Raeside Chisholm Solicitors Blog

Aberdeenshire West MSP Alexander Burnett warns some movers may have bought new homes but been unable to sell their old ones before lockdown measures were introduced, and has called on the Scottish Government to introduce a grace period after lockdown is lifted, so they aren’t penalised for owning second homes.

The Corona Virus pandemic is likely to spark a boom in rural living, with working from home and multi-generational families becoming more common.

The ESPC have analysed the impact that Covid19 has had on the Scottish market.  Whilst there has been a marked decrease in both the volume of sales and the number of houses coming to the market since March, the analysis has found that this is because of the impact of social distancing measures and Scottish Government guidance, rather than lack of demand. 

Despite the uncertainty and the new restrictions on daily life imposed by the UK Government, several buyers still want to make property purchases.  We are still finding cases of buyers paying in excess of the Home Report valuation for a house or flat and many properties are still going to closing dates. This shows that buyers are still keen to secure property purchases, despite the Coronavirus pandemic.  If you want to go ahead with either a purchase or sale, our conveyancing team are pleased to be available to assist you and are able to deal with all matters remotely at this time.

The Law society of Scotland has agreed temporary measures with mortgage lenders that should unbock house sale transactions which are close to completion. Many transactions were put on hold after the Registers of Scotland closed their official register for new documents because of staff health risks due to the Coronavirus. It is great news that a technical legal fix has now been agreed, which means that most major lenders are able to release mortgage funds.