Property boss warns of chain reaction

Published on Wednesday 14 March 2007 11:49

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."