Services For Solicitors
Whose Land Scotland can assist solicitors to find title deeds, resolve boundary issues, map title boundaries, complete Land Registration applications and more besides. We have 30 years of experience of land law, conveyancing and title registration, with particularly extensive experience of voluntary title registrations.
We can help you out on an “as you need it” basis, providing assistance when you encounter a particularly complex challenge. This allows you to focus on serving the needs of your clients while we work behind the scenes.
What Challenges Are Solicitors Facing?
In 2014 the Scottish Ministers asked the Keeper of the Land Register of Scotland to complete the Register within by 2024. Any solicitor dealing with property transactions for clients with land or buildings in Scotland will now be aware of the rules, procedures, forms and practices introduced by the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 2012.
But the Land Register is not complete. In December 2017, Registers of Scotland estimated Land Register coverage at just 30% of Scotland’s land area. In December 2024, that figure is still only about 60%.
So approximately 40% of Scotland’s land area is still unregistered, with ownership titles remaining in the Sasine Register. This often poses great challenges to the legal profession when trying to deal with first registration applications and issues such as deed plan (in)adequacy, boundary discrepancies, title overlaps and registration errors – not to mention the current enormous registrations backlog! As part of the legal profession ourselves, we understand these challenges – and the commercial pressures they bring.
Difficult Cases
Of course many properties are held on titles which will not be difficult to register, but here a few of the difficulties you may face:
- Deed plan quality is poor or non-existent/lost
- Estate titles disclose many historic sales and it is not clear what your client still owns
- Boundaries are unclear, overlap with other properties or disclose potential “holes” or ransom strips
- It is difficult to get a coherent picture of current ownership
Contact us today if you are facing complex challenges regarding land title deeds, resolving boundary issues, mapping titles, completing Land Registration applications and many more related areas.
We are happy to have a free no-commitment discussion about the challenges you are facing and how we can help.