Registers of Scotland have today announced that certain applications can be submitted electronically from the 27th April. The announcement should allow a number of cases which settled under the interim arrangements to be submitted to Registers of Scotland and now that the electronic solution is in place, we would expect to see a number of lenders who have not signed up to the interim arrangements proceeding with transactions. It is important to note that the register has not been re-opened and this is an interim solution to allow registration.

The Scottish property market was plunged deeper into disarray on the 24th March 2020 as the Registers of Scotland (RoS) closed the application record, which records the transfer of ownership and registration of lenders charges. Since the application record was closed, RoS has been working closely with the Law Society of Scotland, UK Finance and key stakeholders to devise a solution which will keep staff safe but allow applications to be processed remotely. However, the solution was not simple to implement. Registration law in Scotland was modernised in 2014 with the introduction of the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012 which provided RoS with a statutory basis for their powers and to implement a workable solution to reopening the application would require a legislative amendment. The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 came into force on the 7th April 2020 and provides a workaround to allow applications to be submitted electronically however, this is still in the beta testing phase. Myself and McVey and Murricane have been working closely with RoS trailing the new workarounds and providing feedback. For further information, please contact Fallon Sara Spencer , Principal and Head of Specialist Lending.