Presentation of applications

Most applications for registration are presented by mail, either using the postal service or a commercial document exchange service. An application is normally presented by the solicitor acting for the buyer or the creditor, but individual citizens may also present their own applications. RoS do not accept deeds or applications for registration by FAX or e-mail.

RoS offer an Automated Registration of Title to Land (ARTL) service that allows for the electronic registration of ‘straight forward’ transactions affecting properties already registered in the Land Register.

RoS are undergoing a digital transformation, moving from a paper-based organisation to one that does everything digitally as the first option, making services greener, faster and more efficient. Until the transformation is complete however, any application for registration, in the form of paper documents, can be presented at one of the Customer Service Centres, located in either Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Where applicable, any Land and Buildings Transaction Tax requirement must be met before a deed is submitted for registration. RoS will reject any deed unless any required land transaction return has been made in relation to the transaction and any tax due in respect of the transaction has been paid.

Is it possible to digitally submit documents to the land registry? Are there any restrictions with regard to the type of document that can be digitally submitted or is digital submission possible for all types of documents?

Yes, please find a brief background to the Registers of Scotland (RoS) below

RoS is the non-ministerial government department responsible for compiling and maintaining 20 registers. These relate to land, property, and other legal documents.

Our main registers are:

– Land Register of Scotland
– General Register of Sasines

The Land Register is a state guaranteed public register of rights in land. It provides a once-and-for-all examination of title deeds to a plot of land, resulting in the production of a title sheet that consolidates various pieces of information from the deeds. The Land Register is gradually replacing the General Register of Sasines (GRS), another register of property rights also administered by RoS. The GRS was established in the early seventeenth century, and is a chronological register of deeds relating to property that provides a public register of land titles.

In 2017 RoS launched a Digital Discharge Service (DDS) for dealings with whole applications for Discharges of standard security deeds. Since its introduction the DDS has processed approximately 100,000 fully digital Discharges. 40% of all discharges are now submitted via DDS.

Information relating to registration can be accessed via ScotLIS, the land and property information service provided by RoS which allows citizens, communities, professionals and business users to find out comprehensive information about any piece of land or property in Scotland, currently registered in the Land Register, with a single enquiry.

• Which form of submission is used more frequently – digital or non-digital? If possible, could you please provide an indication in percentages?
  DDS accounts for 40% of discharges submitted to RoS.
  

Are there any restrictions to the digital submission of documents? For example, is it necessary that the person offering the document for registration has a validated digital signature?

Yes, discharge deeds submitted via DDS are created within the service provided by RoS and are signed by qualified electronic signature.

The Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012and the subsequent Registers of Scotland (Digital Registration, etc.) Regulations 2018 gives RoS the authority to receive and register applications electronically.

 Is it still possible to submit paper documents to the land registry?

Yes

Is it cheaper/more expensive to offer paper documents to the land registry? Could you provide a price indication for the registration of a deed of transfer (both digital and on paper)?

Recognising the efficiencies offered by the digital discharge service a discount of £10 is applied to the registration fee for discharges submitted via it. The fee to register discharges submitted via paper is £60 to the £50 via DDS.