Land registration should be on business radars

With the new digital system, it would be better to register your land before someone else does, warns Susan Law

The creation of Scotland’s digital Land Register may not show up on business radars at the moment, but businesses should not underestimate its relevance.

On the one hand, businesses that register their land voluntarily may make it more marketable; on the other, 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 per cent of land 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 on to the new Register.

Instead, two measures are being used to accelerate registration. Firstly, businesses are being enticed to register their land voluntarily, with a 25 per cent discount on registration fees. Secondly, Registers of Scotland are registering land themselves, without owners even being aware of it, in a process called Keeper-induced Registration (or KIR).

Indeed, some businesses (as well as homeowners and estate owners) might already have had their land put on the new digital register. The central belt is included in the areas in Scotland where KIR has been trialled, with postcodes in Mid and West Lothian, Glasgow, Lanark and Fife involved as well as a selection of areas across Scotland.

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 of sitting back and leaving registration for another day is that a neighbour might register the land as theirs.

Given that 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 a crucial loading, storage, work or parking area.

The risk is highlighted in one of our client’s own experiences. 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 their own title.

The action was unsuccessful because registration of the land had guaranteed the client’s ownership. But it’s a cautionary tale that it’s better to register your land before someone else does. 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 due diligence process and make the land more attractive to buyers. Susan Law, partner in Lindsays’ Commercial Property team