Buying a house in Scotland: Home Report, missives and LBTT, and why your Dutch home counts
In Scotland every house for sale comes with a Home Report, the purchase runs through a Scottish solicitor and only binds once the missives are concluded. You pay LBTT instead of stamp duty. If you still own a house in the Netherlands, an 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement comes on top, unless you sell that house within 36 months.
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Yes, you can buy a house in Scotland, and you do not need to be British to do so. But it works differently from the Netherlands, and differently from England too. Three things to know first:
- Every house for sale comes with a Home Report: a survey report, an energy report and a questionnaire from the seller. You get it on request.
- You make an offer through a Scottish solicitor, a lawyer who also plays the role of a Dutch notary. The purchase only binds once the missives are concluded: the letters between the solicitors that together form the contract.
- You pay LBTT (Land and Buildings Transaction Tax) to Revenue Scotland, the Scottish tax authority. Stamp duty does not exist in Scotland.
The trap for anyone coming from the Netherlands: if you still own a house there, you pay 8% of the price in Additional Dwelling Supplement on top of the LBTT. Nor are you a first-time buyer any more.
What is in the Home Report?
The seller (or their estate agent) must have the Home Report from the moment the house goes on the market. If you ask for it, you get a copy within 9 days. No more than the reasonable cost of copying may be charged for it.
The Home Report consists of:
- a survey report by a surveyor registered with RICS (the professional body for surveyors), which includes the energy information;
- a questionnaire about the house, filled in by the seller (or someone on their behalf).
When the house goes on the market, the information may be no more than 12 weeks old. Read the report before you consider an offer, and ask your solicitor what the findings mean for your offer.
How does an offer work?
In practice it goes like this. A house is often marketed at "offers over" an amount: the seller expects more to be offered. If you are interested, your solicitor can register a note of interest, so you hear if the seller sets a closing date: a moment by which all offers must be in at the same time. How that works for a particular house, your solicitor will tell you.
Legally, what counts is what is on paper. An agreement about a house or land must be in writing in Scotland, or it does not exist. Your solicitor writes the offer, the seller's solicitor replies, and letters go back and forth about the conditions. Once all conditions are accepted, the missives are concluded and the purchase binds. Before that moment both sides can still walk away.
The seller then transfers the house with a deed, the disposition. You only become the owner once that deed is registered in the Land Register of Scotland, the land register kept by Registers of Scotland.
Do not say yes before your financing is in place. Once the missives are concluded, you are bound to the purchase. Only let your solicitor make the offer once the mortgage or your own funds are certain, and the Home Report has been read.
How much LBTT do you pay?
LBTT works in bands: each rate applies only to the part of the price in that band. Revenue Scotland gives these rates, which apply since 1 April 2021:
| Part of the price | LBTT |
|---|---|
| up to £145,000 | 0% |
| £145,001 to £250,000 | 2% |
| £250,001 to £325,000 | 5% |
| £325,001 to £750,000 | 10% |
| above £750,000 | 12% |
| Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS), where it applies | 8% of the whole price |
An example: at £250,000 you pay nothing on the first £145,000 and 2% on the next £105,000, £2,100 in total. If the ADS applies, 8% of £250,000 comes on top, £20,000.
If you are a first-time buyer, the nil band moves up to £175,000. That saves at most £600. But the law is strict: a first-time buyer is only someone who has never bought a home, including outside Scotland. If you owned a house in the Netherlands, you do not qualify.
When do you pay the ADS?
You pay the ADS if you buy a home in Scotland and, at the end of the day of the transaction, still own another home anywhere in the world. If two of you buy together, it counts if either of you owns one. A home or a share worth less than £40,000 does not count.
For people who move, there are two ways out:
- If you sold your previous main residence in the 36 months before the purchase, the ADS is not due.
- If you sell your previous main residence within 36 months after the purchase, you can claim the ADS back. The house must have been your main residence in the 36 months before the purchase.
If you want to keep and let your house in the Netherlands, the ADS stands. Then include that 8% before you make an offer.
What does the solicitor arrange after the purchase?
The LBTT return is your duty as the buyer. Online returns are filed by organisations and tax professionals, such as your solicitor. The return must reach Revenue Scotland within 30 days after the effective date, usually the day the purchase completes. Even if no tax is due, a return is needed for a price of £40,000 or more. Being late can mean penalties and interest.
And the mortgage? Whether a bank lends to someone who has just come to live in the UK, and on what terms, is up to the bank. Ask two or three banks before you start viewing. Until then, renting in Scotland is the usual first step.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.2: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Scotland or go straight to step 5.2 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Revenue Scotland — LBTT on residential property, the bands since 1 April 2021 and first-time buyer relief — revenue.scot
- Revenue Scotland — Additional Dwelling Supplement, 8% since 5 December 2024, homes "anywhere in the world" and the 36 months — revenue.scot
- Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act 2013, schedule 4A — who is a first-time buyer, including with a home outside Scotland — legislation.gov.uk
- Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act 2013, s. 29 — the return within 30 days — legislation.gov.uk
- Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, s. 98 and 99 — the seller holds the Home Report documents and gives them to you on request — legislation.gov.uk
- Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 (Prescribed Documents) Regulations 2008 — what the Home Report contains, who prepares it, 9 days and 12 weeks — legislation.gov.uk
- Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995, s. 1 — a contract for land or a house must be in writing — legislation.gov.uk
- Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012, s. 50 — ownership only passes on registration — legislation.gov.uk
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