The Register of Community Interests in Land (RCIL) contains applications to register an interest by groups or individuals that will allow them to purchase the land if the owner ever decides to sell it.
The RCIL has two parts:
The register was established by the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, although at that stage it contained only the part for notice of interest by community bodies.
The second part of the register was added by the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003. This allows people holding a certain type of agricultural lease to register notices of interest in purchasing the land that they currently lease.
Community bodies’ right to buy
The registration of a notice of interest in this part of the RCIL enables a community body to buy the land for the benefit of the local community when it becomes available to purchase, provided that certain conditions are met. This effect lasts for five years. A community body can re-register once this period ends.
An entry into the community bodies’ part of the RCIL will have one of the four following statuses:
- pending, where ministers are deciding whether to register the entry
- registered, where ministers have agreed to register the community interest
- activated, where the right to buy all or part of the land has been triggered
- deleted, where the entry has been removed from RCIL
The register doesn’t show whether the right to buy has been activated over all or only part of the land. To understand this, you’ll need to refer to the copy documents attached to each entry.
Register
We maintain this part of the register, but Scottish Ministers make registration decisions.
Find forms and guidance for registration of a community body’s right to buy on the Scottish Government website.
Search
You can now search the RCIL – Community Bodies online for free.
You do not need to set up an account.
You can easily view all entries in a specific county, or search and view the register by:
- registration status
- registration number
- community body
- land owners
- subjects
- postcode
Support
For help with community bodies' right to buy, email crtb@gov.scot.
Agricultural tenants right to buy
Agricultural tenants can register a notice of interest over agricultural land they lease so that they can buy it if it becomes available for sale. This is only possible if a tenant holds an agricultural tenancy in terms of the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991.
We handle all applications for registration in this part of the register.
Register
To apply to register an agricultural tenant's right to buy, send us a completed notice of interest form with the registration fee.
Notice of interest in acquiring land form (pdf, 39KB)
The initial registration fee of a tenant's interest is £40. Subsequent registration of an existing or previously registered interest is £25.
View detailed guidance for agricultural tenants for more information and help with the registration process.
Search
You can now search the RCIL – Agricultural Tenants online for free.
You do not need to set up an account.
You can easily view all entries in a specific county, or search and view the register by:
- registration number
- tenant
- landowner
- land name
- postcode
- subject description
Support
For help with agricultural tenants' right to buy, email cajr@ros.gov.uk.