I’m continuing to send you regular updates to outline the measures that Registers of Scotland (RoS) is taking in response to the ongoing public health emergency and how these measures are helping businesses and customers.

Updates this week include:

• Return to monthly updates
• Digital Submissions for Register of Sasines to open on 16 July
• Application record
• Plans Assistance Service under review
• Digital services continue to take the lead as RoS buildings remain closed to general post and personal presentments

Return to monthly updates

As Scotland enters this next stage of national recovery RoS is also coming to the end of an intense period of further digital development. As we all become more familiar with our new business arrangements I have taken the decision to move my newsletters back to their regular monthly schedule.

In the meantime, the website link will continue to be updated with the latest information and RoS colleagues will always be available at the end of the phone or by email to support you. Digital services will continue to take the lead as RoS buildings remain closed to general post and personal presentments.

I thank all of our customers for working with us during this challenging time so that we can continue to support the people and economy of Scotland.

Register of Sasines

I am delighted to report that the digital submission service for Register of Sasines will be open to all customers on 16 July. This will be the final element of our new range of digital services.

To account for the expected number of applications we intend to take a phased approach. This has been discussed with the Law Society of Scotland.

In the first stage the service will accept

• Dual Registrations (Transactions which contain both land register and sasine register applications)
• Deeds under s75 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997

These types of transactions have been prioritised as they made up the bulk of emergency submissions during lockdown. The service will be extended to accept other deed types throughout July.

As we are preparing for the launch we are working through the Sasine applications received before lockdown. You will start to see registered Sasine deeds appearing on ScotLIS as they are processed. Original deeds will be returned to customers when our offices re-open.

Full guidance on how to access the service will be made available on the website next week. In the meantime, if you need to register an urgent Sasine application or receive the original deeds back, contact customer services.

Application record

On Thursday 09 July the First Minister made a statement on easing Covid-19 restrictions. Some of you may have questions about how this will affect the application record.

The application record will not re-open until a date is agreed with the Law Society of Scotland and customers have had an opportunity to send us all existing application paperwork.

We will be able to give a further update on this topic after a date to access non-essential offices is announced by Scottish Government. We plan to declare the record open no earlier than six weeks after the date to re-open non-essential offices has been confirmed.

The application record re-opening is important as it is the trigger point defined in the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 for advance notices in the system (that have not yet been replaced by an application) to expire after 10 days.

Plans Assistance Service under review

Like many organisations Registers of Scotland has had to evolve and adapt during Covid-19. My goal has always been to safeguard the health and wellbeing of my staff and ensure the delivery of our statutory services.

To help me achieve these tasks I took the decision to suspend new requests to our non-statutory Plans Assistance Service (PAS). This allowed me to release colleagues to support our obligations in other business areas.

While PAS is suspended I will take the opportunity to conduct a review. We will use this time to consider whether it is possible to relaunch an updated version of the service. One which is cost effective, meets customer need, and is aligned to the delivery of our public task.

This evaluation is part of our regular monitoring of non-statutory services as PAS is one of the areas which has been identified for review since before lockdown.

In the meantime, similar plans assistance services are available on the market for customers to access.

If you would like to contribute to this review please contact us for more details.

RoS service summary

Please see below for the summary of our services. If you have a complex or urgent application then we would recommend you continue to speak to one of our senior advisors for guidance: email customerservices@ros.gov.uk or phone 0800 169 9391.

Online systems

Emergency coronavirus legislation is in place that allows us to accept digital submissions in the following areas

• Land Register
• Advance Notices
• Register of Inhibitions
• Register of Judgements

Visit our website for full access guidance

You can also access our existing online business services for

• ScotLIS for business
• Digital Discharge Service
• Reports

Copies of our documents continue to be available via our website.

The digital solution for sasine register applications will be available from 16 July.

Register of Deeds

This register is now open and receiving applications via the DX Courier Network. If you cannot access this delivery service contact customer services who will be able to make alternative arrangements for you.

Guidance is on our website.

Contact the relevant business area or customer services

Use the hyperlinks below to be directed to the dedicated mailbox or customer service contact who will be able to help (customerservices@ros.gov.uk or phone: 0800 169 9391)

• Sasine register (until the digital system is available)
• ScotLIS support enquiries
• Post registration enquiries
• Land Register rectification requests
• Compensation payments
• Search requests
• Development Plan Approval
• Copy Deeds
• Requests for land and property data 
• GIS services
• Crofting register applications
• Register of Community Interests in Land (Agricultural Tenants) queries
• Register of Protests

Ordering deeds

The vast majority of deeds will be provided in the usual way. See our website for full details.

Contact us

General Covid-19 enquiries:

covid19enquiries@ros.gov.uk

Enquiries on specific property transactions and cases:

Email: customerservices@ros.gov.ukPhone: 0800 169 9391

If there are is anything else you would like to bring to my attention during this period, please email FAO Jennifer Henderson: rossecretariat@ros.gov.uk