Voluntary registration walkthrough

The land register shows property ownership on an Ordnance Survey map. We need you to provide us with a plan showing precise details of your property boundaries, or a deed with a suitable plan or written description that fully identifies the extent of your property. Then we can define exactly what you own on the land register map.

Do you already have a suitable property plan?

If you have a property plan, you can use our plans report service to determine whether it meets the criteria for registration and check our quick reference guide for new plan requirements.

If you don’t have a plan that meets RoS criteria, you must get a property plan drawn up.

Some rights and burdens should also be included on your plan. See step 4: Rights and burdens.

You can submit your plan electronically as long as it complies with our digital data guidelines.

Care should be taken where it appears that the extent of the plot intended to be registered comprises a part of the national trunk road network/infrastructure.

For clarification, "trunk road" means a road or proposed road which is a trunk road within the meaning of section 151(1) of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984.

Current list of Scotland's trunk roads

Trunk roads in Scotland, and their attendant infrastructure, are the responsibility of the Scottish Ministers and are managed and maintained by Transport Scotland on their behalf.

Where it appears that the extent of the plot intended to be registered comprises a part of the national trunk road network/infrastructure, the applicant should check to ensure that their title is indeed habile to include such a part in order to avoid the Keeper erroneously making the register inaccurate.

Overlaps

The boundaries of the property you register should not overlap with an existing land registered title.  Where a voluntary registration is submitted which overlaps with an existing land registered title, the Keeper will not reject the application, but will restrict the extent of the voluntary registration to exclude the overlap.

If you wish to have the overlapping area included in the voluntary registration title, you can:

1. deal with the overlap before submitting your application for registration
2. apply for rectification of the adjoining title (if you are satisfied and can prove you have a better title) alongside the voluntary registration application
3. deal with the overlap at a later date

If you decide to have the overlapping area removed from the existing registered title, you will need to either obtain the area from the holder of that title, or request a rectification. If you choose to request a rectification, and the rectification is accepted, the overlapping area will be included in the voluntary registration title provided the rectification request makes this clear.

For detailed guidance about property boundaries for a voluntary registration, read voluntary registration-specific criteria.