Proprietors can request property held by them across separate title sheets to be brought into a single title through the process of amalgamation.
Amalgamations will usually only be effected at the request of an applicant as part of a live application, but may be considered by exception in other cases.
The Keeper can unilaterally amalgamate titles herself at any time.
Amalgamation is permissible pursuant to section 13(2) of the Land Registration etc (Scotland) Act 2012.
There is no fee payable for amalgamation.
Requests for amalgamation
Amalgamation is at the discretion of the Keeper, and the Keeper can refuse a request for amalgamation.
In considering a request for amalgamation, consider whether the request makes sense.
For example:
- Are the plots contiguous? Amalgamation is not usually appropriate for physically scattered or separate plots even if these are secured by the same standard security.
- Are the plots the type that can or are likely to be disponed separately, such as fields separately fenced off, or garages located separately from the dwellinghouse? If so, amalgamation is not usually appropriate.
- For property intended or appropriate for development, will amalgamation facilitate settling of future transfers of part? If so, there are clear benefits to amalgamating and so requests for amalgamation will be viewed favourably.
- Are the plots held by the same person(s) in the same capacity? Amalgamation may be undesirable or even impossible because the registered proprietor holds one title as an individual or another as a trustee, or because the separate titles are governed by different destinations.
Amalgamation is not competent where any of the subjects remain in the General Register of Sasines.
A voluntary registration must be applied for in order to bring forward the subjects onto the Land Register of Scotland, at which point the Keeper can consider a request for amalgamation.