A LEADING Scottish property lawyer has claimed that Scotland's property market is inheriting the dreaded English-style property chain by "default".
Michael Maloco, principal partner at maloco + associates said the situation was creeping in north of the Border because of a hesitancy among buyers to sign missives - the legally binding contract between buyer and seller - quickly enough. Many buyers
, he said, were delaying as long as possible to ensure they sell their own home first before committing legally to a new one.
"It's become all too common for people to buy a property but to look to hold off on concluding the missives until they have managed to sell their own property," said the Dunfermline-based lawyer. "What's happening now is that elongated chains are appearing because a legal firm cannot tie up a transaction... because they are waiting for another transaction to complete elsewhere and further up or down the line other transactions get dragged in."
And he added: "It means, we basically have the much-criticised English system of property chains by default. I recently knew of a seven-string chain that involved six different legal firms who were all dependent on each other concluding to allow the seven buyers to complete their purchases."
The full article contains 212 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
