Justice 2 Committee, 30 Sep 2003

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 30, 2003

Official Report 254KB pdf

---

Subordinate Legislation

---

Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003 (Consequential Provisions) Order 2003 (Draft)

I now welcome to the meeting the Deputy Minister for Justice, Hugh Henry. He is almost here for a love-in, given the length of time for which he will be with us and the items for which we require his attention. We are very glad, minister, that you have been able to join us and we thank you for making time available. I also welcome the minister's colleagues from the Scottish Executive. Joyce Lugton is from the Justice Department and Norman Macleod is from legal and parliamentary services. They are here as advisers to the minister.

The first item on which we require the minister's participation is subordinate legislation. Members will have received among their papers the draft Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003 (Consequential Provisions) Order 2003. Procedurally, the committee requires to take certain action in relation to the instrument, which is subject to the affirmative procedure. I refer members to the note from the clerk, which raises a number of points. Before I ask the minister to speak to and move the motion, it might be helpful if members asked any questions on matters that concern them. Members might want to ask about one or two technical issues. [Interruption.]

Minister, the clerk advises me that you might want to make an opening statement. Given that you are going to speak to and move the motion anyway and that we are always delighted to hear from you, would that be sufficient for your purposes?

I am entirely in your hands, convener. It would be a brave convener who ignored the advice of a clerk—you would do so at your peril.

Do you want to make a brief introductory comment about the order?

Okay. In the previous session, I managed to avoid the delights of the Title Conditions (Scotland) Bill. Jim Wallace was in charge of its passage through the Parliament; the fact that I was not able to go into the intricate detail of the bill was one of the grave disappointments of the previous session.

The Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003 is a complicated piece of legislation. Today, we have some consequential changes to make to it. We always realised that some changes would be needed, such is the technical complexity of the act. We accepted that we would have to correct any anomalies or problems that arose.

I will go through some of what the order contains. It is made under section 128 of the act and aims to correct some of the defects that have been identified. The amendments are all minor. The first links the act's provisions on compulsory purchase to the Lands Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act 1845, which, I think, is only slightly before the convener's time. The amendment to the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc (Scotland) Act 2000 rectifies an anomaly over the status of conditions following a determination by the Lands Tribunal for Scotland.

The following alterations are made to the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003. A provision on neighbour discharge of burdens is amended to allow burdens to be identified by reference to the deed in which they are created, rather than being set out at length.

Is that an inadvertent dismissal of that monument, the Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1924? Heavens above! The sooner that is rectified, the better.

We did ponder how to break that news to you, convener, because we realised that it would give you some sleepless nights. I am sure that you will adjust your social calendar accordingly.

Several changes relate to decisions by the Lands Tribunal. One removes the superfluous possibility that the tribunal might order compensation in circumstances where there is no loss to compensate. Another allows the tribunal to create new, replacement burdens where a model development management scheme is being disapplied. The rules on notifying interested parties of a proposal are also modified to exclude non-owners such as tenants.

Several other modifications are made in respect of compulsory purchase orders. There is a transitional provision for existing CPO procedures and there are modifications to the notification of applications to ensure consistency and practicality. The change to the Compulsory Purchase by Public Authorities (Inquiries Procedure) (Scotland) Rules 1998 (SI 2313/1998) is consequential and results from the 2003 act's extension of the categories of person who are to be notified of a CPO.

There is a change to the Housing (Forms) (Scotland) Regulations 1974 (SI 1982/1974) to reflect some of the changes made by the 2003 act and the rules on advertisements are altered to take account of the lamp post notices that are used under the 2003 act. I am sure that that is a big issue in some communities.

The amendments are technical. Notwithstanding that the Parliament considered the legislation only recently, we all—committees and Executive—realise that such were the complexity and technicalities of the act that changes would have to be considered. Hence the order that is before the committee.

Before I ask the minister to speak to and move the motion, I invite members to ask any questions that they have.

Having sat through the consideration of the Title Conditions (Scotland) Bill in the previous session, I never thought to see the legislation come back again. I find that I remember the matters that are mentioned only vaguely, except for the notices on lamp posts. Will you explain how proposed changes will be advertised, if notices cannot be affixed to lamp posts or buildings? You say that you want consistency in advertising, but how will that happen?

The act provides for lamp post notices to be used in certain circumstances to notify owners of proposed changes under the mechanisms in the act. The change ensures that notices can be put up without the need for express consent from local authorities. The issue is one of consent.

So notices will still be fixed on lamp posts.

Yes.

As there are no other questions, I invite the minister to move the motion and to speak to it, if he desires.

Motion moved,

That the Justice 2 Committee recommends that the draft Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003 (Consequential Provisions) Order 2003 be approved.—[Hugh Henry.]

As no member wishes to contribute, I invite the minister to wind up this short debate.

Everything has been said, convener.

Motion agreed to.

We must now report to Parliament accordingly. The report needs only to be a short statement of the committee's recommendations, although it can be fuller if the committee thinks that that is appropriate.

I thank the minister for his assistance. I also thank the minister's advisers for being present—they may now vacate their seats.