something you are serious about is worth doing before you have finished making up your mind.
If several buyers note interest, the seller sets a closing date. Sealed offers are submitted by that date, and the seller does not have to accept the highest one. Price usually decides it, but the date of entry you propose and the conditions you attach are part of what is being compared.
Two price qualifiers are in common use. Offers over £X means the figure shown is the minimum the seller is willing to accept: it invites offers above that figure rather than obliging the seller to take one at it, and the closing date above is how the choice is made. Fixed price £X means the seller is willing to accept the first firm offer at that price, so there is no bidding process to wait for. Other wordings turn up on adverts and carry no settled meaning, so treat anything that is not one of those two as a question for the selling agent. Every listing on this site shows the qualifier the agent published, alongside the price history since tracking began.
An offer itself is a letter from your solicitor to the seller's. It describes the property, names the price, names the date of entry you want, lists any items you are buying with the house, and sets out your conditions.
Missives, and the point of no return
The seller's side usually replies with a qualified acceptance, which accepts subject to conditions of their own. The letters that go back and forth from there are the missives. There is no binding contract until every condition has been accepted, and the moment that happens is called concluding missives.
This is the difference that catches out a buyer used to England and Wales. There, an accepted offer binds nobody until contracts are exchanged. Here, once missives conclude you are legally obliged to proceed, and pulling out afterwards can leave you liable to pay the seller thousands of pounds in damages. Everything conditional belongs on the near side of that line: the mortgage offer, whatever the survey turned up, anything you are waiting on.
What the solicitor does
A Scottish solicitor in a purchase does more than the word conveyancing suggests: noting interest, drafting and negotiating the offer, examining the title and the Home Report, concluding missives, settling on the date of entry and registering the new title. Many of the firms advertising property in the islands are solicitors as well as estate agents, and estate agency carried out by Scottish solicitors is regulated by the Law Society of Scotland. Which firms those are, and what the arrangement means when the same firm is marketing the house you want to buy, is set out in who sells property in the Outer Hebrides.
Land and Buildings Transaction Tax
LBTT is Scotland's replacement for stamp duty, collected by Revenue Scotland on its own bands. The rates below apply to transactions with an effective date on or after 1 April 2021.
| Purchase price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £145,000 | 0% |
| £145,001 to £250,000 | 2% |
| £250,001 to £325,000 | 5% |
| £325,001 to £750,000 | 10% |
| Over £750,000 | 12% |
The tax is worked out band by band, so only the slice of the price inside each band is charged at that band's rate. Revenue Scotland's own example is a £235,000 purchase, which pays £1,800. First-time buyer relief raises the nil rate band to £175,000 and is worth up to £600, so the same £235,000 purchase by a first-time buyer pays £1,200.
The Additional Dwelling Supplement is charged on top. For transactions on or after 5 December 2024 it is 8% of the purchase price, and it applies where you will own more than one residential property and are not replacing your only or main residence. It is not charged where the amount payable for the property is less than £40,000. Anyone buying an island house as a second home or a let while keeping a main residence elsewhere pays it, and on the prices most island houses sell at it is a larger sum than the LBTT underneath it.
The supplement can be reclaimed. Revenue Scotland's conditions are that you sell your previous property within 36 months of buying the new one, that the property you sold was your only or main residence at some time in the 36 months before you bought the one you paid the supplement on, and that you have lived in the new one as your only or main residence. That window was 18 months for transactions before 1 April 2024.
Rates and thresholds move with Scottish Budgets. Check revenue.scot for the figure that applies on the date of your own transaction rather than relying on any guide, this one included.
If the property is a croft
None of the above changes, but a good deal is added to it, and some of what is added can disqualify a buyer before price is discussed. See buying a croft or a house on a croft, and the crofts advertised today.
Sources
- mygov.scot, Home Report — the three parts, the nine days, and the exemptions. Checked 4 September 2026.
- mygov.scot, making an offer — noting interest, what the offer letter contains, qualified acceptance and missives. Checked 4 September 2026.
- Citizens Advice Scotland, buying a home in Scotland — offers over, fixed price, closing dates, and that the seller need not accept the highest offer. Checked 4 September 2026.
- Law Society of Scotland, buying and selling a property — what a solicitor does, and that solicitors' estate agency is regulated by the Society. Checked 4 September 2026.
- Revenue Scotland, LBTT residential rates and bands — the bands, the 1 April 2021 effective date, first-time buyer relief and the worked example. Checked 4 September 2026.
- Revenue Scotland, Additional Dwelling Supplement — the 8% rate from 5 December 2024, the £40,000 floor and the 36-month repayment conditions. Checked 4 September 2026.
Last checked 4 September 2026. Every source named above was read on that date, and rules, rates and timetables all move, so check the current position before you rely on a figure here. Corrections to hello@outerhebridesproperty.co.uk.