RoS riding to the four (hundred)

It’s not every day that an organisation gears up to celebrate 400 years in existence – but that is exactly what is happening at Registers of Scotland (RoS). On 28 June 2017, we will mark 400 years since the General Register of Sasines was created by the Registration Act 1617.

A quatercentenary of recording and safeguarding the rights of property owners in Scotland is a remarkable achievement and, to commemorate the anniversary, we have a year-long series of events and partnerships planned, as well as working hard on a number of projects fundamental to improving our delivery of services.

The programme of events for the anniversary year will include the 44th Registrars of Title conference, which Scotland will host for the very first time, and will bring together land registration experts from across the globe.

What’s more, we have commissioned a commemorative piece of public art, which, like our registers, will be publicly available to view and will be held for the people of Scotland. We’re also making progress with Land Register completion, with title coverage at 60% and land mass coverage at just under 30%.

In November 2016, we launched our Keeper-induced registration (KIR) programme, which will complement voluntary registration by adding large numbers of titles to the Land Register in urban residential areas. The first pilot phase of KIR will last until March 2017, and will be followed by a full rollout across the country. Details of the areas involved in the pilot are available on our website at ros.gov.uk/kir

Innovation agenda

During recent months, RoS has been working in conjunction with the Law Society of Scotland and Council of Mortgage Lenders to review the discharge process with the aim of introducing efficiencies to all parties, providing a streamlined process.

The successful initial release of the digital discharge service represents a significant milestone in the journey towards digital registration services for the Scottish conveyancing market. Interest in the digital discharge service has been high throughout its development, and there will be updates on its progression to wider use early in the new year.

As part of our digital transformation, we are consulting over the future of our services, with comments invited by 22 February 2017. Thereafter, we will look to bring new regulations into force (subject to the approval of Parliament) later in the year. To respond to our consultation, please visit http://tinyurl.com/jttvso7

Scotland has always been an innovative nation when it comes to the protection of land and property rights, from the ancient ceremony of sasine in the 17th century as we work towards being one of the global leaders in digital land registration. It is a position of which we are proud and one that we will strive to build on this year and beyond as our ambitious programme of digital transformation comes into service.