The Register of Assignations (RoA) and the Register of Statutory Pledges (RSP) are statutory registers created by The Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Act 2023, which received Royal Assent on 13 June 2023.
Both registers went live on 1 April 2025 and are collectively known as the Registers of Moveable Transactions.
RoA
The RoA is a public register of documents (assignation documents) which have assigned claims, typically the right to be paid money. A wide range of claims can be assigned and registered, the most common examples being:
- Customer invoices
- Future rent due from property
- Intellectual property royalties.
Registration of an assignation document in the RoA provides an alternative to the traditional means of assigning claims – by “intimation” of the fact of assignation to each debtor of the claim being assigned.
RSP
The RSP is a public register of fixed security rights over moveable assets which have been created by the registration of a statutory pledge constitutive document in the RSP.
A statutory pledge can be granted and registered over most types of moveable assets, including:
- Plant and machinery;
- Vehicles:
- Livestock;
- Stocks and shares; and
- Patents
The only moveable assets that a statutory pledge can’t be granted over are ships and aircraft.
Registration of a statutory pledge constitutive document in the RSP provides an alternative to the traditional possessory pledge for moveable assets, allowing a fixed security to be created over a moveable asset without first relinquishing either possession or ownership.
Entries in the RoA or RSP are not, however, evidential of the capacity of a party identified in either register to enter into an assignation or statutory pledge. The registers should not therefore be used (such as by someone searching the register) to evidence anything other than the fact of a registration application or correction application having taken place.
The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland (RoS) is responsible for establishing and maintaining both the RoA and RSP as legal registers.
This includes making sure the information supplied by applicants is entered into the register according to the underpinning regulations - The Moveable Transactions (Register of Assignations and Register of Statutory Pledges Rules) (Scotland) Regulations 2024.
Both registers are online, automated registers, with access to the Keeper’s online registration system for registration purposes being available to all – both to RoS account holders and to non-account holders/citizens.
You do not need to use a solicitor or other type of legal advisor in order to make a registration application.
All applications for registration incur a fee.
The RSP can be updated, for a small fee, to take account of, primarily, discharges of statutory pledges but also assignations and amendments.
Updating is important to both borrowers and lenders in ensuring that the RSP represents an accurate picture of current available finance, and also in reducing the risk of a register cluttered with defunct statutory pledges.
Each register can be searched online, again for a fee. Searching is open to all – both to RoS account holders and to non-account holders/citizens.
The applicable fees for the use of the RoA and RSP are provided for in The Registers of Scotland (Fees) Order 2014 (as amended by The Registers of Scotland (Voluntary Registration, Amendment of Fees etc.) Order 2015, The Registers of Scotland (Fees) Amendment Order 2021, and The Registers of Scotland (Fees and Plain Copies) Miscellaneous Amendments Order 2024).
Guidance
Before accessing the Keeper’s online Registers of Moveable Transactions registration service, it is important to check the guidance.
This gives information on how registration and correction applications can be made, the information needed to make such applications, registration fees and how to search the registers.
If you require to make a registration application, the Keeper’s online registration system can be accessed:
Applications for updating (correcting) the Register of Statutory Pledges (RSP) can also be made using this registration system. The registration system can also be used to bring any manifest inaccuracies in either the Register of Assignations (RoA) or RSP to the Keeper’s attention.
If you require to:
- search the Registers of Moveable Transactions Registers
- order an extract or plain copy from these registers
Users of the registers, including searchers, should be aware that entries in the RoA or RSP are not evidential of the capacity of a party identified in either register to enter into an assignation or statutory pledge. The registers should not therefore be used to evidence anything other than the fact of a registration application or correction application having taken place.