10-year target

Scottish ministers have asked Registers of Scotland to complete the Land Register in 10 years, and have committed to registering all public land within five years. This announcement was made in response to recommendations made by the Land Reform Review Group and follows from the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 2012, one of the principal policy aims of which was the completion of the Land Register.

The Land Register now consists of some 1.5 million titles, representing about 58% of property titles in Scotland, and accounting for some 26% of the Scottish land mass. Completing the Land Register is a major undertaking and will require collaboration and engagement with stakeholders across the private, third and public sectors, all of whom are affected by ministers’ commitment. This summer, RoS will be issuing a public consultation paper on how completion will be taken forward, focusing on the statutory framework for completion set out in the Act. It will look at additional levers for registration, the use of voluntary registration and the innovative powers for “Keeper-induced registration”. Obtaining the views of legal professionals and the Law Society of Scotland will be important and we encourage you to participate. Details of the consultation will be published in future issues of the Journal.

More 2012 Act orders made

As part of the implementation of the Land Registration etc (Scotland) Act 2012, it has been necessary to put in place additional subordinate legislation. It was the aim of RoS and the Scottish ministers to have the majority of the subordinate legislation in place before the Scottish Parliament summer recess.

To meet this timetable, the following instruments that were subject to the affirmative procedure were laid in the Parliament on 16 May:

• Land Register of Scotland (Rate of Interest on Compensation) Regulations 2014
• Registers of Scotland (Fees) Order 2014
• Registers of Scotland (Information and Access) Order 2014
• Land Registration etc (Scotland) Act 2012 (Incidental, Consequential and Transitional) Order 2014 [draft].

In addition, the Land Register Rules etc (Scotland) Regulations 2014 (“the Rules”) were laid on 30 May. Of particular interest to conveyancers will be the Fees Order, the Information and Access Order and the Rules.

The Fees Order provides the fees for the registration and recording of deeds and documents in all of the registers under the management and control of the Keeper. The key point of interest is that there is no increase in the fees RoS will charge for recording or registering. For example, the standard fee for registering deeds such as standard securities in the Land Register and the General Register of Sasines will remain at £60 (£50 if submitted using ARTL).

This order also provides the fees for the new products introduced by the 2012 Act. The fee that has been prescribed for entering or discharging an advance notice will be £10. For noting a caveat on a title sheet, the fee will be £60.

The Information and Access Order, combined with the Fees Order, provide for public access to the registers, and the fees that RoS will charge for the services provided at our customer service centres. These orders also provide for information that the Keeper makes available to the public in the form of plain copies, certified copies, extracts, and, in case of the Crofting Register, office copies. These orders do not provide the level of fees for Registers Direct or our reports service. RoS will continue to provide these on a non-statutory basis.

The Rules made under the 2012 Act are more technical in nature than those made under the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979. They provide details of the procedure to be used for advance notices, particularly their electronic submission. The key component of the Rules is the forms that will be used in relation to the Land Register. The approach that has been taken is to prescribe the form in plain text format only. RoS are developing a new e-form for use in the Land Register, and details of the new application form will be published on our website in the near future.

The orders have completed the parliamentary process and will come into force on the designated day, 8 December 2012. Further details and updates on the implementation of the 2012 Act can be found on our website: www.ros.gov.uk/2012act/

Service standards update

• 83% of straightforward dealings with whole completed in under four days and
• 78% in two days
• 95% of standard FRs completed within 20 days and over
• 99% in 30 days
• 100% of Sasine deeds despatched within 20 days.The current Sasine turnaround time is under five days