In a Scottish move the purchase and the sale are meant to settle together, on one date of entry. Often the timing does not cooperate: the right house comes up, a closing date is set, and your own home has not sold. What you can do next depends less on the mortgage market than on your own numbers — how much equity you have, what you could afford if you briefly owned two homes, and how firm your sale is. This guide sets out the routes people commonly consider and what each one depends on. Which of them, if any, suits you is a question for advice.
Looking for advice on your own situation rather than the general picture? Our remortgage and moving home advice page is the place to start, or you can talk it through with an adviser using the form below.
Why the timing is harder in Scotland
Much of the Scottish market runs on offers over or around a stated price, and where several buyers are interested the selling agent will often set a closing date. A seller choosing between offers on a closing date will usually be wary of one that depends on the buyer selling first, so an offer made “subject to sale” can be at a disadvantage.
Once missives are concluded the contract is binding and the date of entry is fixed. Between an accepted offer and concluded missives there is often only a short window, which leaves little time to sort out finance for a gap you had not planned for.
None of this is a reason to panic. It is a reason to work out your position before you bid, rather than after your offer has been accepted.
Start with three numbers
Every route below turns on the same three figures, and it is worth having them before you look at any of the options.
- Your equity — what your current home is likely to sell for, less the outstanding mortgage, any early repayment charge and the costs of selling. In Scotland the seller also pays for the Home Report.
- What you could borrow on the new property — on your income and commitments as they are now, not as they were when you last borrowed.
- What you could afford if you owned both for a while — two mortgages and two sets of household bills, including council tax, possibly for longer than you expect.
The borrowing calculator gives a rough starting point for the second figure. The first and third need your own numbers, and they are worth testing with an adviser before you commit to anything.
Route one: sell first, then buy
The lowest-risk option is to let the purchase go, sell, and then buy — renting or staying with family in between if the dates do not meet. It costs a second move and some disruption, and you may lose the house you had found.
What it gives you is certainty. You know exactly what your sale achieved, there is no period of owning two homes, and you can offer next time without a sale to complete, which can make your offer more attractive to a seller.
Route two: a conditional offer or a later date of entry
Some sellers will accept an offer that is conditional on your own sale, or agree a date of entry far enough ahead to give you time to sell. Whether that is realistic depends on the seller, the level of interest in the property and the market at the time.
If it is agreed, the condition and the date are written into the missives, so your solicitor needs to be involved from the start. A distant date of entry may also need a mortgage offer that remains valid until then, which is worth checking with the lender before you commit.
Route three: buy first and own both for a period
If your income and existing commitments allow it, some lenders will consider a mortgage on the new property while the current one is still in place. Both mortgages then count in the affordability assessment, which is the main reason this route is open to fewer people than ask about it.
The larger cost is often tax rather than interest. Buying a new main residence before you have sold the previous one normally brings the Additional Dwelling Supplement into play, which is covered below.
Bridging finance
A bridging loan is short-term borrowing intended to cover the gap until a property sells. It is secured on property, is usually priced monthly rather than annually, and commonly carries arrangement and exit fees, so the cost grows the longer the gap lasts.
A bridging lender will want to see a clear way of repaying the loan — normally the sale of your existing home — and enough equity to cover the borrowing and its costs if the sale takes longer than planned. If the sale is delayed or falls through, the loan still has to be repaid.
Whether bridging is appropriate depends on your equity, a realistic timescale for your sale and how much risk you are able to carry. It needs advice on your own circumstances, and nothing in this guide is a recommendation to use it.
Letting your current home instead of selling it
Some movers keep their current home and let it, using the rent towards its mortgage. A residential mortgage does not normally allow the property to be let without the lender’s consent, and in many cases the current home would need to be remortgaged on a buy-to-let basis — sometimes called let to buy.
That makes you a landlord, with the legal responsibilities that come with letting property in Scotland, and the rent has to meet the lender’s own assessment. It also changes the tax position on your purchase, because you are not selling your previous main residence.
The Additional Dwelling Supplement if you buy first
If the purchase of your new home settles before the sale of your current one, you will normally own two dwellings on the day you buy. In that situation the Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) usually applies to the purchase. For transactions from 5 December 2024 the rate is 8% of the purchase price, payable on top of any standard LBTT when the purchase settles. As an illustration only, 8% of a £250,000 purchase is £20,000.
It can be reclaimed. Where you buy a new main residence on or after 1 April 2024 and sell your previous main residence within 36 months, you can claim repayment of the supplement from Revenue Scotland, provided the conditions are met. Until then the money is out of your pocket, and if the old home is not sold within the period — or you decide to let it instead — the condition for repayment is not met.
The rules have detailed conditions, particularly for joint buyers, and they have changed in recent years. Check the current position in Revenue Scotland’s ADS guidance and ask your solicitor how it applies to your purchase. We do not give tax advice.
Porting when the dates do not line up
If you plan to keep your current mortgage deal, the timing matters for that too. Porting normally relies on the sale and the purchase completing together. Some lenders allow a gap between the two and others do not, and where a gap is allowed its length varies. We cover this in our guide to porting a mortgage in Scotland.
What to do before you offer
The worst time to find out which of these routes is open to you is after your offer has been accepted. Before you bid, it is worth knowing your equity, what you could borrow, whether your lender would let you port and on what terms, and what the tax would be if you had to buy first.
Our moving home mortgage advice page explains how we work through a move with you. Your solicitor handles the missives and the date of entry, and questions about the tax on your purchase should go to them or to a tax adviser.
Common questions
This guide is general information, not regulated financial advice, and reflects our understanding of the rules at the date shown. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. Not all buy to let mortgages are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.