2007
Following the coming into force of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 we have reappraised our terms of business.
N. B. We will continue with our policy of only selling you a title if you are in receipt of independent legal advice from a Scottish solicitor of your own choosing. We will supply you with a list of solicitors that have knowledge of barony law if you ask but the choice of solicitor must be yours.
Following informal agreement with us on the particular title we require from you 10% plus VAT (tax at 17.5%) of the purchase price as a Buyer's Premium. (Accordingly we require a payment of £11,750 (GBP) on a purchase of a barony priced at £100,000.) We have suffered recently by a number of people whose dream of owning a barony was totally unrealistic in terms of their ability to pay for the dream causing us, and our clients, considerable expense.
Immediately following receipt of your Buyer's Premium we will remove the details of your barony from our web-site.
The buyers premium will guarantee you, and your solicitor, that the title offered has no conveyancing defects and should defects be found by your solicitor prior to purchase we will pay to your solicitor all of your wasted costs and return your Buyer's Premium. Because of the problem referred to above we also require a deposit of 20% of the purchase price; there is no tax payable on the purchase price. This deposit will be paid to our client's solicitor. In the unlikely event that we are due to pay your solicitor under our guarantee the deposit will be returned to you.
Buyers are expected to put their own solicitor in funds, the remaining 80%, in good time to complete the deal. When the buyer's solicitor is happy with the title offered he will 'conclude a bargain', to use the Scots legal phrase, on behalf of the purchaser and pay the seller's solicitor for the title.
We believe in operating in an open manner. We also believe that we will attract more business this way and, that in a market that has more than its fair share of rogues, we will inject confidence into our relationship with potential purchasers.
Most of the titles that we sell we sell on behalf of the owner; sometimes we acquire a title in our own name for onward selling. If we own the title we will tell you.
The purchase of a barony title is a major event in anyone's life. If you are interested in acquiring a barony title, but not yet ready to purchase, please feel free to discuss your future needs and preferences.
If you are purchasing a title from another source and require advice we will be pleased to try to help you.
We, at www.baronytitles.com, are not legally qualified and therefore we do not give legal advice either to purchasers or indeed our clients the sellers. However, we think it helpful to indicate the process of purchasing a barony title and this is set out below.
The process of purchasing a barony title is very similar to buying real property:-
| 1. | After identifying the barony you want to purchase you will informally agree with us the price to be paid and a date that we will aim to complete the contract. (From informal agreement with us to conclusion of a legal contract would normally take from four to six weeks). |
| 2. | You should then send us the Buyer's Premium and the Deposit. The Buyer's Premium will be put in our Client Account and the Deposit will be sent to our client's solicitor; your solicitor will be sent a receipt for the funds received. |
| 3. | You should then instruct a solicitor, experienced in barony conveyancing, to act for you. We can provide a list of experienced barony conveyancers if required. You should never make a contract to purchase a title without the benefit of legal advice. |
| 4. | At this stage your solicitor will ask you for a part payment to account of his fees and expenses, usually about £1,500 (GBP) or $3,000 (USD). You should inform your solicitor once you have instructed the money transfer as it is not unknown for international transfers to 'go missing' for a few days. We strongly advise against sending your solicitor a cheque (USA check) as, depending upon which bank you are using, it can take as much as eight weeks for non-UK cheques to clear into a UK bank. |
| 5. | Your solicitor will ask you for formal proof of identity in accordance with his obligations under the Financial Services Act (money laundering). |
| 6. | Once instructed your solicitor will contact our client's solicitor and ask to be sent the title deeds. |
| 7. | When steps (1) to (6) are complete your solicitor will carefully examine the title deeds. |
| 8. | Your solicitor will report to you on the title. |
| 9. | If all is well he will ask for instructions to conclude a legally binding contract on your behalf. |
| 10. | My client's solicitor will send to your solicitor an offer to sell. |
| 11. | Your solicitor will advise you of the terms of that offer. |
| 12. | He will negotiate any necessary changes to the offer and conclude the contract. There is no such thing as a standard offer. |
| 13. | Before your solicitor concludes a contract on your behalf he will ask you for the remainder of the purchase price. This will have to be in his Client's Account in cleared funds before he can conclude the contract. |
| 14. | On a nominated day he will exchange your money for the title. |
| 15. | Your solicitor will present your Assignation Deed for recording in the Scottish Barony Register. (Burkes Peerage has recently announced that they are preparing a new edition of Burke's Landed Gentry: The Kingdom in Scotland, and that any baron who has had his application for registration accepted by the Scottish Barony Register or has been recognised by the Lord Lyon will be eligible for inclusion in the new edition to be published in 2006.) As for costs; for baronies costing below £60K you should budget up to two thousand pounds inclusive of VAT for legal fees and title registration fees. |
We look forward to hearing from you.
Please contact us for more information.