Register of Community Interests in Land (RCIL)

Background

The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 Part 2 requires the Keeper to set up and keep a Register of Community Bodies Interests in Land. The Register has two parts for registering two types of statutory pre-emptive rights to buy: one for registering rural community bodies rights to buy in terms of Part 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003; and the pre-emptive right to buy of Agricultural Tenants in terms of Part 2 of the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003. As a general rule, each right to buy can only be activated once a landowner has indicated that the land in which there is a registered interest is to be sold.

Agricultural Tenants Right to Buy

Applications by tenants in certain types of agricultural tenancies must be made on the appropriate statutory form known as a Notice of Interest. Applications should be submitted directly to the Keeper, for a fee. A Notice of Interest and accompanying guidance notes for completion of the form can be accessed from the links below:

Notice of Interest
Guidance Notes
Access the Register of Community Interests in Land

Contacts for Agricultural Tenants

If you require an information pack for the agricultural tenants right to buy please contact Registers of Scotland Customer Service Centres as follows on 0845 607 0161 or 0845 607 0164.

Community Bodies Right to Buy

Applications by community bodies as defined in Part 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 must be made on the appropriate statutory form and sent to the Scottish Executive Environmental and Rural Affairs Department. Various requirements are placed upon the body intending to make the application and reference should be made to the Act and supporting legislation for further information.

Community Right to Buy — Important Information concerning examination of RCIL

In the Community Right to buy part of the RCIL, an entry may be either “Pending” where a decision of Ministers whether to register the entry is awaited, “Registered” where Ministers have reached their decision to proceed to register the Community Body’s interest in the appropriate land, “Activated”, where Ministers have advised the Keeper that the right to buy has been triggered in respect of all, or part of, the land affected by an entry, or “Deleted”. No distinction is made between those entries where the right to buy has been activated for only part of the land affected by an entry and those where all the land in the entry is affected. The copy documents attached to each entry should be considered to ascertain the complete position.

The initial page of this section of the Register also contains the numbers of entries which are either “Pending” or “Registered” for each County, but does not include those entries where the Keeper has been advised that the right to buy has been triggered. It is recommended that the View Register page which summarises all entries in the Register be consulted to ascertain whether there are any relevant “Activated” entries in the Register for the County or Counties with which you are concerned.

Contacts for Community Bodies Interests

If you have any questions regarding the content of the Community Body part of the Register, or require advice on application for the community right to buy please contact the enquiry line by telephone on 0300 244 9822, e-mail crtb@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or write to Land Reform Branch, Area 1 - D, SEERAD, Pentland House, 47 Robb's Loan, Edinburgh, EH14 1TY