Twin tracks to completion

KIR to be rolled out

We’re progressing with our goal of completing the Land Register by 2024, which will provide a full picture of exactly who owns what across the country. Keeper-induced registration (KIR) is a key mechanism enabling us to reach this goal. It’s an administrative tool which allows us to move property titles from the General Register of Sasines to the Land Register of Scotland.

Titles moved to the Land Register through KIR will be identifiable with a note on the title sheet, but will be no different from any other Land Register title. These titles can be transacted upon just like any other. Using KIR to add titles to the Land Register paves the way for us to become a fully digital business by 2020, and lays the foundation for initiatives such as our Digital Discharge Service, which we’ll be expanding throughout this year.

We started using KIR to add property titles to the Land Register in November 2016. In this initial phase, which lasted until the end of March, we used KIR to register small numbers of titles in selected parts of the country. The procedures we had put in place worked well, and we’re now preparing to roll KIR out to RoS “research areas” across Scotland. These are primarily urban, residential areas of land, where RoS has good knowledge about the content of titles, and where there are common routes of title.

We’re using KIR to register both privately-owned and publicly-owned titles, with slightly different mechanisms in place for each. To date we’ve registered over 15,000 addresses using KIR, and we’ve received a number of subsequent applications for transfer of some of those titles.

As we extend KIR across Scotland, we’ll publish details on our website of the areas in which KIR is operating.

For more information please visit ros.gov.uk/kir or email us on kir@ros.gov.uk for queries on private sector KIR, or kirpublic@ros.gov.uk for queries on public sector KIR.

Commercial sector voluntary registration

Another key method of completing the Land Register is voluntary registration, and we’ve now extended our voluntary registration engagement programme to commercial property owners. This sector includes some of the highest value land in Scotland. Ensuring that commercially owned properties are on the Land Register will support the Scottish economy by reducing the cost of high-value property transactions.

We’re finding that for businesses, reducing future costs is a primary motivation for obtaining a Land Register title, as is speeding up property transactions.

The range of businesses we need to engage with is very wide, including, for example, owners of office blocks and retail parks, utility providers, and owners of sporting facilities. Our voluntary registration advisers are currently holding meetings with industry umbrella bodies, and we’ve also had a number of very positive meetings with commercial owners who are preparing to register their property. Our advisers are on hand to guide owners through the voluntary registration process.

The rate of applications for voluntary registration from the commercial sector is increasing quickly, and numbers for January to May 2017 are up 60% on the same period last year.

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