Stay up to date with everything happening at Registers of Scotland (RoS) with our monthly update.
Key messages:
- Re-opening the application record
- Fee Review
- Digital submissions consultation
- RCI (Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land)
- Top tips for the Development Plan Approval Service
Re-opening the application record
The Land Register application record and the Register of Sasines will fully re-open on 1 March 2021.
The date is important as it means those Advance Notices which were extended by the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 will expire, 10 days later, on 11 March 2021.
The Digital Submission Service will continue to be the only way to submit applications.
If your digital submission has an accompanying document which cannot be scanned, you can make use of our non-digital documents function.
Visit our website to find out what to do next.
Fee Review
The Statutory Instrument setting out the detail of our proposed fee amendments will be reviewed by the Economy, Energy, and Fair Work Committee on 2 March. RoS will be appearing alongside the Minister for Trade, Innovation and Public Finance.
If it’s approved, the proposed date for the new statutory fees coming into effect is 1 April 2021. Please note this is a provisional date and cannot be confirmed until the proposals receive parliamentary approval.
Once we receive confirmation from Parliament, we’ll contact our customers to explain how the new fees will be applied.
For more information on the rationale behind our fee review check out one of our previous blogs. More detailed background is also available in the Fee Review 2020 Consultation paper.
Digital Submission Consultation closed
We have had an excellent response to our consultation on whether to place our digital submissions systems on a permanent legislative basis. 222 of you got in touch to share your views. We are now carefully reviewing all submissions to help inform our next steps. Watch this space for future updates.
RCI (Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land)
The regulations for the ‘Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land’ were unanimously passed by the Scottish Parliament on 10 February 2021.
The register will increase public transparency of individuals who have control over decision-making in relation to land in Scotland.
The regulations are intended to ensure there can no longer be categories of landowner or tenant where, intentionally or otherwise, control of decision-making is obscured. In conjunction with other transparency regimes, this means that it will be possible to look behind every category of entity in Scotland, including overseas entities and trusts, to see who controls land.
RoS teams are working towards a ‘go live’ date of 1 April 2022 for the register. Following which there will be a one-year transitional phase to allow for submissions before any offence provisions for non-compliance come into effect.
We will release more information in due course, in the meantime you can access the policy documents on the Scottish Government website.
Top tips for the Development Plan Approval Service
Get the best out of the service by checking out our top tips to help speed up your request and avoid any potential delays.
Contact us
For general enquiries or specific questions about an application contact:
Email: customerservices@ros.gov.uk Phone: 0800 169 9391
If there are is anything else you would like to bring to my attention during this period, please email FAO Jennifer Henderson: rossecretariat@ros.gov.uk
Jennifer Henderson, Keeper of the Registers of Scotland