Target set to register all of Scotland’s land
27 May 2014 03:52 PM
10 year timetable to be
prepared.
All of
Scotland’s land will be registered for the first time which will provide
a clear understanding of who owns our land.
An efficient,
effective and indemnified land registration system is recognised by the World
Bank as one of the most important factors in achieving economic development and
business growth.
The Scottish
Government have asked the Registers of Scotland to prepare to complete
Scotland’s land register within 10 years and have committed to
registering all public land within 5 years. 26 per cent of the land mass of
Scotland is currently on the Land Register.
The announcement
follows the recent publication from the Land Reform Review Group. One of their
recommendations stated –
- The
Review Group considers the limited progress to date in the coverage of
Scotland’s Land Register is a major issue. Given the economic and wider
public benefits this will deliver, the Group recommends that the Scottish
Government should be doing more to increase the rate of registrations to
complete the Land Register, including a Government target date for completion
of the Register, a planned programme to register public lands and additional
triggers to induce the first registration of other lands.
The Environment
and Climate Change Minister Paul Wheelhouse said:
“We are
committed to addressing land reform that will help build a flourishing modern
Scotland.
“The Land
Reform Review Group made many recommendations which we will consider carefully
and we are already acting in many of the these areas. One of their key
recommendations was on land registration and I agree with the Group that a
fundamental step on this journey must be having a clear understanding of who
owns our land in Scotland.
“Along with
my colleague Enterprise Minister Fergus Ewing, I have asked Registers of
Scotland to prepare to complete land registration within 10 years, with all
public land registered within five years. There will be a lot of detail to go
through, but we look forward to working with stakeholders to make this
possible.
“This will
benefit everyone as land transactions are more difficult and expensive if
it’s not already on the land register.
“This is a
vital underpinning step in Scotland’s land reform journey and will ensure
that at last everyone will know who owns Scotland.”
Sheenagh Adams,
Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, who will be consulting on all aspects of
completing the register, said:
“Registers
of Scotland welcomes the support of Scottish Ministers in accelerating
completion of the Land Register. The Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act
2012, which will fully come into force later this year, gives us the powers to
achieve this. We look forward to working closely with property owners across
Scotland to ensure Scotland’s citizens and institutions reap the social
and economic benefits that flow from a publicly guaranteed system of rights in
land and property.”
Notes To
Editors
The Report can be
accessed via the Scottish Government website by selecting this link.
The Scottish Law Commission have identified the Land Register as part of the
‘national infrastructure’ as it affects every square inch of the
country and the whole of Scotland’s economic life.