1. Registration Director
Land Registration in Scotland - Changing from a Deeds to a Title Registration System
John King
Registration Director
Registers of Scotland

2. Registers of Scotland
Land & property registration organisation for Scotland
Self-financing Government Agency
1400 staff
Offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow
Responsible for 16 public registers
Registers of Scotland is the land and property registration organisation for Scotland. In the UK there are 3 separate organisations responsible for land registration: 1 for England and Wales, 1 for Northern Ireland and 1 for Scotland. This is because we have separate legal and administrative histories in the countries that make up the United Kingdom.
Our long-term objective for Registers of Scotland, as defined in our corporate plan, is “to maximise the benefit of land registration to our customers, stakeholders and the citizens of Scotland”
This will be achieved by:
compiling and maintaining accurate registers; and
improving both the Land Register coverage and depth and types of information available from our registers.

3. Key Registers Register of Sasines (Deeds Register) Land Register
The Registers of Scotland is responsible for the compilation and maintenance of 16 public registers in Scotland. The 2 most important Registers are the Register of Sasines and the Land Register. Both of these registers, the Register of Sasines and the Land Register, have to do with rights to real estate. The Register of Sasines, a public register of deeds covering all of Scotland was set up by an Act of the Scots Parliament in The Register of Sasines worked well for many, many years. In fact, it still works reasonably well today. But in the 20th century, many countries in the world began to move towards systems of registration based on registration of title to land, and not just registration of deeds. These new title registration systems usually featured the use of maps and provided guarantees for registered titles. So, as the 20th century wore on, there was a growing feeling in Scotland that the Register of Sasines - which had none of these new features - was archaic and in need of reform. Eventually, in 1979, the UK Parliament passed an act introducing title registration to Scotland. And the new register, called the Land Register of Scotland, was started in The Land Register is progressively replacing the sasines (or deeds) register throughout the whole of Scotland. A property currently transfers from the deeds register to the land register when it is sold. The whole of Scotland was covered by the deeds register, but so far only about 45% of properties in Scotland have transferred to the land register. [Potentially 2.5 million parcels in Scotland - over 1.1 million currently in land register].
We are also responsible for 14 other minor registers (including the Register of Community Interests in Land (RCIL) created 15/6/2004) but these are not relevant to your work, so I am not going to mention them to you today.

4. Key Differences between the Register of Sasines and the Land Register
A register of deeds
Not map-based
Title established through examination of prior deeds
Not guaranteed
Land Register
A register of interests in land
Map-based
Title derives from the register; simpler, faster conveyancing
Guaranteed
Let me highlight the main features of the Register of Sasines and the Land Register. This will bring out the differences between them. The Register of Sasines is merely a register of deeds relating to real estate. It is not based on maps but on written descriptions of property. The Land Register is a register of interests in land. It reveals the current state of the title to any registered interest, and in fact the title stems from the register itself, not from the legal deed. The Land Register is map-based. The land to which the interest relates is identified on the Ordnance Survey Map. Ordnance Survey is the Government Agency which produces the national topographical map of the UK. By the way, I should mention that Ordnance Survey is not a cadastral department. We do not have the cadastral tradition in the UK. Equivalent elements of cadastral activities as they relate to land registration, however, are undertaken by Registers of Scotland, using Ordnance Survey digital topographic data.
The Land Register also provides a guarantee of title, which the Register of Sasines does not. We call this guarantee the indemnity. When an interest is registered, the Registers of Scotland must issue to the proprietor a Certificate of Title (called the Land Certificate). The Registers of Scotland must provide compensation to anyone who suffers financial loss as the result of an error or omission in the Land Certificate.
Another difference is that, every time a property in the Register of Sasines changes hands, the lawyer acting for the buyer has to carry out a lengthy check of all the prior title deeds, in order to make sure there are no legal defects. That is still true the first time a property is registered in the Land Register. But, once the property is registered, the title stems from the register and the process of transferring title to a buyer is greatly simplified. There is no need, then, for the buyer's lawyer to check all the old title deeds. He or she simply relies on the Land Register itself. So the Land Register is said to make conveyancing, the legal aspect of buying and selling real estate, simpler and faster.

5. Reasons for Change
Inaccuracy and inefficiency of existing narrative descriptions/deed plans
Deeds registration did not guarantee validity
Time-consuming and complex title checks
Title registration would provide definitive title, with reference to a map and with a State guarantee

6. The Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979
First county introduced on 6 April 1981
First Registration applications validated by Registers of Scotland
Title Sheet created
Land and Charge Certificates issued

7. Land Certificate 4 sections: (1) description & Title Plan
(2) proprietor(s)
(3) charges (mortgages)
(4) burdens
Unique Title Number, e.g., GLA 98667
I will say a few more words about the Land Certificate. This is a photograph showing a Land Certificate, this thing here with the yellow cover. You will see an actual Land Certificate later this morning. This other document, by the way, is called a Charge Certificate. It is a kind of supplementary certificate specifically showing any mortgages over a property.
As I told you a few seconds ago, details of the registered property are entered into the computerised register. We call the computer record for a property the Title Sheet. It is the Title Sheet that really matters. A Land Certificate is only a paper copy of the Title Sheet at a given point in time. Every so often, the Land Certificate has to be updated to reflect changes in the Title Sheet.
The Land Certificate contains 4 sections: (first) a description of the property by reference to a Title Plan (which is derived from the Ordnance Survey map); (second) the names and addresses of the registered owners; (third) any mortgages or other financial charges affecting the property; and (fourth) any burdens or legal conditions restricting the use of the property.
As I said earlier, our Land Register is fully computerised. We have 2 main systems: one which produces text and one which produces digital maps.
I want to say a little bit about our Digital Mapping System…. (next slide)

8. Sporadic versus Systematic Change
Main Reasons for sporadic approach:
Cost
No urgent property market pressures
Staffing and training issues
Impact on legal community and customers
Ordnance Survey mapping
Systematic registration can be adopted at later date

9. The Costs of Change Key costs: staff, training and IT
Over 150% increase in staffing levels
Full cost recovery still achieved
Unit cost reducing with ongoing efficiency improvements

10. The Benefits of the Title Registration System

11. Customer Service
A more comprehensive and efficient registration service for the citizens of Scotland
Key benefits:
indemnity
accessibility
still public and open to all
more compact data provision, storage and archiving
security
Conveyancing process simplified
There are 3 important elements of the Scottish system of land registration that I want to emphasize to you this morning.
1. the principle of indemnity. I've already mentioned this, but it's so crucial to the Scottish conception of land registration that it is worth repeating to you. Basically, if someone suffers loss - by which I mean a financial loss - as a result of a mistake or an omission in the Land Register, then RoS is liable to pay compensation to that person.
2. the question of the accessibility of information in the registers. In Scotland we have a very old tradition of allowing full, public access to the information in our registers. We don't impose any restrictions on that at all. If we have the information, anyone can have it. They have to pay us a fee for it, of course, but other than that access is unrestricted.
3. and this point again has to do with accessibility, the registers are easy to search and examine. If you know the name of the owner of a parcel, you can search against that name, and quickly obtain the correct result. If you know the location or address of the property, you can search against that too. And, if the public is unsure how to conduct a search of the registers themselves, we will do it for them. They can come into our offices in Edinburgh or Glasgow, and we will readily help them to find the information they want. Or, if they live too far away to visit our offices, they can write to us, or communicate with us by telephone, or fax, and we will reply in the same way with the required information.

12. Information Provision and e-Services
Better property market statistics and services
Benefits to creditors, valuation experts, investors and to business
Supports e-Government initiatives
Computerised registers allowed development of more comprehensive services, including mapping element

13. Examples of Services REGISTERS DIRECT
Recent localised house prices via
Individual Property Prices
Average Property Prices
Volumes of Sales
Land Values - Bulk Data
Customised Reports
Spatial Data from Digital Mapping System
Computerisation and the development of IT systems in Registers of Scotland have enabled the development of a variety of Land and Property Data services and have thereby created new business opportunities for Registers of Scotland. As a self-financing organisation, the creation of such business opportunities is very important to us. In addition, the creation of these services allows us to better serve the needs of our customers. The nature of land registration work is changing. It is no longer just about registering rights to real estate. More and more, it is about managing and dispensing the information that has been registered. That requires fresh thinking, fresh ideas, and demands from the public for new services, often using new technology. We have created several services to support this - examples are given on the slide.
You will find out more about these services over the next couple of days.
[Registers Direct. This involves direct access to information in our computer databases, via the Internet – for a charge, of course. Over 1,000 organisations are registered as customers, Over 5,000 registered individual users, In excess of 50,000 searches per week, Income of £400,000/month (600,000 euro) ]

14. Income Registration fees need to cover costs
Income heavily influenced by market conditions
Development of alternative registration and information services has boosted income

15. Looking to the Future Automated Registration of Title to Land
Legislative change – new Land Registration Bill
New registers – Crofting Register/Register of Floating Charges
New markets

16. Potential Benefits in the Indian Context
Less land disputes
Security for credit, business growth and investment
Greater control, e.g. illegal building
Service development
Monitoring of land markets
Tools to support planning and development
More cost effective services

17. Questions?