Land Reform in a nutshell
The 62 proposals of the Land Reform Review Group could bring about the greatest change in property rights for generations. These are the key changes being proposed
1IMPROVE TRANSPARENCY OF LAND OWNERSHIP Just 26% of Scotland is currently on the Land Register. The Government want all land registered within 10 years so anyone can go online and check out who owns what and how much it is worth. PROS: World Bank says effective land registration is important for business growth. CONS: None – everyone is backing this measure, including large landowners.
2ALLOW COMMUNITIES TO FORCE A LANDOWNER TO SELL IF LAND IS NEGLECTED The community already has a right of pre-emption when land comes on the market. The proposed new measures would mean communities could force a buy-out if they can prove the landowner is neglecting the land. PROS: Communities would be able to turn around land for sustainable development. CONS: Who defines ‘neglected’? Forcing a landowner to sell could have human rights implications.
3 CHALLENGE LANDOWNERS WHO ARE ‘BARRIERS TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT’ If there is ‘sufficient evidence’ landowners’ behaviour or scale are barriers to local development then Scottish Ministers could force the landowner to sell. PROS: Enable projects that benefit the community, such as building wind turbines, to go ahead more easily as individual private landowners will not be able to stop the development. CONS: A fundamental threat to individual property rights for landowners of any size as the right to refuse to sell land will effectively be removed. This would arguably have allowed Donald Trump to evict Menie residents.
4GIVE URBAN COMMUNITIES THE RIGHT TO BUY DERELICT LAND Extend the right-to-buy to urban communities so they can restore neglected or abandoned land. It would also allow local authorities to issue compulsory purchase orders to buy derelict land and bring ‘common good’ land owned by the community back into use. PROS: Derelict land in the heart of towns and cities could be brought back to life. CONS: Property developers could be discouraged from buying land for fear they could be forced to sell.
5 ENSURE IS BETTER MORE MANAGED PUBLIC FOR SECTOR THE LOCAL LAND COMMUNITY. 12.5% Government of Scotland want more is owned land owned by the by public bodies sector. like Thethe Forestry Commission to be transferred to the community and a Land Rights and Responsibilities Policy to ensure public land is managed well. PROS: Ensure public land owners, as well as private, are forced to be good landowners. CONS: Taxpayers may have to fund extra work on public land, especially at the beginning.
6DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF LAND IN COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP At the moment just 500,000 acres are owned by local communities. The Scottish Government want to double this to one million acres by 2020. The Scottish Land Fund has £9m so far to spend to help achieve this goal. PROS: Community buy-outs have largely been a success, reversing depopulation in remote areas and boosting business. CONS: Community land is not necessarily able to provide more jobs and development than private land.
7BREAK UP LARGE CHUNKS OF LAND BY CHANGING THE LAW OF SUCCESSION At present farmers can leave their land to anyone they wish in their wills, without any claim being made by their spouses or offspring. The new laws could give children greater rights and so result in the break-up of land into smaller units. An effective ‘Napoleonic system’. PROS: It could break up large estates as families are forced to divide inheritance. CONS: Family farms and other family businesses with land and property assets could be fragmented and forced out of business if they become too small. 8 FORCE LANDOWNERS TO KILL DEER Some 100,000 deer are culled every year to minimise road accidents and allow forest regeneration. But many environmental groups want statutory measures to force landowners to kill deer. PROS: Landowners allowing deer to be a road traffic risk or to damage forest regeneration will be forced to control numbers. CONS: Deer stalking estates may be forced to reduce days, losing business and jeopardising jobs in remote areas. 9END TAX EXEMPTION FOR SHOOTING AND DEER STALKING ESTATES Shooting estates and deer forests have been exempt from rates since 1995. The Government want to bring the tax back. PROS: Around £4 million for the taxpayer from sporting estates. CONS: Gamekeepers and other employees could lose their jobs to make up the extra cost and the environment could be impacted by a fall in investment. 10 ALLOW TENANT FARMERS TO BUY THEIR FARM IF IT IS NOT BEING MANAGED PROPERLY BY THE LANDOWNER Allow tenant farmers to buy a farm if the landowner is not fulfilling their duties to manage it well, and to pass on a tenancy to relatives other than ‘near relatives’. Also new measures to ensure fair rents. PROS: Tenant farmers will have greater protection from landowners who do not fulfil their responsibilities. CONS: Landowners will no longer put up land to be tenanted for fear they will be forced to sell it, so there will be fewer tenant farms available for new entrants.
11BAN COMPANIES NOT REGISTERED IN A MEMBER STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION FROM BUYING LAND IN SCOTLAND PROS: Estates ownership would no longer be a means of avoiding taxes or hiding assets from foreign governments.
CONS: Could feasibly depress market, but very unlikely.
12 CHARITIES WILL BE FORCED TO CONSIDER THE IMPACT ON THE LOCAL COMMUNITY BEFORE TAKING ANY DECISION ABOUT LAND THEY OWN PROS: Local people would be more aware of what charities were planning for land in their areas. CONS: Charities may lose money and be stopped from developing renewable energy like wind turbines.
13LAND REFORM COMMISSION TO SET OUT THE FUTURE OF LAND REFORM The commission would gather evidence on land reform to ensure existing laws are working and that any future changes are fair. It would consult with the public and hold future governments to account.
PROS: Any future land reform will be based on evidence.
CONS: None – again something everyone is in favour of.