Moving to Scotland
Discussion
Anyone moved from England to Scotland?
How have you found it, both with regards to different rules etc and the locals and just day to day life?
We are considering a move to a semi rural area. We have found a place that we like a lot. We know the local area as we used to go up to that part of Scotland quite a bit when we had a camper. Its about 5 min drive from the local village which has most amenities and about 20 minute drive to a much bigger town.
Weather? I am not bothered but the mrs is convinced its going to be baltic 11 months of the year. Its only an hour north of the Lake District.
I think the only negative I can find is that the internet is just ADSL. I guess we would need starlink for good speeds?
The property we are looking at is basically 2 self contained cottages which are joined together. So in theory we could air bnb one half in the summer? Any issues with that in Scotland?
Also major advantage is a good size barn / workshop.....
How have you found it, both with regards to different rules etc and the locals and just day to day life?
We are considering a move to a semi rural area. We have found a place that we like a lot. We know the local area as we used to go up to that part of Scotland quite a bit when we had a camper. Its about 5 min drive from the local village which has most amenities and about 20 minute drive to a much bigger town.
Weather? I am not bothered but the mrs is convinced its going to be baltic 11 months of the year. Its only an hour north of the Lake District.
I think the only negative I can find is that the internet is just ADSL. I guess we would need starlink for good speeds?
The property we are looking at is basically 2 self contained cottages which are joined together. So in theory we could air bnb one half in the summer? Any issues with that in Scotland?
Also major advantage is a good size barn / workshop.....
r3g said:
D&G = eaten alive by midges whenever it's humid. Amplify that by 10x if there are any bodies of water within a few miles radius. Property there is cheap for a reason.
That Fermit the Frog guy on here had a near identical thread a few months back. Do a search on his moniker as there were a lot of posts in it.
Hm weird, we spent a few summers up there and never had any major issues, yeah there were some but not loads. I have been up in the highlands and its been bad, really bad, but never down in the south? Maybe we were just lucky?That Fermit the Frog guy on here had a near identical thread a few months back. Do a search on his moniker as there were a lot of posts in it.
sherman said:
What rules do you want to know about?
Water is part of council tax for instance.
Prescriptions are free.
There are secobd home tax issues but I dont know how that would work with your 2 houses you have bought as 1 purchase?
I saw the water thing when I looked up the council tax. So will we pay waste water too?Water is part of council tax for instance.
Prescriptions are free.
There are secobd home tax issues but I dont know how that would work with your 2 houses you have bought as 1 purchase?
Edited by sherman on Monday 29th April 21:42
Are there any rules to know about when buying property? Is SDLT the same?
Didn't know about prescriptions so thats good.
We are currently in Lancashire so its not like we are moving from the SE.
That said our house here is a good sized detached and will get us a nice place up there.
No kids and retired so in reality we can go anywhere, but I would prefer to stay within 3 hours of "home" just for family etc.
That gives us the options of
N Wales. Spent a lot of time there, never really found anywhere we liked to actually live.
North Yorkshire. Lovely area, but property prices in the nicer areas are too high for us.
Lake District. Too expensive and too touristy.
Shropshire. Don't know it and seems a bit flat and boring from my limited time there.
SW Scotland. We like the area, property prices are 30-40% lower than say the Lake District. .
The area we are looking is rural enough but still has a small town very close and a larger town within 15-20 min.
We always wanted to retire to France, but having spent quite a bit of time there last year (2 months nearly in the end) we decided against it. SW Scotland seems like a close second, it reminds us very much of SW France. I guess just not quite as warm in summer!!! (And it was colder than Scotland I can assure you LOL!)
TBH the Scottish winters wont bother us too much as we like to travel and since we retired our goal is to spend at least Nov - Feb out of the UK somewhere warmer.
That said our house here is a good sized detached and will get us a nice place up there.
No kids and retired so in reality we can go anywhere, but I would prefer to stay within 3 hours of "home" just for family etc.
That gives us the options of
N Wales. Spent a lot of time there, never really found anywhere we liked to actually live.
North Yorkshire. Lovely area, but property prices in the nicer areas are too high for us.
Lake District. Too expensive and too touristy.
Shropshire. Don't know it and seems a bit flat and boring from my limited time there.
SW Scotland. We like the area, property prices are 30-40% lower than say the Lake District. .
The area we are looking is rural enough but still has a small town very close and a larger town within 15-20 min.
We always wanted to retire to France, but having spent quite a bit of time there last year (2 months nearly in the end) we decided against it. SW Scotland seems like a close second, it reminds us very much of SW France. I guess just not quite as warm in summer!!! (And it was colder than Scotland I can assure you LOL!)
TBH the Scottish winters wont bother us too much as we like to travel and since we retired our goal is to spend at least Nov - Feb out of the UK somewhere warmer.
Jasey_ said:
Watch out for the additional house supplement on the lbtt .
https://revenue.scot/calculate-tax/calculate-prope...
Basically if you are buying a 2nd home it's double the stamp duty and if the house is a reasonable size it's can be a big number.
Ah. Thanks for that. No we would be selling ours but I wasnt aware just how high the SDLT is.https://revenue.scot/calculate-tax/calculate-prope...
Basically if you are buying a 2nd home it's double the stamp duty and if the house is a reasonable size it's can be a big number.
So for the property we are looking at the SDLT would be about 5% of the total price.
In England closer to 2.5%. Hm. Ok thanks.
sherman said:
gotoPzero said:
Winter
It snowed last week.Get used to the saying
“Ne'er cast a clout till May is out,”
Winter starts around November but finishes around May.
Now we are home it will be glorious!
Thanks all, some great info. We are still looking but at the moment there is not a lot for sale in the general area that meets what we want.
The house we saw the other day would be prefect and is really nice but as with all things like this nice stuff at a good price attracts a lot of attention and the agent says negotiations are under way with 3 parties, so I think that actually place will evade us. But we are still looking. Will prob go back up over the early summer to have another look around.
The house we saw the other day would be prefect and is really nice but as with all things like this nice stuff at a good price attracts a lot of attention and the agent says negotiations are under way with 3 parties, so I think that actually place will evade us. But we are still looking. Will prob go back up over the early summer to have another look around.
500 ish. But something like that would be way to big for us and needs work.
We are looking for something 2500-3000sq ft with 1-2 acres. Something with good size rooms and ready to move into.
Plenty of space for cars, out door stuff etc but not too big that I cant look after it.
This is not the one we are looking at, but something like this is what we are thinking
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/147231878#/...
We are looking for something 2500-3000sq ft with 1-2 acres. Something with good size rooms and ready to move into.
Plenty of space for cars, out door stuff etc but not too big that I cant look after it.
This is not the one we are looking at, but something like this is what we are thinking
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/147231878#/...
Thanks for the last few posters this is exactly what info I was after I knew the process was different but didnt know a few things.
So, if we want to make an offer on somewhere does ours need to be SSTC first to have any hope of being taken seriously?
Also, do all offers have to go through solicitors? (I have read it does)
It kind of seems to me that chains are not so much of a thing. Which is an issue for us as we don't have 500k just sitting in the bank so would 100% need to sell our current house and then wait for the chain to progress.
As our current house is what I would call a mid life type home I doubt we will get a first time buyer so I expect we would likely get someone who is in a chain? Is this an issue?
I was kind of hoping it would be simple... but all my good ideas turn into very complicated situations!!!
So, if we want to make an offer on somewhere does ours need to be SSTC first to have any hope of being taken seriously?
Also, do all offers have to go through solicitors? (I have read it does)
It kind of seems to me that chains are not so much of a thing. Which is an issue for us as we don't have 500k just sitting in the bank so would 100% need to sell our current house and then wait for the chain to progress.
As our current house is what I would call a mid life type home I doubt we will get a first time buyer so I expect we would likely get someone who is in a chain? Is this an issue?
I was kind of hoping it would be simple... but all my good ideas turn into very complicated situations!!!
sherman said:
gotoPzero said:
Thanks for the last few posters this is exactly what info I was after I knew the process was different but didnt know a few things.
So, if we want to make an offer on somewhere does ours need to be SSTC first to have any hope of being taken seriously?
Also, do all offers have to go through solicitors? (I have read it does)
It kind of seems to me that chains are not so much of a thing. Which is an issue for us as we don't have 500k just sitting in the bank so would 100% need to sell our current house and then wait for the chain to progress.
As our current house is what I would call a mid life type home I doubt we will get a first time buyer so I expect we would likely get someone who is in a chain? Is this an issue?
I was kind of hoping it would be simple... but all my good ideas turn into very complicated situations!!!
Yes you will need to be able to show the 'cash' is ready to go. Mortgage in principle and sale STCSo, if we want to make an offer on somewhere does ours need to be SSTC first to have any hope of being taken seriously?
Also, do all offers have to go through solicitors? (I have read it does)
It kind of seems to me that chains are not so much of a thing. Which is an issue for us as we don't have 500k just sitting in the bank so would 100% need to sell our current house and then wait for the chain to progress.
As our current house is what I would call a mid life type home I doubt we will get a first time buyer so I expect we would likely get someone who is in a chain? Is this an issue?
I was kind of hoping it would be simple... but all my good ideas turn into very complicated situations!!!
You will need to put your offer in through your solicitor. Theres very little direct contact with the actual seller.
Unless they are there at the viewing the chances of you meeting are slim.
Chains are still a thing. Money will all transfer on the same day in a chain usually.
It may take all day for the chain to reach you though so dont expect the keys by 9.05am.
We got the keys just after lunch and we were at the bottom of the chain.
We moved in the next day.
Blackpuddin said:
Another thing on the climate, we used to have a timeshare on the Oban (west) Gulf Stream coast. Our weeks were in Feb. You could go there one year and be up to your knees in snow, and then go the next year, also in Feb, and be sweltering (sort of) in a T-shirt.
OP: if you like views, which you obviously do judging by that beautiful Peebles place you put up earlier, have you considered Brecon Beacons/Black Mountains? £500k will get you a decent (small) smallholding with outbuildings, not in the Beacons park itself but on the outskirts of it.
I will have a look cheers.OP: if you like views, which you obviously do judging by that beautiful Peebles place you put up earlier, have you considered Brecon Beacons/Black Mountains? £500k will get you a decent (small) smallholding with outbuildings, not in the Beacons park itself but on the outskirts of it.
Yes we want something thats got space around it, so either in a small village or on the outskirts. Good views. Maybe 20 mins to local town by car.
That sort of thing.
Thanks. We have 3 places we are interested in, I am going to speak to the agents next week but from what people have said I wont be holding my breath because all of them are new to the market so I guess they will want to see how it goes locally first.
Wouldn't particularly want to move into rented tbh. My mrs would be even less keen.
Wouldn't particularly want to move into rented tbh. My mrs would be even less keen.
duncancallum said:
Rub it in haha. Our house is back on the market so we are just waiting for any offers before we can really go further.
Assuming we get that far!
I am checking right move a couple of times a day. There has only really been a couple of places so far that have ticked all the must haves that are within budget.
The good news is the mrs is maybe becoming a bit more amenable to selling here and then being a cash buyer.
rustyuk said:
I'd 100% rent before buying something. We did a similar move but stayed in England and really wished we had rented first to get a feel for each area.
Just out of curiosity I had a look on RM at rentals and TBH there isnt much out there in that area thats suitable for us.I will keep my eye on it though.
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