Legal
Terms and Conditions
The terms on which you may use the UPBSS website and our services.
Who we are
This website is operated by UPBSS Property Group, a company registered in Scotland, company number [SC company number], registered office [registered office address], Edinburgh. VAT registration number [VAT number].
We are a member of the [redress scheme] (membership number [number]), the government-approved redress scheme we are required by law to belong to. We are supervised for anti-money-laundering purposes by [HMRC] under registration [number].
Using this website
By using this website you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, please do not use the site. We may update these terms; the version published here is the one that applies.
You may view and print pages for your own personal use. You may not republish, scrape or systematically extract listing data without our written consent, use the site for any unlawful purpose or to send unsolicited marketing, attempt to gain unauthorised access to the site, or submit false or fraudulent enquiries. We may suspend or withdraw the site at any time, and do not guarantee it will be uninterrupted or error-free.
Property listings
Listing details are supplied by property owners and prepared in good faith, but they are not a contractual offer and do not form part of any contract of sale.
- Measurements and floor areas are approximate and should not be relied on for ordering carpets, furnishings or building works.
- Photographs and generated illustrations are indicative and may not show current condition.
- Nothing on this site is a survey. The Home Report Single Survey is the authoritative statement of condition and value.
- Fixtures, fittings and appliances have not been tested by us unless expressly stated.
- An advertised “offers over” figure is a marketing indication, not a reserve, and does not oblige a seller to accept any offer.
We take reasonable steps to comply with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which prohibit misleading actions and misleading omissions in property marketing, including omitting material information a buyer would need in order to decide.
Home Reports
Under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 a residential property in Scotland may not be marketed without a Home Report — the Single Survey, the Energy Report and the Property Questionnaire — unless an exemption applies.
- The seller commissions the Home Report and is responsible for the accuracy of the Property Questionnaire they complete.
- We make the Home Report available to a prospective buyer who requests it, normally within 9 days, unless the seller has properly refused on a permitted ground.
- The Single Survey is prepared by an independent chartered surveyor. We do not prepare it and are not responsible for its contents or its valuation. Queries about the survey should go to the surveyor who signed it.
The appraisal tool
The instant appraisal produces an indicative range generated automatically from the figures you enter. It is not a Home Report or Single Survey, not a RICS Red Book valuation, mortgage valuation or survey, and must not be relied upon for lending, tax, executry, matrimonial, insurance or any other legal purpose.
It cannot see the condition of your property, its outlook or its title burdens. If you are selling, the figure that will matter to buyers and their lenders is the Single Survey valuation in your Home Report, not this estimate.
Agency services
Where you instruct us to market a property, the terms of that instruction — our fee, the type of agency, the minimum period and the cancellation position — are set out in the separate written agency agreement you sign. Those terms take precedence over anything on this website.
Under section 18 of the Estate Agents Act 1979, which applies in Scotland, we must give you our terms of business, including the fee and when it becomes payable, before you are committed. The agreement will state plainly which type of agency applies, because the difference is financially significant.
| Sole agency | We are the only agent instructed. A fee is due if we introduce the buyer. If you find a buyer entirely independently, no fee is normally due. |
|---|---|
| Sole selling rights | A fee is due even if you find the buyer yourself, for the whole period of the agreement. |
| Multiple agency | More than one agent is instructed; whoever introduces the buyer earns the fee. Usually a higher rate. |
| Ready, willing and able | A fee can become due when a buyer is found who is prepared and able to proceed, even if you then withdraw. We will draw your attention to this expressly if used. |
Your right to cancel. Where you are a consumer and the agreement is concluded away from our premises or at a distance, you may cancel within 14 days under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, without giving a reason. If you ask us to begin marketing within that period and then cancel, you may be liable for a proportionate amount for work already done. We give you a cancellation notice and form before you sign.
Our fee is stated in the agreement in cash terms as well as any percentage, and inclusive or exclusive of VAT as stated there. Fees quoted anywhere on this website are illustrative only. Conveyancing, Home Report and registration costs are separate.
Offers and missives
We are required by the Estate Agents Act 1979 to pass on all offers promptly and in writing to the seller, unless the seller has instructed otherwise in writing.
- Formal offers are made by a buyer’s solicitor, and state a proposed date of entry and any conditions.
- Where there is competing interest we may, on the seller’s instruction, set a closing date. A seller is not obliged to accept the highest offer, or any offer.
- A contract is formed only on the conclusion of missives between the parties’ solicitors. Once missives are concluded both parties are legally bound, and withdrawal may give rise to a claim for damages.
We are not your solicitor and cannot conclude missives on your behalf. Nothing said by us or on this website forms part of the missives.
Liability
Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited. Subject to that, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or loss of profit, arising from your use of this website.
If you are a consumer you have statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which applies in Scotland, including that services be performed with reasonable care and skill. Nothing in these terms affects those rights. Any term found to be unfair will not be binding on you; the remainder will continue to apply.
Intellectual property
The content, layout, design and code of this site belong to UPBSS Property Group or our licensors and are protected by copyright. Property photographs, floor plans and Home Report contents remain the property of their creators and are used under licence.
Governing law
These terms are governed by Scots law, and the Scottish courts have jurisdiction — the Sheriff Court at Edinburgh or the Court of Session as appropriate. If you are a consumer resident elsewhere in the United Kingdom, you may also bring proceedings in the courts of the part of the UK in which you live.
Questions about this document? Email customerservice@upbss.com or write to UPBSS Property Group, [registered office address], Edinburgh.