Plans Ident guidance

Why do we ident?

It is essential that we identify the extent of all pending applications for registration.

• Section 39 (1) of the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012 (the 2012 Act) states that; 

“The Keeper must deal with two or more applications for registration in relation to the same land in order of receipt”. 

•  Section 12 (2) of the 2012 Act states that; 

“the same area of land cannot be represented by more than one cadastral unit”. 

In other words, applications should be registered in date order, and if the same area of ground is submitted for registration in two applications, then the earliest application takes precedence.

There is inevitably a delay between the time when any application is created and the time when the registration is completed. If an index map search is carried out during the interval between creation of an application and authorisation of the plotting of the cadastral unit (for example, for a pre-registration property report), there needs to be an indication that an application exists.

If, for operational reasons a later application is to be registered prior to an earlier application for registration, plans officers must ensure it does not create a competition with either any registered titles, or earlier pending applications. The ident of earlier applications allows for these to be identified to prevent overlaps being inadvertently created contrary to the terms of the 2012 Act.

When do we ident?

When an application for First Registration (FR) or Voluntary Registration (VR) is submitted, the route it takes into registration is dependent on whether a COF has been identified on the application form. Applications for First Add To (FA) and Voluntary Add To (VR) are automatically routed to the Plans Ident basket/.

The casework route and stages for ident are shown in the flow-chart below (click on the image to display full-sized flow chart):

There are therefore two scenarios for FRs and VRs that result in the need to ident the subjects being registered:

1.  When an application for registration had a clear plans report issued by Registers of Scotland, but on further examination at registration differences or issues are identified that mean that the Capture Once File (COF) cannot be approved. In these instances, a DCU will need to be created for ident, and then the case will be routed to the appropriate CMS workbasket depending on the complexity and categorisation of the case. 
2. When an application for registration is submitted either with a plans report carried out by a third party, or the subjects have not had a plans report. In these instances, there will not be a COF file available for approval. If the application cannot be mapped at Map Standard a DCU will need to be created for ident and the application routed to Map Advanced/Authority accordingly. 

See section Plans Ident Processes in Plan Creator for step-by-step guides on identing different types of application.