Scotland’s biggest landowners will be forced to pay fines if they fail to protect nature, local communities and the climate under new land reform proposals.
Landowners who control estates in Scotland larger than 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) will also face losing farming, forestry and conservation grants if they fail to meet the Scottish Government’s nature restoration policies or community empowerment.
The radical proposals were outlined in a consultation on land reform launched on Monday by Mairi McAllen, the environment and land reform minister, along with the introduction of new controls on land sales for the biggest estates.
It proposes fitness tests where buyers of properties larger than 3,000 hectares, including charities and government agencies, must prove they will act in the public interest. Secret land deals will be banned, with local communities informed when a laird plans to sell an estate to allow them to consider making an offer.
Government analysis shows that this will affect nearly 400 estates in mainland Scotland, covering approximately 20% of Scotland’s landmass. Many smaller estates in the Scottish Isles will also be included, on a case-by-case basis depending on local factors.
Ministers will also require properties to identify their ultimate owners to crack down on the use of offshore trusts and tax havens. They are expected to prove they are registered for tax purposes in the EU or the UK before they are allowed to buy large properties.
McAllen said the case for legally enforced ownership transparency rules was underscored by the sanctions crackdown on Russians after the invasion of Ukraine.
Owners who fail the tests could have mandatory land management plans imposed on them by a state regulator, which will oversee all the public policy tests proposed by McAllen, a Scottish National Party minister and former property lawyer.
“We have a strong track record of progressive and innovative land reform – but this journey is not complete,” she said. “We must continue to develop and implement land reform that addresses historic inequalities and addresses the changing social, environmental and economic challenges of modern Scotland.”
The proposals are based on recommendations by the Scottish Land Commission, a government body, that all properties of at least 10,000 hectares be subject to this control. McAllan has adopted a lower threshold of 3,000 hectares, greatly increasing the number of properties involved.
Earlier this year, a commission study found that in 2021, nearly two-thirds of land deals, including farms and forests, were done privately without the land being on the open market. His analysis shows that Scotland has one of the least regulated and most concentrated land tenure systems in Europe.
McAllen said he hoped to introduce legislation at the end of 2023 and have the powers come into force in 2024. Ministers hope that by then all properties owned offshore will be listed in Scotland’s registers. which still have large gaps in their public record.
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However, there were “cumbersome legal issues” surrounding many of the proposals that could prevent their full implementation, she said.
They could violate their right to peaceful enjoyment of private property under Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Properties owned by private companies and trusts could also avoid penalty as company law is reserved for Westminster. McAllen said Holyrood was seeking the help of the UK government to allow it to include landowners in the proposals.
Scottish Land & Estates (SLE), which represents the country’s largest landowners, suggested it was legislative overload: it was the third land reform act since the Scottish Parliament was founded and transparency rules applied.
Stephen Young, head of policy at SLE, said: “In terms of the public interest test in large-scale property transfers, this is an issue which the government itself has said is extremely complex and will need to be looked at in great detail.”
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