Notice of Abandonment

New provisions were introduced by the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2007 (subsequently consolidated by section 87(9) of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 to provide for the recording of a Notice of Abandonment by the trustee (either the Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) or nominated trustee) in the ROI where the trustee has abandoned to the debtor any heritable property. (This provision does not apply to pre 1 April 2008 sequestrations.)

When a trustee gives heritable property back to a debtor, written notification by the trustee is evidence that the debtor is now the owner of the property.

The trustee must register a Notice of Abandonment in the Register of Inhibitions. This ensures that anyone dealing with the debtor can see from a search of that register that the debtor is the owner. A search of that register would reveal the existence of the sequestration and without evidence of the Notice of Abandonment it would appear to a searcher that the property was still owned by the trustee for the creditors in the sequestration. 

A Notice of Abandonment can be submitted following on from a CCI granting Warrant to Cite granted at Sheriff Court or a Certified Notice of Determination by the AiB awarding Sequestration. As such, a search of the ROI is required to determine if either one of these documents has been registered previously.