School Sites Act 1841 6.110 Section 2 of the School Sites Act 1841⁵² provides that land granted in terms thereof for use as a school or schoolhouse shall, when it ceases to be used for that purpose, revert back to the estate or land from which it originally derived. Problems can arise when the school or schoolhouse is no longer used as such and the local authority, or indeed some other party similarly not in right of the reversionary  interest,  attempts  to  convey  the  property.  In  light  of  the  decisions  in  Hamilton  v. Grampian  Regional  Council⁵³,  the  Keeper  has  adopted  a  cautious  approach  where  there  is  any possibility that a right of reversion under section 2 exists. Accordingly, where the subject matter of an application for registration comprises an area of less than one acre which has at some time in the past been conveyed for use as a school or school house the Keeper will, except where the circumstances outlined in the following paragraph apply, exclude his indemnity in respect of any challenge to the title which may arise from the right of reversion. Until the matter has been judicially resolved, the Keeper will not presume that prescription, be it positive or negative, can remedy the situation whereby title does not stem from the party in right of the reversionary interest. There are two circumstances in which an exclusion of indemnity can be avoided. The first is where the Scottish Ministers or the Court has ordered the sale under section 106 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980⁵⁴. The second is where the party in right of the reversion has granted a formal renunciation or waiver of the right. Crofting 6.111 Crofting tenure occurs only in the Counties of Argyll, Inverness, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland, Caithness,  and  Orkney  and  Shetland  and  is  based  on  a  one  year  lease.  Consequently,  the  tenant crofter’s  interest  is  not  a  registrable  interest  in  land.  That  said,  the  crofter’s  tenancy  is  specified  by section 28(l) to be an overriding interest and so may be noted on the landlord’s title sheet. It has to be remembered that section 12(3)(h) of the 1979 Act excludes any losses arising from an error in or omission to note an overriding interest. Accordingly the presence or absence of any note regarding crofting should not be seen as any guarantee that the subjects (or any part of them) are, or are not, a  croft.  The  Crofters  Commission  in  Inverness  maintains  a  Register  of  Crofts  which,  although  not conclusive, will provide a better indication of the crofting status of subjects than the Land Register. Under  the  Crofters  (Scotland)  Act  1993⁵⁵  crofters  are  given  statutory  rights  to  buy  both  their  croft agricultural lands and also the dwellings pertaining thereto. Unless decrofted, these subjects are then regarded as being vacant crofts and as such remain subject to the controls contained in the 1993 Act and  other  crofting  legislation.  Thus  where  a  crofter  purchases  his  subjects  the  Keeper  will,  unless advised in the application for registration that the subjects have been decrofted, note on the crofter’s title sheet that the subjects are a croft. If the subjects become decrofted the Keeper will remove the note if an application containing evidence of the decrofting is presented to him. Standard securities 6.112 Under section 19(4) of the 1993 Act any subjects purchased under the right to buy provisions are automatically disburdened of any prior standard security granted by the former landlord without the need for any formal discharge or deed of disburdenment. In such cases the Keeper will require a written statement from the seller’s solicitor confirming that the transaction was within sections 12 to 18 of the 1993 Act before the prior security will be omitted from the purchasing crofter’s title sheet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

	< Previous Page | Next Page >