Missives to moving day: the Scottish house move timeline

First, the bit that makes Scotland different

In England a sale is not binding until exchange of contracts, which can happen very close to completion — and until then either side can walk away. In Scotland we do it differently, and mostly better.

Your offer goes in through a solicitor. If it is accepted, the two solicitors exchange a series of formal letters — the missives — negotiating the date of entry, what is included, and the conditions of sale. When both sides have agreed everything and the final letter is sent, the missives are concluded, and at that moment the deal is legally binding. Nobody can walk away without serious financial consequences. No gazumping, no last-minute collapse.

That is the good news. Now the catch that catches everyone.

The catch: concluded missives often come late

In practice, missives in Scotland frequently are not concluded until a week or two before the date of entry, sometimes days before. Mortgage conditions, surveys, title queries on a 120-year-old tenement — the letters go back and forth while the calendar keeps moving.

Which creates the great Scottish moving dilemma: your removal date is agreed months in advance, but your legal certainty arrives at the last minute. So people wait for concluded missives before booking a remover, just to be safe, and then discover that every decent removal company in Glasgow is fully booked for their date of entry — because their date of entry is, of course, the last Friday of the month.

How to book a remover the Scottish way

The moment a date of entry is agreed in principle, book. Not when missives conclude. The date of entry is negotiated early and it rarely moves once both sides have agreed it. A reputable firm will hold your date provisionally, and any firm worth hiring will be understanding about conveyancing delays — we see them weekly.

Ask one question when you book: what happens if my date of entry shifts? The answer tells you everything about who you are dealing with. For what it is worth, ours is that we move the booking and do not punish you for your solicitor’s inbox.

Get your quote done early with a video survey — ten minutes on your phone, weeks before you have keys. Then the booking is one phone call when things firm up.

And do not confuse concluded missives with job done. Between conclusion and entry your solicitor is finalising the standard security, and your LBTT — Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, Scotland’s version of stamp duty — is handled around settlement. Nothing to pay on the day, but it is in your completion statement: nothing on the first £145,000, or £175,000 if you are a first-time buyer, then banded above that.

The timeline, start to finish

Offer accepted, week zero. Instruct your solicitor on missives, confirm your mortgage offer is progressing, and pencil in your removal company for the proposed date of entry. If you are selling too, your Home Report has already done the survey heavy lifting.

Missives in progress, weeks one to four. The letters fly between solicitors. Your jobs: video survey and firm quote; start decluttering, because you are paying to move volume; order boxes or book packing. If you are leaving a flat in a controlled parking zone in Glasgow, the council needs at least 9 full working days’ notice for a parking suspension — count backwards from your date of entry and diary it.

Missives concluded. The legally binding moment. Confirm your removal booking from provisional to firm. Book time off work. Start packing everything you will not touch for a month — books first, they are always the shock. Arrange your Royal Mail redirect and start the address list: bank, GP, council tax, insurers, DVLA.

The final week. Confirm timings with your remover. Pack a first-night box. Defrost the freezer. Take meter readings and photograph them. Set aside documents, keys, jewellery and medication to travel with you, not in the van.

Date of entry. One more Scottish quirk: you do not get the keys at 9am. Settlement happens between solicitors during the day — funds transfer, then keys are released, often around lunchtime or later. A crew that knows Scotland loads in the morning so the van is ready to roll the moment your solicitor phones. A crew working off the English playbook sits outside your new house at 8am wondering where the keys are.

After the van leaves. Final meter readings at both ends, register with the new council for council tax, and tell your home insurer that cover needs to start at the new address from the date of entry — because from settlement, that building is yours.

The one-line version

England: book everything at exchange. Scotland: book everything when the date of entry is agreed, hold it provisionally, and confirm at conclusion of missives.

Every Glasgow removal firm that has been at this a while works this way. If the one you have phoned does not understand the question, phone another one.

Common questions

Should I book before or after missives are concluded? Book provisionally as soon as the date of entry is agreed in principle, then confirm when missives conclude. Waiting often means your date — usually a month-end Friday — is already gone.

What does conclusion of missives actually mean? It is the point at which the exchange of formal letters between the two solicitors is complete and the sale becomes legally binding on both sides.

What time do you get keys on the date of entry? Usually not first thing. Keys are released once settlement completes — commonly around midday or early afternoon, sometimes later.

Is there stamp duty in Scotland? Scotland has LBTT instead. Nothing to pay on the first £145,000, or £175,000 for first-time buyers, with banded rates above that. Your solicitor handles it at settlement.

Can my date of entry change after I have booked? It can, though it is uncommon once agreed in missives. Use a firm that will move your booking without penalty — ask them directly before you book.