Completion of the Land Register in Scotland

Scottish Ministers have asked Registers of Scotland to complete the Land Register in 10 years, and have committed to registering all public land within 5 years. This follows on from the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 2012. 

Completing the Land Register will be a major undertaking and will require collaboration across the private, public and charitable sectors. A public consultation is now underway which will be completed later this year. See:

http://www.ros.gov.uk/consultation/consultation_land_register_completion.html

In order to complete the Land Register, additional levers for registration are likely to be required on top of voluntary registration and “Keeper-induced” registration under the 2012 Act. A fully transparent Land Register is a laudable goal and, although there will likely be challenges along the way of achieving it, Scottish Ministers are to be congratulated for giving this priority. There can be no doubt that this will have economic as well as social and legal benefits for citizens and should fit well with the Government’s aim of ensuring that Scotland is a modern e-enabled country which can demonstrate that is a good place for businesses to be located.