Selling your old house and buying a new one at the same time has never been an easy process for those of a nervous disposition.And, while you can present your property in pristine condition – and jump through hoops to get the best financial deal from your lender – you still might be putting youself at a serious disadvantage with a small clause that has become commonplace in the Scottish market.

An offer subject to sale means that a buyer is not obliged to complete the purchase of their next property until their current one is sold.

You can understand its use. You can never be sure how quickly your old place will sell, and whether the amount you get for it will be enough to allow you to move on.

If you have fallen in love with a specific property on the market, put in a bid and then have to race to sell your own place – with the dread of a bridging loan at today’s high interest rates hanging over you – the subject to sale clause is a bit of a Get Out of Jail Free card, if all does not go to plan.

The practice makes sense when the market is moving quickly, as it was, a year or two ago – in the post-Covid and pre-Truss-Budget times.

Homes were selling so quickly, and closing dates were so competitive, that movers bought first, and sold after – with the added insurance that if they were unable to sell, they were not under an obligation to buy due to the clause.

But now, in what estate agents are calling a much more balanced market, such offers are holding up the process by creating chains of deals that can be broken if just one house sticks.

What is more, insisting on the clause in an otherwise decent offer, might see your bid downgraded by sellers who want more certainty.

Such offers are seen as much less attractive and, in some cases, have led to sellers disregarding an otherwise good offer if it comes with strings attached.

At closing dates, it is now not unusual for the second or even third highest offer to be the winning bid, if there is no chain involved.

Andrew Diamond of law firm Lindsays reported this week that the biggest closing date differential the company has so far seen – between a top offer, which was rejected because is was subject to sale, and the successful offer, accepted because it did not include the clause – is £20,000, which is a substantial amount to leave on the table.

Certainly, an offer which depends on the sale of a property which may take months is a lot less attractive than a firm bid from so-called “golden buyers” who have the cash and are ready to move.

But Andrew pointed out that even when sellers were tempted by an offer that was subject to sale, there are conversations about the pros and cons, including a bit of digging into exactly who the bidders are, and how saleable their old home.

He said: “We’ve had an instance where a seller received competing offers, both subject to sale, so we [looked] at both of their existing properties.One was a house, the other a flat, and in the end the client took the offer from the flatowners – because it was more likely to be sold to first-time buyers and therefore it would only be a two-deal chain.”

With such scrutiny of bids now being the norm –Andrew claims that it is happening across Scotland, with discussions around the liquidity of buyers included in almost every sale – there is an opportunity for those who have already sold to bag a good deal.

Chain-free bids look increasingly more attractive and such buyers are likely to be courted in negotiations on other aspects of the sale too.

So the advice in today’s market is to sell first, and then you’re golden.

- Kirsty McLuckie is property editor at The Scotsman

Kirsty McLuckie on the implications of offers subject to sale