No-one buys a new property without a structural building survey. However, few people focus on how a country house actually ‘works’. Here are some of the key areas that you can ‘survey’ to get a good picture of how well the practical elements are working and what you may need to upgrade.

Property transactions in Scotland are governed by separate property laws to those in England and Wales. Here’s some basic information to highlight the differences.

Pricing of mortgages varies significantly between lenders, dependent on factors such as loan to value ratio, loan size, income and general financial status. Comparison websites and ‘best buy’ tables cannot hope to reflect all of this. It takes experience and expertise to weigh up all of the variables and recommend the right lender, and more importantly, negotiate the right deal.

‘Attended exchange’ is an option when you need to exchange contracts as soon as possible. This usually happens when a cash buyer has a very strong interest in the property.…

There are a number of grants available for agricultural land. It’s worth factoring these into the financial equation when you are looking at a country estate. Help is at hand.…

A ‘listed’ building, of which there are some 500,000 in the UK, is one that has been placed on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. This means that, even if you own it privately, you are required by law to obtain permission from the local planning authority if you want to extend or alter it in almost any way.