The Long Leases (Scotland) Act 2012 will come into force in Scotland on 28 November 2015, a tenant's interest under a qualifying lease will automatically convert to outright ownership of the property and the landlord's title to the property will be extinguished. Essentially this will mean the end of long leases. It is estimated there are around 9000 long leases that will be eligible to convert.

Qualifying Leases

To qualify, a lease must be:

• Registered/recorded
• Originally have been granted for a term of more than

Solar panels are becoming a more familiar sight across Scotland. Current planning permission regulations exist to make installing solar panels and renewable technologies simple. For most domestic properties formal planning permission is not required if certain criteria are met, namely:

• Panels don't protrude by more than one metre of the roof edge, any outside wall of the house nor protrudes further than the highest point of the roof (which includes any chimney)
• The property is not a listed building
• The property is not in a

Summer is almost upon us and, for residents of Edinburgh, there are few better ways to spend a sunny evening than to gather over a barbeque in The Meadows or to hack a small ball around the Bruntsfield Links. To lose the opportunity to enjoy these simple pleasures would be unthinkable, so the knowledge that these are two of a number of areas throughout Scotland that benefit from protection as "common good land" is comforting. So what exactly is common good land in Scotland?

It

The Construction Design and Management (CDM) Regulations 2015 came into force on 6 April and replace the 2007 Regulations. They govern health and safety in construction projects. Some of the main changes affecting 'clients' who are commissioning construction work are:

1. Clients' duties

The client must make suitable arrangements for managing a project which ensure that construction work will be carried out without risk to the health or safety of any person affected by the project. The management arrangements must include how clients will ensure that

On 9 February 2015 the Scottish Government launched their consultation on proposed changes to procurement rules. The changes are coming about as a result of a new European procurement directive and the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.

The Scottish Government has until 18 April 2016 to transpose the provisions of the directive into Scots law, and this will result in the creation of new procurement regulations. These regulations will also comprise further provisions and guidance on the terms of the 2014 Act.

So what are

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) is a charge on land transactions in Scotland. It is accepted that LBTT will replace Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) in Scotland for most land transactions with an effective date of on or after 1 April 2015.

LBTT will make significant changes to the way returns are completed for commercial lease transactions including Assignations (no LBTT is be payable on standard residential leases). New rules regarding notification will be introduced alongside new rates of tax linked more closely to

As we have discussed in recent blogs, Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) on the purchase of property is to be replaced in Scotland by the new Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT). The change is due to come into force on 1st April 2015. So what will this land and buildings transaction tax update mean for purchasers?

The Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney announced amended the proposed rates at which LBTT will be charged from those originally proposed in October 2014.

The threshold for paying

More than three decades after the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979 entered into force in 1981, the law governing the registration of title to property in Scotland is being modernised. So how will changes to land registration in Scotland affect you?

As of Monday 8^th December 2014 the relevant law will be the Land Registration etc (Scotland) Act 2012, which aims to:

• update the law surrounding the registration of rights to land in the Land Register
• introduce electronic documents into the conveyancing process

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act received Royal Assent on 17 June 2014. It sits alongside existing public contracts regulations, and will increase regulation for public bodies seeking to award contracts for works, services and supplies. The Act applies where contracts have a value of £50,000 or more, except works contracts where the threshold is £2m.

Most public bodies have, for many years, sought to include community benefits provisions in their procurement processes, as a way of using their purchasing power to benefit their local area,

To those who believe the legal profession to be a rather slow-moving and old fashioned beast it will come as something of a surprise to learn that we are about to enter a period of great upheaval in Scottish property law. Particularly in relation to the preservation of real burdens in title deeds.

Conveyancers are at present awaiting the provisions of the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012 taking effect on 8 December 2014. The Act represents the most significant change in land registration in

Organisations which operate primarily for the benefit of the community, such as Registered Social Landlords, have the opportunity to register under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act, rather than under the Companies Acts. A number of changes aimed at modernising the law which applies to Industrial and Provident Societies are set to come into force in 2014.

From 6^th April 2014:

• The capital limit on withdrawable shares held by each member of an Industrial and Providential Society is set to increase from £20,000 to

The High Hedges (Scotland) Act comes into force on 1^st April 2014 for those who are fed up with their neighbour's overgrown privet blocking their sunlight:

Under the High Hedges Bill, individuals will be able to approach their local authority for assistance if they are unable to come to an amicable solution with their neighbour, in circumstances where they feel that a 'high hedge' on neighbouring land is adversely affecting the reasonable enjoyment of their property.

The definition of a 'high hedge' includes a

What is a limited company? The limited company is the most common business vehicle in use in the UK. It must be incorporated (registered) at Companies House and, once incorporated, the limited company becomes a separate legal entity, distinct from its shareholders, directors and employees.

In considering whether this is the best business vehicle for you, you must first know the basics of a limited company.

On incorporation under the Companies Act 2006, a limited company is required to have a Memorandum defining the company's

Who legally owns the attic space in Scottish Tenements? The ownership and maintenance of the attic space and roof of a tenement block can cause significant confusion for flat owners. Despite statements to the contrary, the legal position relating to these parts of the tenement has not been altered significantly following the enactment of the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004.

Ownership

The key starting point when seeking to determine ownership of the "common parts" of a tenement will be to consult the title deeds for all flats

The last time the system of land registration in Scotland was fundamentally changed was in 1979. After 1979 title to land would be based on areas plotted on the Ordnance Survey map in the form of a Land Certificate. The Certificate would be issued by the Land Register following completion of a sale transaction and the title would be guaranteed by the Government.

Gradually as properties have been sold over the years many have moved on to the map based system. However, much land and

The Procurement Reform Scotland Bill was introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 3 October 2013. Once it becomes law, the Act will exist alongside the current procurement regulations, but will make some fundamental changes in the way public contracts are procured in Scotland.

Some of the main changes are:

• Increased regulation - supplies/services contracts with a value of £50,000 or more and works contracts with a value of £2,000,000 or more which are currently not covered by the procurement regulations are subject to the Bill;

Will introducing 'Help to Buy' in Scotland take us down the route of another housing bubble?

The controversy surrounding the Help to Buy Scheme south of the border has not prevented a similar government-backed scheme being introduced in Scotland. The Scottish Government announced investment of £220m over three years to provide financial assistance to eligible homebuyers in what it has described as a "game changing initiative" for the housing industry.

The Help to Buy scheme, which has the support of the Council of Mortgage

What do you know about procurement regulations and time barred challenges? The case of Nationwide Gritting Services Limited (NGS) against the Scottish Ministers sheds some light on the challenge timescales under procurement regulations, but unfortunately does little to provide comfort to contracting authorities embarking on procurement exercises.

The 2006 regulations outlined that court proceedings for a breach of those regulations must be brought within 3 months from the date when grounds for bringing proceedings first arose. Under the new 2012 regulations, this is now 30

For all of those Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) who provide property management services, the deadline of 1^st October 2013 to provide your factored owners with a written statement of service is drawing near.

Many housing associations have been working throughout the summer months preparing their bespoke written statement for issue. However some RSLs are still in a quandary as to whether or not they do indeed provide factoring services, what services they provide and what the costs of that service should be.

We have

To most people the word servitude conjures images of slavery, although thankfully that way of life is long gone! In Scotland, however, a servitude is a right over a piece of land (the burdened property) for the benefit of another (the benefitted property). This longstanding concept is still very much relevant today.

What does that really mean?

A servitude can give someone else rights over your property. Conversely, it can give you rights over a property belonging to someone else. Common examples of servitudes include: