Buying a property
When you have found a property that you are interested you can ask your solicitor to note your interest with the selling agent. Your solicitor can give you advice about how much to offer for the property and will also carry out the conveyancing once your offer has been accepted. This takes the form of an exchange of letters from your solicitor and the seller's solicitor known as missives.
More information from the Law Society of Scotland.
Consumer Focus Scotland has also produced a booklet, Buying and Selling a Home in Scotland.
Selling a property
Whether selling your home on your own or using a selling agent, you must have a Home Report before your house is put on the market.
Most solicitors can help you sell your home from start to finish including advertising and conveyancing. But you do not need to advertise your home with a solicitor and can use an estate agent or advertise it yourself.
More information about how a solicitor can help can be found from the Law Society of Scotland.
Buying and Selling a Home in Scotland also provides more advice.
Legislation
If you would like further information on Property Law this can be found here.
Home Report legislation can be found here.
What to do if things go wrong
If you feel that any service provided by a solicitor has been unsatisfactory, you may wish to make a complaint.
If you are unhappy with the services you have received from a surveyor you may wish to make a complaint through the firm's own complaints procedure. If this does not resolve the problem you can contact the Independent Ombudsman Service Property for further help.
If you feel that any service provided by an estate agent has been unsatisfactory you can complain to:
The Property Ombudsman
Email: membership@tpos.co.uk
Tel: 01722 333 360
or
The Ombudsman Service Property
Email: applications@ombudsman-services.org
Tel: 0330 440 1634