Local Registration Authorities (LRA's)

The arrangements within firms for setting up Local Registration Authorities will vary from firm to firm but it may be useful to compile a list of scenarios that may apply as a base for the sign-up visit, which can be amended by the firm when the Practice Administrator has familiarised themselves with it.

Every firm must appoint at least one Local Registration Authority, but in view of the functions served by them, it is recommended that an additional one be set up.

The Law Society currently requires that the Local Registration Authority must be a solicitor. The position does carry a high level of responsibility in the chain of trust established between the PKI users in a firm, RoS and Trustis. However the practical requirements of the position do require reasonable competence with the use of IT and keyboard.

The Local Registration Authority is responsible for:

• setting up PKI users within the firm;
• obtaining the necessary electronic certificate;
• installing it on the card;
• updating the ARTL database;
• creating the Smartcard PIN;
• recording the proof of identity;
• enrolling the digital certificate;
• activating the card and
• issuing it to the user.

This process is relatively time consuming and requires a higher ability to use IT than any other process in ARTL.

This can be a non-solicitor. The Practice Administrator is responsible for:

• maintaining the list of users and their relevant details,
• allocating non-signing roles to users,
• switching work between work queues in the case of absence of users and
• re-setting access passwords.

The Practice Administrator’s functions will be required more regularly than the Local Registration Authority and they do not require Smartcards in that capacity. If the Practice Administrator is also a PKI user, they will have a Smartcard for that function.

If a firm operates through a number of departments or branch offices, it may be useful to have Practice Administrators from each department or branch who would be responsible for the administration of ARTL work within their department or office.

Even if there are no departments, at least one additional Practice Administrator should be set up to cover for absence etc, although Local Registration Authorities can also perform all the functions of the Practice Administrator.

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There are a number of fundamental points about queues:

There are 3 types of Work Queue: Practice, Shared and Private. Any of the Queues can be made “Public Facing” to which Disposition Transactions which are being passed to you will be allocated by other (purchasers’) firms.

• Every user in ARTL has a default Private Work Queue and all work in ARTL is automatically allocated to that Queue when a user prepares an application.

• The user can re-allocate the work from their private queue to a shared queue or to a practice queue.

• When a signature is required, the transaction or draft application must be allocated to a queue from which the signatory can retrieve it to sign.

• The transaction must be in the signatory’s Private Queue for the signature to be applied.

• If individual transactions from a draft application are re-allocated they must all be re-united after they have been approved before the draft application can be submitted.

• All transactions in a draft application must be approved before the draft application can be submitted.

• Some queues may be ‘public facing’ which means that the queue name is visible to other firms and organisations and work can be allocated to them where appropriate - eg disposition transactions being allocated by the purchaser’s agent to the seller’s agent, or among multiple agents.

• Other firms cannot access any work in a public facing queue as they can only allocate specific transactions to it. Once in such a queue, the sender can no longer access it to carry out any work.

There are a number of possible scenarios for queues within firms:

• A Practice Queue to which everyone has access to all work, including transactions ready for signature. Only the roles assigned to users can be carried out by them. The transaction will be reallocated to the signatory’s Private Queue to enable them to sign the deed, which will then be returned to the .

• A Shared Queue to which the only signatories have access and to which all work to be signed is allocated when appropriate.

• A Shared Queue to which those creating and progressing draft applications have access and from which the transactions are allocated to the ‘signature’ queue.

• A Shared Queue which will be public facing in which incoming dispositions will arrive.

• Shared Queues to reflect a departmental structure within an office or firm. This arrangement would probably remove the need for a Practice Queue as each department could have a queue to which all members could have access as well as the other queues as appropriate.

Although it is a matter for firms to decide how best to manage their workflows, it is recommended that work should be progressed in Shared or Practice Queues rather than being left in Private Queues. This means that all users who have access to the Queue in which the draft application sits, can access it and work on it.

The procedure therefore to be followed when a draft application is created within the firm by a non- PKI user – eg in a Standard Security transaction - is as follows:

1. The creator nominates themselves as ‘the person who will be preparing the <transaction>’ in the Wizard.
2. After completion of the Wizard, the Creator goes to WIP, selects the draft application and reallocates it to the appropriate shared queue or to the practice queue.
3. The creator completes the transaction information and answers the questions.
4. The creator changes the deed signatory from their own name to that of the Private Queue of the PKI who is to sign the deed.
5. The creator then <creates the deed and passes it to the signatory>.
6.  The deed then passes to the PKI who will retrieve it from their Private Queue, and sign the deed.
7. The PKI returns the deed.
8. The creator can then approve the deed to await the return of the remaining transactions for completion of the draft application.

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The ARTL system of registration is designed for applications for registration of Dealings with Whole in the Land Register of Scotland. It is not available for First Registrations or Transfers of Part type applications.

An estimated 80% of the total number of Dealings submitted for registration each year is capable of being processed by the ARTL system. In the main, these comprise straightforward Dealings that affect only the B (Proprietorship) and C (Charges) Sections of Title Sheets.

This document lists those types of Dealings applications that are ARTL-compatible and those that are not ARTL compatible.

Full Compatability of Deed Types Document (82kb)

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As with other internet and digital services all passwords and PINs must be kept confidential by the individual user. In ARTL it is particularly important since all actions and keystrokes made by the user who is logged in are attributed to that login, are recorded and can be retrieved on an audit trail.

All users of the registers e-services (ARTL, e-forms and, in due course Registers Direct) will be given a username and password when they are signed up for any of the services. This user name is similar to the current usernames for e-forms.

If a user’s login details are used by anyone else, the user will be held responsible for all actions taken, regardless of whether they can demonstrate that they did not in fact carry out those actions.

Users of ARTL who have authority to sign deeds, approve transactions and/or submit applications for registration to the Keeper will require to be issued with a digital certificate (PKI).

PIN Numbers:

The Local Registration Authorities in each firm will issue the certificate which is in the form of a smartcard, similar to a bank or credit card which has a chip embedded in it which contains the actual certificate.

When the certificate is downloaded to the card, the user must validate the card by inputting their own PIN. The PIN must be a minimum of 8 and maximum of 16 characters and must contain at least 1 uppercase character and 1 number.

The process for issuing the certificates must be carried out by the Local Registration Authority who requires to access a number of secure websites from where they will download the user’s certificate on to the card. The Local Registration Authority also adds the user’s details to the ARTL database of  certificates.

To adhibit a digital signature, a user must insert the card into the card reader and be prompted to enter their PIN.

Passwords:

All users will log in with their username and password whether they have a digital certificate or not.

It is the firm’s Practice Administrator who will set up new users on ARTL. The system will generate the username which will be the first three letters of the surname followed by the first three letters of the first name. Where there is already such a name on the system, it will add a digit at the end. The Practice Administrator will issue a default password and the system will force users to change this to their own confidential password when they first log in.

If Practice Administrators and Local Registration Authorities are also to use the system for creating applications, progressing work, signing deeds, approving or submitting applications, they will have 2 usernames. The username for the administrative functions will be constructed in the same way as above, but will have a suffix of 4 digits to distinguish them.

Pin/Password Formation Tips

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