Chamber and committees

The length of time that an application for registration takes to process depends primarily on its complexity but also on other factors such as the availability of supporting documentation from applicants, the completeness of neighbouring titles and whether there are associated applications which should be processed at the same time. The current totals of applications for registration in the Land Register that are in the course of being processed are as follows:

Timescale	Stock	Relative Intake
	65,828	177,058
6-12 months	30,691	180,920
1-2 years	38,779	333,623
2-3 years	17,485	273,630
3-4 years	9,103	238,406
4-5 years	3,052	188,864
> 5 years	1,973

Of the 14,128 applications for registration which are over three years old, some 72% are linked to other applications in that category and can only be taken forward when these preceding applications have been resolved.

Registers of Scotland are required to meet targets set by ministers as regards the average time taken to process applications for registration in the Land Register. In the past three years, Registers of Scotland has met all such targets.

In 2004-05 ministers set a target to eliminate stocks of domestic First Registrations over 1 year old during the next three years with a milestone reduction of 25% from the stock position at 31 March 2004 by 31 March 2005. Registers of Scotland expects to meet this target.

In addition, Registers of Scotland has specifically addressed arrears of older casework and all of the agency’s oldest casework is either in the course of being processed or awaiting supplementary information from the submitting agents. Registers of Scotland is on track to process all applications that are pre-year 2000 and not subject to factors outwith the keeper’s control, by the end of this financial year.

The Land Register is made up of title sheets for each individual property registered and is held electronically.

Information from the Land Register is already available online. In 2001 Registers of Scotland introduced a service known as Registers Direct. This service provides information from the Land Register, and certain other registers, on the internet.

Subject to passage of the necessary subordinate legislation, Registers of Scotland plans to begin the roll-out of electronic registration – known as Automated Registration of Title to Land (ARTL) – from November 2006. This system will permit straightforward land registration transactions to be undertaken online.

The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland is responsible for the administration of the two property registers in Scotland. These registers are the General Register of Sasines, a register of deeds, which is gradually being superseded by the Land Register, a register of title. The Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979 introduced the system of land registration in Scotland. The act envisaged the progressive introduction of the Land Register over Scotland on an area-by-area basis. This was completed in 2003, and the whole of Scotland is now operational for the purposes of land registration.

Transactions that induce first registration in the Land Register are set out in the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979. Generally, only a transfer of property for valuable consideration (i.e. a price) will induce the first registration of a property in the Land Register. Thus any property transfer involving deeds recorded in the General Register of Sasines that does not attract a price will remain on that register.

There is no set timescale for every property in Scotland to be held on the Land Register. Over time, as more properties held on the Register of Sasines are sold, the stock of properties in Scotland held on the Land Register will increase. The percentage of properties in the Land Register is presently rising by around 3% a year.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to reply. Her response is as follows:

All 32 local authorities have submitted a local housing strategy to Communities Scotland for assessment. All have been assessed and Communities Scotland has provided feedback to each local authority.

There are a number of different exemptions and reliefs from Stamp Duty and Stamp Duty Land Tax. The Scottish Executive has carried out no analysis of the impact of these reliefs as taxation is a reserved matter. Scottish ministers do however continue to ensure that Scotland’s interests on the issue of taxation, as on other matters, are placed firmly on the agenda in Whitehall.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to reply. Her response is as follows.

Glasgow City and the City of Edinburgh have had their business cases approved and now manage the development funding programmes in their areas. The transfer of programme management was implemented in Glasgow City on 1 September 2003 and in the City of Edinburgh on 12 July 2004.

East Lothian, North Lanarkshire, South Ayrshire and West Lothian have also submitted business cases to transfer the management of development funding in their respective local authority areas.

Scottish ministers set an annual target for Registers of Scotland in respect of the accuracy of land certificates that are issued when an application for registration is complete.

The target for the current financial year, 2004-05, requires the Land Register to achieve a registration accuracy rate of at least 98% for land certificates despatched during the previous 12 months. In the 12 months up to 31 December 2004, the Land Register achieved an accuracy rate of 98.60%. 321,918 land certificates were issued from the Land Register during that period, of which 4,503 have required subsequent amendment.

Though most are minor and readily remedied, the occurrence of inaccuracies in land certificates is a matter that the Keeper of the Registers and his staff treat very seriously. In order to deliver and maintain improvements in accuracy, a number of measures have been put in place, including the creation of a Data and Information Unit and a Quality Steering Group in Registers of Scotland.

Where a Land Certificate contains an inaccuracy, a party affected may apply to the Keeper to have this rectified in the register. The Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979 provides for the payment of indemnity to those who have suffered loss as a result of such inaccuracies. Last year, payments were necessary in less than 0.05% of applications.

The information requested is not held centrally. The Scottish Court Service does not have information which identifies the number of repossessions either for Scotland as a whole or by sheriff court district.

The guidance on procurement strategies will be published as part of a construction procurement manual which substantially amends and supersedes the existing construction client pack. It is expected that this will be available by May 2005.

The information collated by Registers of Scotland relates to the three different types of application that can be made to the Land Register. These are as follows:

an application for first registration of previously unregistered property,

an application for registration of a dealing with the whole of a registered interest in land, and

an application for registration of a transfer of part of a registered interest in land (a sub-division following a sale).

Once a property is registered in the Land Register any subsequent transaction involving that property (a transfer of title, a standard security, a discharge of a standard security) will be submitted as an application for registration of a dealing with whole.

The following table provides details of the number of applications for registration in the Land Register since the inception of land registration in 1981.

Year	First Registration	Transfer of Part	Dealing with Whole	Totals
1981	4,247	347	236	4,830
1982	7,187	1,136	1,176	9,499
1983	10,904	3,874	1,600	16,378
1984	18,110	2,700	6,815	27,625
1985	19,916	3,511	9,915	33,342
1986-87	30,417	5,215	20,812	56,444
1987-88	29,739	7,359	28,091	65,189
1988-89	31,172	9,786	36,676	77,634
1989-90	31,178	10,194	46,263	87,635
1990-91	25,392	9,013	53,753	88,158
1991-92	19,881	8,342	53,889	82,112
1992-93	18,014	7,517	48,950	74,481
1993-94	24,391	8,032	59,329	91,752
1994-95	26,132	9,442	58,253	93,827
1995-96	28,963	10,617	61,495	101,075
1996-97	36,709	12,163	68,792	117,664
1997-98	50,032	14,349	77,661	142,042
1998-99	46,387	15,588	92,024	153,999
1999-2000	55,466	16,833	101,213	173,512
2000-01	57,400	18,418	113,368	189,186
2001-02	76,693	22,211	144,130	243,034
2002-03	80,052	22,294	179,779	282,125
2003-04	76,094	26,169	240,145	342,408
2004-05 (to February 2005)	67,591	24,032	249,443	341,066

Registers of Scotland can also identify the total number of applications to register a dealing in the Land Register that relate to standard securities which includes mortgages and re-mortgages. This information is available from the year 2000 onwards:

Year	No. of Applications to Register a Standard Security
2000-01	25,327
2001-02	34,717
2002-03	48,829
2003-04	82,213
2004-05 (to February 2005)	92,401

Re-mortgage transactions will also have been recorded in the General Register of Sasines though the difference in classification of the different types of applications does not apply in that register.