Why property matters

The Law Society of Scotland will be holding an annual conference. This year, the conference looks at "Why property matters to Scottish legal profession". And it matters a lot - enough to justify a conference of over 40 speakers and 600 delegates. Property law in Scotland is undergoing major changes that could be instructive to South African attorneys. On the legislative front: feudal rights have been abolished, new rules governing tenements have been introduced and the draft housing bill contains details of the single survey.

The society is also looking at working towards the standardisation of missives when buying and selling property in an attempt to help reduce the time involved in each sale. Turning to technology and e-conveyancing, one sees that with the introduction of an Automated Registration of Title to Land (ARTL), an e-registration project that is expected to be in place by 2007, conveyancers will be able to use online procedures in a quicker, simpler and more transparent process of transferring property ownership.

ARTL will simplify the conveyancing process to such a degree that paper deeds and the need to sign them under witness will be removed. Instead, both parties' solicitors will complete and sign online forms and transfer the property electronically from one party to the other and the Land Registry will be instantly updated online, instead of the update being dependant on signed documents first arriving by post.

Article on the Scotsman