Registers of Scotland halts paper applications

Paper applications to Registers of Scotland have been suspended as the body that keeps Scotland's Land Register has taken the decision to close its offices at Meadowbank House, Edinburgh and St Vincent Plaza, Glasgow today, in consequence of the COVID-19 shutdown.

All applications received today (24 March) will be taken into the application record, but this record has been suspended until further notice as RoS said it would be unable to process any paper applications after today. 

Applications that can be submitted digitally will continue to be processed.

In a statement RoS explained: "This decision has not been taken lightly but our priority is to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our colleagues and the wider community by following the latest Government advice.

"We are working on a digital solution that will enable us to allow digital applications to be submitted.

"Our ability to implement an effective digital solution is critically dependent on not having any pending paper applications that we have not been able to process. It is therefore absolutely essential that you do not send any applications by mail to RoS."

It added: "We will be posting regular updates on our website and via our social media channels.

"We will provide a firm update on our progress with enabling a digital solution, and next steps, on Friday 27 March. At this stage we cannot commit to when the application record will reopen but we will be able to provide a further update on this as part of Friday’s update.

"In the meantime, if you have any questions about how the ongoing situation is affecting RoS services please contact customer.services@ros.gov.uk, Freephone 0800 169 9391 Textphone: 0131 528 3836 or email: covid19enquiries@ros.gov.uk."

Depending on the volume of emails, RoS may not be able to respond to each one, but assured customers that it would use the questions arising to update the guidance and information on its website as regularly as it can.