HOW TO MAKE OFFERS ON PROPERTIES IN SCOTLAND BY DANIEL MCLARDY

You’re raring to go. You’ve had an appointment with a mortgage adviser, set a budget, and obtained a Decision in Principle (DIP) to give you the confidence in knowing you have access to mortgage finance. The next stage is to leap into the property market with great-gusto to find that needle in the haystack – that home that ticks all (or most) of the boxes, yet is within your financial reach. The search is long, it is hard, and it is tortuous, but what if the unexpected happens? What if that property, the box ticker of all box tickers, happens across your path? How do you make an offer?

STEP ONE – REGISTER WITH A SOLICITOR BEFORE YOU FIND SAID DREAM HOME!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE (and PLEASE again for good measure), believe me when I say you need a solicitor to submit offers on properties in Scotland. All offers you wish to make must go through your solicitor. Too often I meet inexperienced homebuyers who search for properties without registering first with a solicitor firm, only to find themselves stranded and unable to make an offer when the perfect property appears out of the blue. As we know, time is of the essence when buying property, so be kind to yourself by appointing your solicitor before you commence your search, and don’t allow chaos and panic to form your homebuying memories. Appoint your solicitor after you have established your budget and obtained your lending decision in principle, as they will likely ask for evidence that you have the means to be an active buyer.

STEP TWO – DECIDE IF YOU WISH TO MAKE AN EARLY OFFER, OR SUBMIT A NOTE OF INTEREST

STRAIGHT OFFER
You can ask your solicitor to make an immediate "straight offer" (sometimes referred to as an early offer) for the seller’s consideration, but you can only do this if the seller hasn’t already decided to sell their property via blind bidding (also referred to as sealed bidding). A way to understand if the seller has instructed their agent to proceed to blind bidding is to see if the property listing has a “Closing Date” advertised for bids. A closing date (and time) would usually read something like “CLOSING DATE SET FOR THURSDAY 9TH JULY 2026, 12 NOON”.
If you make a straight offer for a property, the seller is free to accept, decline or commence a negotiation through their solicitor. If a deal is agreed the property is then made unavailable to all other prospective buyers, and both sides to the transaction are protected by the Law Society of Scotland’s anti-gazumping and anti-gazundering rules.

NOTE OF INTEREST
Asking your solicitor to note interest in a property opens up a road of communication between you and the seller side, obliging them to make you aware of a closing date for blind bids if and when they set a closing date. You will most likely submit a note of interest when.
1. You have made a straight offer, but the seller declines and expresses they are selling via blind bidding only. This is usually when the property has strong interest from multiple buyers, and the seller believes they can maximise their selling price by encouraging competitive bidding.
2. You are interested in the property, but not to the extent that you wish to keenly pursue it through a straight offer. However, you may wish to “keep an eye” on it and wait to see if the property gains sufficient interest for a closing date.
3. Your solicitor expresses that making a straight offer would not be in your best interests strategically, as it risks emboldening the seller and shifting the power perception to them. Instead, a note of interest is advised to be a better route and you decide to take this advice. This usually happens in a strong market where the property is new to market and anticipated to at least gain a respectable level of buyer interest.

STEP THREE – SUBMIT YOUR BLIND BID ON THE PROPERTY IF IT GETS TO THIS STAGE

Where a closing date is set for blind bids, the sale is bound to this process and you have no choice but to be a bidding party if you want to be “in the running” to purchase the property. Ensure you submit your bid through your solicitor with reasonable time to spare (I did once have a client who submitted a bid 30 minutes before a midday deadline and their email wasn’t received and processed in time). If you are the winning bidder, the selling agent will advise your solicitor and under rule society rules your bid is an accepted offer tying the solicitor parties to the law society’s anti-gazumping and anti-gazundering rules. It is common for buyers in Scotland to experience the blind bidding process, particularly in a strong market with competition amongst buyers. I’ve never met a client who considers it a pleasant experience, but nevertheless it is an orderly process with clear rules of conduct that our neighbours in England could perhaps learn from!

TO SUMMARISE

You are only capacitated to make offers on properties in Scotland through a Scottish solicitor firm, who represents you. You can make a “straight offer” on properties that have not had a closing date publicly declared for blind bids. Where a property has advanced to being sold by blind bidding (usually due to healthy buyer interest), you must submit your bid before the deadline, commonly midday on the seller’s chosen date. If you don’t submit your bid before the deadline, your opportunity to be “in the running” has passed. On your buying journey, you may decide to submit notes of interest on properties to ensure you are advised if the seller has set a closing date.

PQ's

> Do most properties in Scotland get sold via blind bidding?
Actually, no, most properties are sold via straight offers. To give a most recent example, ESPC reported that for Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders, 18.6% of homes went to a closing date between March and May 2026. This highlights how important it is for buyers to understand that making a straight offer is an important buying mechanism.
> Can a property be sold to someone else via a straight offer, even when I’ve submitted a note of interest?
Yes. Selling solicitors are entitled to accept a straight offer on behalf of their client irrespective of whether other prospective buyers have noted interest. In this situation other interested buyer will not have the opportunity to make an offer
> If our blind bid isn’t successful, can we increase it after the closing date deadline?”
No, the purpose of the bidding process is for all prospective buyers to submit their best offer. Under the law society’s rules your solicitor is compelled not to accept an instruction to submit an amended offer.

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