The Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (RCI) is a new register which holds information about people who control or have influence over what owners or tenants of land and buildings in Scotland do with their property.
The aim of the RCI is to improve the transparency of land ownership in Scotland by providing information on anyone holding a controlling interest in land which is not available from the title deeds. This will be the case where partners in a partnership or trustees of a trust have changed since the recording of the original title in the Sasine or Land Register.
There is an obligation on property owners to whom the RCI applies to submit details to the Registers of Scotland of any party which has a controlling interest, if they are not the owners as stated in the title deeds.
The relevant information requires to be submitted to the RCI by 31 March 2023.
The Registers of Scotland guidance on the RCI can be found here.
The RCI is designed to be user-friendly and the Registers of Scotland has produced the forms which require to be completed. The process involves inputting details of the title holder(s) (the “recorded person”) and anyone who has a controlling interest, but is not named in the title deeds (the “associate”). This is a new process and our understanding of how the forms should be completed is as follows:
- The title holder as the recorded person sets up an “RCI Public Account” by clicking on ‘Create an entry’.
- Each owner as a recorded person has to create an account or log in to proceed i.e. if the property is owned by A and B but C has a controlling interest as a partner or trustee, but is not named in the title deeds, A and B must both create an account and register C as an associate.
- The recorded person(s) then adds the details of any associates - first and last name, contact address, date of birth, and the date they were granted the right to exercise significant influence or control over the recorded person’s dealings with the land, known as the date of association.
- The recorded person will also need to give information about the land ownership; either the Land Register Title Sheet number of the property or a postal address.
- To create a public account, the applicant is required to (a) provide his/her name, email address and contact address; (b) create a password and (c) enter a one-time passcode (OTP), which will be automatically generated by the system and emailed to the applicant.
The link to the information needed to complete the RCI entry is on the Registers of Scotland website and the link to the online forms is here.
There is a lot of information to digest regarding this process and that you may need advice on whether or not the RCI applies to you.
We can assist you with both the applicability of the RCI and the completion of the forms. Please contact your usual solicitor for more information on the forms and costs.
