Omissions and inaccuracies in RCI

This article will provide information on duties and offences, and the course of action if there is an omission or inaccuracy in the RCI.

RCI is a RoS register, required by law, that was launched on 1 April 2022. The register shows who controls the decisions of owners or tenants (for more than 20 years) of land and property in Scotland, where this information may not be publicly transparent elsewhere.

Who needs to register

Registered owners of land in Scotland, or registered tenants with a lease of more than 20 years, where someone else is able to exert significant influence or control over them in relation to that land, may need to register. In RCI such an owner or tenant is known as the recorded person.

Who does not need to register

Where the owner or tenant is subject to certain other transparency regimes, they will not be a recorded person and do not need to make a submission to RCI. For further information see the guidance on transparency regimes.

About recorded persons

In RCI an owner or certain tenants of land are known as a recorded person. This only applies to tenants with a registered or recorded lease of over 20 years.

To be a recorded person within RCI, a person needs to:

• be named as owner or tenant of the land in the land register, General Register of Sasines, the Particular Register of Sasines or the Burgh Register
• have one person or more that has significant influence or control over the land, known as an associate.

Where land is owned by a partnership, trust or unincorporated body the current partner, trustee or office bearer will be a recorded person where the partners, trustees or office bearers named on the property register no longer hold that position.

Where a person believes that they are an associate but there is no entry in the RCI the appropriate course of action is for them to contact the owner or tenant. In these circumstances:

• If an associate has not been notified by an owner or tenant about RCI, the associate is required to contact the owner or tenant to make sure they are aware of the associate's controlling interest and that an entry in the RCI may be required.
• This is intended to ensure that even when the person is not aware that they have an associate or are otherwise unable to identify an associate, then information about the associate will still be provided for inclusion in the RCI.

Offences

It will be a criminal offence not to comply with the duties, punishable by a fine. See the guidance on offences.

Enforcement is the responsibility of Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. RoS cannot comment on nor intervene in such matters.

Potential omission of an entry in RCI

There are a number of legitimate reasons why an entry may not be in the RCI.

• An entry made to the register will only be shown 30 days after the date of submission.
• The person who owns or tenants a piece of land may be out of scope because they fall within the lists of exemptions in Schedule 1 of the RCI Regulations or fall within one of the listed transparency regimes in Schedule 2 which means they do not require to register in RCI.
• Just because someone owns or tenants land in the property registers will not by itself make them in scope of RCI.   There will only require to be an entry if an associate exists.

The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland is responsible for establishing and maintaining RCI. However, she does not have the power to create an entry in the register, nor is it her role to do so. Where it appears that there is an inaccuracy which is the omission of an entry in the register then the correct route is a referral to the Lands Tribunal for Scotland (LTS).

Appeals - Accuracy of the register

Under Regulation 19 a person may refer a question to the LTS relating to the accuracy of the register. This could be:

• the accuracy of any entry in the register
• the omission of information from an entry in the register
• the omission of an entry when there should be one

Regulation 5(2)(c) states that the Keeper must make necessary amendments to entries in RCI when becoming aware of an inaccuracy.

There will be situations where, based on available evidence, the Keeper is unable to conclude whether

• the register is accurate or
• an entry in the register should be created

In these instances, questions about the accuracy of the information in the register can be referred to the LTS by the Keeper or a third party. The LTS has investigatory powers that enable them to consider complex cases and hold hearings.

For further information see the specific guidance on the LTS.