What does it cost to sell a house in Scotland?
A Scottish seller normally pays for the Home Report, the marketing and agency service, the conveyancing, and any early-repayment charge on their mortgage. LBTT is paid by the buyer, not the seller.
The main costs
Home Report: instructed and paid for by you before marketing. Agency and marketing: percentage or fixed fee, plus anything billed separately. Conveyancing: your solicitor's fee plus outlays such as registration dues and searches.
Mortgage: check whether your deal carries an early-repayment charge, and whether it is portable to your next property. This is one of the largest and most commonly overlooked selling costs.
Costs worth spending
Professional photography and an accurate floor plan reliably pay for themselves. So does pre-marketing repair of anything that would attract a repair category in the single survey.
Large cosmetic renovation immediately before a sale rarely returns its cost. Cleanliness, decluttering, working windows and doors, and a tidy exterior do.
Common questions
- Does the seller pay LBTT?
- No. Land and Buildings Transaction Tax is payable by the buyer on the purchase. You would pay it on a property you go on to buy.
Lothian Property is a property information and professional-introduction service operated by Maybury Scotland Limited. Lothian Property is not an estate agency. Where requested, we may connect homeowners with independent estate agents and other property professionals. How we work.
Written and reviewed by The Lothian Property team, Edinburgh property research team. General information about the Scottish selling process — not legal advice.