Register of Community Interests in Land

Background

One of the public registers maintained by the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland is the Register of Community Interests in Land. This register was established by the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, to allow rural communities to register an interest in buying land related to their communities.

The Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 added a second part of the Register of Community Interests in Land, to allow persons holding tenancies under the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991 to register interests in acquiring the land comprised in their leases. Registration confers the right to buy the land when the landowner next proposes to transfer it or takes action towards transferring it. Registration also allows any third party proposing to transact with the landowner to determine whether there are any tenants who want to buy the land.

Community Bodies' Right to Buy

This part of the register is governed by the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. This allows community bodies to register a community interest in land, which enables them to buy the land for the benefit of the local community when it becomes available to purchase. When this happens, Scottish ministers will appoint an independent valuer to assess the market value of the land.

Register an application

Applications to register a community body's right to buy should be sent to the community right to buy branch of the Scottish government.

Agricultural Tenants' Right to Buy

This part of the register is governed by the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003. This allows agricultural tenants to register a notice of interest over the agricultural land they lease so that they can buy it if it becomes available for sale.

Eligibility

Only tenants who hold an agricultural tenancy in terms of the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991 are eligible to register their interest in the RCIL.

Tenants with:

• short limited duration tenancies
• limited duration tenancies
• grazing or mowing leases

do not qualify.

Register an application

To register an application, a completed RCIL (AT) application form is sent to CAJR.

Fees

Initial registration of a tenant's interest - £40

Subsequent registration of an existing or previously registered interest - £25

Application for registration

Tenants or their agents must complete a Notice of Interest and send it to the Keeper with the registration fee, which is £40 for an initial registration. The tenant has also to intimate the application to the landowner. The RCIL(AT) form serves the dual purpose of being the Notice of Interest to the landowner and also the registration application form. When the form is submitted for registration the applicant must certify that a copy has been sent to the current landowner.

On receipt, the Keeper will register the Notice of Interest in the Agricultural Tenants part of the RCIL and issue extracts of the registration to both the tenant and the landowner. It should be noted that the Keeper's role is to register the information supplied to her. Registration does not validate or guarantee that the details given in the Notice of Interest are correct. The Act permits the owner to challenge the registration if he or she disputes any matter contained in the extract.

Effect of registration

Registration confers the pre-emptive right to buy. The interest is effective for five years from the date of registration. During this time and at any time after expiry of the five years the tenant can apply to have the interest registered again, with or without modifications to information included in the original Notice of Interest. Re-registration (which is only applicable if the same lease continues) involves the tenant completing a new Notice of Interest and sending it to the Keeper. A reduced fee of £25 has been set for re-registration. If it is actually a new lease rather than a modification to the existing registration this constitutes a new application. An application in respect of a new lease would attract the £40 fee (even where it is over the same subjects).

Whilst a registration is current, if the landowner proposes to transfer the land he must give notice to the tenant. The tenant is then entitled to exercise the right to buy at a price agreed between tenant and landowner or otherwise determined in terms of the Act.

CAJR letters

Pro-forma letters for use with RCIL (AT) applications are available in the CAJR Fileshare. There are several different letter styles available covering the common types of letters which will require to be issued by CAJR.