Buying a home with us

Buying a new home is always a major investment, both financially and emotionally. We can assist you through this complicated process so that your stress levels remain as low as possible.

We have one of the largest residential property teams in Scotland and more than 25 years’ experience of helping people buy and sell their homes. We can assist with negotiating your purchase and/or sale and advising at closing dates.

The buying process in Scotland

There are five distinct steps in the buying process, which we will endeavour to make as simple as possible.

1. Choosing

The correct advisers can make all the difference to the process of choosing a property. While many people start by looking online at properties the best person to start with is your solicitor.

Our Residential Property team are specialists with wide-ranging experience and a clear focus on all the issues. We can advise you about the different areas you may be interested in and point you in the direction of estate agents with a strong presence in the area.

2. Surveying

Since 2008 all properties coming to the market require to have a Home Report on the condition of the property. Whilst this can be helpful, Home Reports do not always provide all the information a prospective purchaser requires. We can examine the Home Report for the property you are interested in, and provide you with advice as to whether or not any further investigations into the condition of the property are required. If any further investigations by surveyors, structural engineers or timber specialists are required we can co-ordinate these for you.

3. Negotiating

There is no magic formula for calculating how much to offer for your desired property, however, we have a great deal of experience to place at your disposal. We can either negotiate a price with the seller (or their solicitor or agent) or advise you on negotiation tactics should you wish to deal with the seller direct. Where a closing date for bids on the property has been set, we can assist by making sure you are aware of which facts to focus on at the closing date and how to convert these facts into a price.

It is always important to remember you are not just investing in bricks and mortar, but you are purchasing a quality of life for you and your family. Only you can truly decide how much that is worth to you. We will provide you with advice on the level at which you should bid, taking into account the valuation of the property, the number of competing bids likely and your own personal circumstances.

4. Financing

How you will fund the purchase and how you wish to arrange your funding should be considered at an early stage. For the vast majority, a mortgage will be required. Whilst you may get lucky sourcing your own mortgage either online or with your own bank, it is likely that for a modest fee, a financial adviser will be able to obtain a better deal for you. Financial advisers may also have access to mortgages not available to borrowers directly on the web or through the branch of their bank or building society. We have contacts with several financial advisers and will be happy to suggest someone who can sort out the whole funding headache for you.

5. Conveyancing

As specialist conveyancing practitioners, who deal with the purchase and sale of property day in and day out, we understand that you are not just buying a house, but are perhaps buying your dream home. Subject to your instructions we will negotiate the missive, or purchase contract. We will forward to you copies of all of the contractual stages of the missive and will keep you advised of all progress made in the conclusion of same. On your behalf, we will:

  • Examine the title deeds to your property.
  • Provide you with a copy of these for your own information.
  • Raise any relevant observations on the title with the seller’s solicitors to ensure that you receive a valid title to the property you are purchasing.
  • Ensure that there are no matters contained with the titles which could materially adversely affect your interest in the property. This will guarantee that you encounter no difficulties when you come to sell the property later.
  • After settlement, a full statement laying out all financial aspects of the transaction will be sent to you and we will attend to the registration of your title and any loan documents in favour of your lender. As soon as the Land Register has returned your title documents to us, we will forward to you a copy of your title and the principal documents, where you have a mortgage, to your lender for their safekeeping, if required by them
Keep up to date with the latest property for sale

For full details and colour photographs of all the properties we have for sale or lease, please view our property list.

Useful links

Harper Macleod Personal Legal Services
Details of the other personal legal services we provide

Harper Macleod Services for Businesses & Organisations
Details of our commercial & public sector legal services

The Highland Council - Council Tax
Details of the Council Tax rates in Inverness

Registers of Scotland
Scotland's national land and property registers

The Law Society of Scotland
The governing body of Shetland solicitors

Crofting Commission
Regulators of the crofting system

SPC Scotland

Highland Solicitors Property Centre

Estate Agency Shetland
Property in Shetland from our Harper Macleod colleagues

  • The service we received was first class from Susan who took us through the sale process so professionally from start to finish. The understanding and care was greatly appreciated.
    Dylis Stretton
  • We found that during the selling of our house and the buying of our new property that everything was very professionally handled by Harper Macleod staff and in particular by yourself. At the time of selling and buying can be a very anxious time but you managed to ease it along for us causing us very little to no stress at all. Once again I can only say thanks to you for all that you did for us.
    Charlie Ross
  • I can confirm I was happy with the estate agency service provided for the sale of my property and was more than happy to recommend the service to others.
    Graeme Johnston
  • I am absolutely delighted with the way in which Harper Macleod handled the sale of y house. Everyone involved was incredibly helpful and I could not have asked for a more supportive service. The fabulous photos created by the property department resulted in a huge number of hits online and I was inundated with requests to view.

    The experience, knowledge and understanding of their legal team meant that the sale was completed swiftly and efficiently.

    Thanks to the team at Harper Macleod, the sale of my house was more successful than I could ever have hoped for.
    Donna Munro-Main
  • Harper Macleod's house sale package was a huge bonus keeping our costs fixed and predictable. However, looking back we felt, most importantly, very reassured by your compliments on the attractiveness of our property and your confidence in our prospects for a sale. Your experienced estimate of how long it would probably take was helpful for our plans and indeed proved to be exactly as you forecast.

    Being a complex sale of several adjoining parts you seemed quite positive about the outcome and promoted the brochure with your excellent photos to a wide range of buyers and steered the viewings carefully to a successful conclusion. Your professionalism and confidence in completing all these taks on our behalf was so much appreciated. Certainly we would recommend your services and Harper Macleod in general - indeed have done so already.
    Rob and Lyn Howard
  • I am delighted with the service I received and would again pass on my thanks to you, Susan, and the rest of the team. I shall certainly recommend your firm to any of my colleagues and friends requiring legal assistance North of the Border.
    Graham Ford
  • The marketing of the property and communication with regard to the sale has been superb.
    Drew Logie
  • I used Harper Macleod to sell my property, from the moment I first contacted them I found them to be extremely helpful and efficient, they made the whole selling process stress and hassle free, I thoroughly recommend them.
    Zoe Adams
  • From the initial contact to the final transfer you were most helpful, professional and effective and always reacted in a prompt and friendly manner. It was indeed a pleasure to work with you on the sale.

    From your company's standpoint, the one-stop-shop, single contact point approach to marketing and conveyancing, I see as a strong competitive advantage for HM, and a welcome simplification for the client. It does however require multi-skilled professionals to operate successfully in this manner and we admired your proficiency in meeting both the marketing and legal requirements throughout.

    Thank you Susan for all your help.
    Ron Lamond
  • A highly professional yet friendly, personal service ensured the sale of our house was stress free from start to finish. I would definitely recommend Harper Macleod for their local knowledge and great value for money.
    Hannah