Most rural landowners in Scotland will already be well aware of the Scottish Government’s target to complete the registration of title for all Scottish land in the Land Register of Scotland by 2024. Some diligent landowners have already completed the process, but many have not yet begun and may be wondering if they are now in the minority and how the Scotland-wide registration of title project is progressing overall.
Earlier this month, the Registers of Scotland published their Annual Report for 2017-18. That report included an update on the progress of Land Register completion.
The Report discloses that, to date, 65% of all land and property titles in Scotland (which amounts to around 1.8 million titles) have been registered. A disproportionate number of those are residential or urban properties however, with the result that, when looking at land mass, just 31.7% of Scotland has so far been mapped onto the Land Register. Titles are automatically transferred from the deed-based Register of Sasines to the map-based Land Register when they are sold or otherwise transferred for value, or when a new Standard Security is granted over the land, however the rate at which such transactions occur for rural land is not sufficient to meet the Government’s 2024 target and therefore voluntary registration remains one of the key drivers behind the completion of the Land Registration project.
Accelerating the registration of large rural farms and estates will obviously have a significant impact on the land mass coverage of the Land Register over the next few years and, as a result, the Registers of Scotland have confirmed that they will continue to offer a 25% discount on the registration fees that they usually charge through to mid-2019 at least. The Registers are keen to assist with voluntary registrations by working with landowners, particularly where the titles are particularly large or complex, to ensure that the registration process goes smoothly.
Public landowners, such as local authorities and other public bodies, are working towards an earlier deadline for completing their title registrations, with a target of the end of 2019 to aim for.
For further information and advice on any aspect of voluntary registration of title, please contact a member of the Land & Rural Business Team.
