MD becomes new Keeper

New Keeper of the Registers of Scotland

The First Minister Alex Salmond, with the consent of the Lord President of the Court of Session, has announced the appointment of Sheenagh Adams as the new Keeper of the Registers of Scotland.

The post of Keeper has existed in various forms since 1617 when it was created during the reign of James VI. Sheenagh is the first woman to hold the post and started in her new role on 1 July 2009. She replaces James Meldrum, who retired from the post after a long career in the civil service, the last six years as Keeper.

Sheenagh was previously the Managing Director at Registers of Scotland and joined the organisation in April 2006. She started her civil service career in 1990 after 11 years in local government and the voluntary sector working in housing and welfare rights. Her civil service career has included posts in housing, rural affairs, the natural and built heritage, and the voluntary sector.

Deputy Keeper is moving on

After a little over five years as Deputy Keeper at RoS, Bruce Beveridge will soon be moving to take up new responsibilities. He has been invited to become Head of Rural Communities division in the Scottish Government and will be taking up this post on 27 July. He will continue to retain some contact with RoS as he will be responsible for the policy on the Register of Community Interests in Land and the policy on crofting reform – which it is anticipated might include a new Register of Crofts.

Conveyancing conferences

Registers of Scotland are running half day morning seminars in conjunction with the Law Society of Scotland. We recently held one event in Aberdeen and another in Stirling, with several more set to take place in October.

• 08 October 2009, Dumfries, Easterbrook Conference Centre
• 20 October 2009, Dundee, Apex City Quay
• 22 October 2009, Edinburgh, Signet Library

Seminar topics include: property marketplace in the current climate, changes in procedures for land registration applications, impact of home reports, and the Keeper's response to PMP Plus and other Lands Tribunal decisions.

• You can book online at lawscot.org.uk

Registers Direct upgrade

Registers of Scotland has now carried out a major refresh of Registers Direct (RD) and this will be made available to existing and new customers over the coming months. The changes to RD have been made at the functional, design and infrastructure levels with a view to building even more services in the future. One of the primary objectives of the redesign has been to improve the user interface to make it more intuitive, but also to maintain continuity with the existing design to ensure a smooth transition for our existing customers. RD has been integrated into the suite of external services provided by RoS. The suite includes access to Automated Registration of Title to Land (ARTL), eForms and Scotland’s house price service.

For more information, please visit our website ros.gov.uk/registersdirect, or contact eServices by telephone: 0845 607 0160 or email: eservices@ros.gov.uk .

Update on enquiries

Since April this year, the Keeper’s Pre-Registration Enquiries section has been working to a reduced turnaround target of five working days from receipt of an enquiry. To date this has been achieved in all cases, and we are committed to maintaining this improved response time. Notably the trend for recourse by solicitors to pre-registration enquiries does not mirror the downturn in the property market. The volume of enquiries received has remained buoyant.

We will deal with your enquiry as quickly as possible, but please contact us in good time, before settlement is imminent. Contacting the Keeper prior to submitting an application helps ensure there are no undue delays in registration. If you are uncertain what the Keeper’s approach may be to your particular circumstances, please contact us by email (pre-reg@ros.gov.uk), fax (0131 479 3675), post

(DX: 550907, Edinburgh 9 or LP: 55, Edinburgh 5), or phone (0845 607 0163).

Any enquiry submitted by email, fax or post will receive a written response that you can enclose with your application for registration.

For further information on the remit of Pre-Registration Enquiries or to provide feedback please contact Kathryn Fergusson on 0131 528 3786 or kathryn.fergusson@ros.gov.uk .

ARTL UPDATE – as at 22 June 2009

• 16,971 ARTL transactions have taken place.

Live on ARTL

• 208 solicitors’ firms.
• 16 lenders.
• 10 local authorities.
• 11 full sign-up meetings scheduled over the next four weeks.

For up-to-date information and a full list of participating practices and companies go to: ros.gov.uk/artl/