Keeper's update

Our new Keeper Jennifer Henderson is now three months into the role, and has focused a lot of her time getting to know as much as possible about the different areas of our business. This has included, amongst many other things, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the registration processes, as well as learning about the wealth of information and data that RoS collects and expertly analyses and manages as the guardian of 19 of Scotland’s public registers.

Jennifer has also been getting to know as much as possible about the many issues that matter to our partners, stakeholders, and customers. She will be attending her first official public speaking engagement as Keeper on 26 June at the Law Society of Scotland Conveyancing Conference, during which she will be addressing some of these important issues, and she looks forward to answering delegates’ questions on the day.

Applications: don’t use the old form!

Our new application form was officially implemented in March and our three-month transition period is almost at an end.

We have found that the updates to the form are delivering benefits to our customers.

In the period since the changes have been implemented, over 90% of the forms we are now receiving are via the improved version.

Customers are reporting that the removal of the signature requirement helps reduce the likelihood of rejections, while amendments to the Burdens and Servitudes sections, and the removal of the certification of links in title question, improve the clarity of the form and also help reduce rejections.

The last day of our three-month transition period is 22 June 2018, after which we will only accept the new version of the form. All applications submitted with the old version of the form will therefore be automatically rejected.

We recognise that using the new form may require administrative changes for our customers. That’s why we’re providing a range of support during the transition period and beyond. Our online Knowledge Base (kb.ros.gov.uk) offers comprehensive guidance on how to complete and submit the new form, and customers can also contact their RoS account manager for one-to-one support.

ScotLIS – from strength to strength

Since its launch ScotLIS has had a number of new features added to the service, and is growing in capacity every month. We recently added a new feature that means business users can now reset their password directly through ScotLIS. This new chosen password will then work for all RoS digital services accessed through an online services account. This month we are pleased to be introducing more improvements, that make ScotLIS even more user-friendly. 

Presentment book and new data layers

Users can now search the Sasine presentment book by name or address, interact with the search results and print information as required. We have also added new data layers that will allow users to view crofts and common grazings on the map alongside the Land Register. 

Users can now also email all Land Register title information to themselves as well as to other email addresses.  

Charging 

ScotLIS users are now only charged once per day for buying the same product, meaning that there will be no additional charge if a session unexpectedly ends and the user is required to log back in in order to retrieve the information that has already been purchased. 

Our aim for 2018 is to make ScotLIS the platform of choice for land and property information in Scotland. Features like the improved interactive map are just part of the reason why ScotLIS is able to support this ambition, and why it is the preferred service for many of our users already. scotlis.ros.gov.uk