The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Complacency risk with digital land register
Keeper-induced registration may seem easy option
The creation of Scotland’s digital land register may not show up on business radars at the moment, but firms should not underestimate its relevance as businesses that register their land voluntarily may make it more marketable and those that ignore the issue could face legal shocks or commercial setbacks.
The situation has come about because the Scottish Government has instructed Registers of Scotland to register all Scottish land on a new digital map-based land register by 2024.
With less than 30% currently registered, the Keeper of the Register will not rely on “trigger” events, such as sale of land, to get all of Scotland’s property onto the new register.
Instead, two measures are being used to accelerate registration.
First, businesses are being enticed to register their land voluntarily, with a 25% discount on registration fees.
Second, Registers of Scotland are registering land themselves.
Indeed, some businesses – as well as homeowners and estate owners – in Tayside may already have had their land put on the new digital register.
Angus is one of four areas in Scotland where so-called Keeper-induced registration (or KIR) has been trialled, with postcodes in Dundee, Monifieth and Broughty Ferry among places involved.
On the face of it, KIR seems an easy option, with no fees payable to Registers of Scotland and no application paperwork to deal with.
However, leaving registration to the Keeper means businesses have no control over the process.
Errors and inaccuracies may creep in, and they may face high costs to rectify a mistake or settle a dispute around title.
Another risk is that a neighbour may register the land as their own.
Given many historic title deeds don’t contain plans, this risk is greater than most businesses think.
Even if only a small strip of land is involved, it could lead to the loss of loading, storage, work or parking areas.
Our lawyers’ own experience in Dundee highlights this risk.
A business client bought a landregistered plot on an industrial estate, only for the owner of the adjacent property to raise an action that a strip of the land by the boundary was actually included in its own title.
The action was unsuccessful because registration of the land had guaranteed the client’s ownership.
But had the neighbour been the first to register the land – or had it been left to KIR, under the new measures – the outcome for the business could have been very different.
By taking the bit between their teeth on land registration, businesses are better placed to steer the process and avoid disputes – getting clarity over their boundaries and a state-backed guarantee of their title.
Application fees charged by the Registers of Scotland start from £45 and, for those who may want to sell their business or land, registration can simplify the conveyancing and duediligence process and make the land more attractive to buyers.