These notes are designed to assist you to complete application form F which you must use when applying for rectification of the Crofting Register.
This form allows you to provide information in support of your application for rectification to the Keeper, whose responsibility it is to maintain the Register.
The Keeper will consider whether rectification of the register is appropriate in light of the information contained in your application and, if satisfied that this is the case, take steps to amend the Register accordingly.
All fields relevant to the submission of your application must be completed.
You should complete the application form as fully as possible.
Failure to provide the required information could result in your application being returned to you, causing an avoidable delay to the consideration of the matters raised in your application for rectification of the Register.
The completed application should be sent to the Commission to forward to the Keeper
Application for rectification
On occasion, it may be established that the Crofting Register contains a 'mistake'.
This is a statutory term which is defined in section 16(7) of the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 ('the 2010 Act') as including 'something mistakenly omitted and something mistakenly included'.
When this happens it is possible to apply to the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, who is responsible for maintaining the Register, to correct - or rectify - the mistake in the Register.
In relation to the Crofting Register, the term 'rectify' is defined in the 2010 Act as meaning 'to correct any inaccuracy in it by entering something in, amending something in, or removing something from the Register'.
If the mistake in the Register was caused by a mistake in an application for registration, the person who made that application may apply to have the mistake rectified.
The Keeper is allowed to rectify the Register where there is a mistake made by the Crofting Commission in submitting their own application for registration or forwarding an application submitted by someone else, either on the application of the Commission or on the application of the person who made the application for registration.
The Keeper is also permitted to rectify the Register either on application being made to her or of her own volition, where Registers of Scotland has made a mistake in making up or amending the Register.
Where rectification occurs, the Keeper is required to notify any person appearing to the Keeper to be affected by it, and the Commission, in writing.
Rectification following first registration
The 2010 Act provides that where the Register is rectified to correct a material inaccuracy (an inaccuracy in any of the matters which must be included in the Registration Schedule, such as boundaries of the croft) during the 9 month 'challenge period' following first registration of a croft, it is necessary to re-notify the registration and the challenge period begins again.
The Keeper will pay for any expenses incurred in re-notifying the registration, where the rectification is the result of an error by the Keeper or by the Commission in handling the registration application or when submitting an application to the Keeper on their own behalf.
The Keeper will issue a fresh Registration Certificate as appropriate.
Indemnity in respect of loss
In certain circumstances, the 2010 Act provides that the Keeper or the Commission will be required to indemnify a person suffering loss relating to the Crofting Register.
The 2010 Act sets out the matters which result in an indemnifiable loss in respect of which the Keeper may be liable.
These include a mistake in the Register made by the Keeper in making up or amending a Registration Schedule or making consequential amendments, the correction of which would require rectification in the Register.
However, the 2010 Act also provides that there are circumstances in which the Keeper is not liable to indemnify a person.
For example, the Keeper is not liable to indemnify a person if the existence of the mistake was, or ought to have been, known to the person seeking indemnity for loss or where the loss was caused by the fraudulent or careless act or omission of the person seeking indemnity for loss.
Indemnity is also excluded where the mistake relates to an inaccuracy in the delineation of any boundaries shown in a Registration Schedule, if this is an inaccuracy which could not have been rectified by reference to the ordnance survey map or to such other map as the Keeper, for the purposes of section 11(2)(a) considered appropriate.
No indemnity will be payable in relation to an error by the Keeper until a decision has been taken as to whether to rectify the Register and any loss is reviewed in light of the rectification.
The 2010 Act also provides that the Commission is liable to indemnify a person for loss suffered where that person is required to submit a fresh application for registration or apply for rectification as a result of a mistake made by the Commission when forwarding an application for registration to the Keeper or when submitting an application on their own behalf.
Apply for rectification of the Crofting Register
You need to use Form F: application for rectification to request the rectification of the Crofting Register.
Note 1 - croft description
You should provide the Crofting Register Croft or Common Grazing/Runrig Number.
You should also provide the name by which the croft or common grazing/land held runrig is known and the name of the Parish in which it is situated.
Note 2 - reason for rectification
You should use this section of the Form to provide details of the mistake in the Crofting Register that you wish to have rectified.
Possible mistakes include something that is mistakenly omitted or something mistakenly included in the Register.
You may find that you can describe the nature of the mistake in writing (for example, where there is an error in a name or an address) but if you believe there is a mistake in the information shown on a Registration Schedule Plan it will help the Keeper if you supply a plan to illustrate the information that you wish to have entered into, or removed from, the Register.
All plans should comply with the mapping criteria set out in Registers of Scotland's guidance document ‘Crofting Register Application Plan Criteria: A guide for preparation of plans for applications to the Crofting Register'.
An extract ordnance survey map can be supplied by the Keeper should this be required.
The fee for the provision of an extract of the ordnance survey map will be set out in the Crofting Register (Fees) (Scotland) Order 2012.
On the basis of the information provided in your application for rectification, the Keeper will examine the Register to determine whether it contains a mistake.
If satisfied that the Register is inaccurate, she will proceed to rectify the Register by correcting the mistake by entering or amending something in, or removing something from, the Register.