Land Reform is good for business say Scottish lawyers & property experts

[Tony Gosling]

LandReform is good for business, say lawyers and property experts

https://commonspace.scot/articles/647/landreform-is-good-for-business-say-lawyers-and-property-experts

Transparency can strengthen property system in 
Scotland, according to property experts

PROPOSALS announced to push ahead with 
constructing an open land and property registry 
for Scotland will benefit Scotland’s economy, 
according to business professionals speaking in Edinburgh.

Representatives from the Law Society of Scotland 
(LSS) and Royal Institution of Chartered 
Surveyors, claimed that investments in an 
information system will improve decision making, 
create more efficient systems and benefit public 
understanding of land ownership.

Ross MacKay, convenor of the property law 
committee at LSS, said: “It comes back to the 
concept of the virtuous circle. Lawyers, 
customers, society can work together to bring 
information for the benefit of all.

“I think our ambition is to put the information 
system in Scotland back up to number one in the world.”

Earlier, Deputy First Minister John Swinney MSP 
launched a national task force to report this 
July on the government target to register all land within 10 years.

Solicitor Paul Carnan welcomed the proposals as a 
project that would benefit relationships between 
professionals and those they work with.

“Clients are looking for information on the value 
of the property, its construction and 
increasingly its community
 As a property 
professional I welcome the plans for an all encompassing property system.”

Carnan added that an accessible land and property 
system would be “more efficient and probably cheaper” for business in Scotland.

Alan Moore, managing director at information 
research group thinkWhere, added: “For the 
studies that have been done it would appear that 
geographical information (GI) adds to the gross 
value added of the economy by 1.5 per cent. If 
you take the value of Scotland’s economy, we are 
talking about an economic benefit from GI of 
£400m or these abouts based on these previous studies.”

He added that this system would also benefit and 
empower communities with access to information about where they live.

The Scottish Government plans to bring wider land 
reform proposals to the Scottish Parliament after the General Election.

The availability of information on the ownership 
of land has been identified as a barrier to creating a more equal system.

According to John Swinney, cooperation from the 
surveying, law and property sectors on land 
reform will generate benefits for both the public and business.

Picture courtesy of 
<https://commonspace.scot/articles/647/https://www.flickr.com/>American flickr

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