Down the slipway

On 15 December, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, John Swinney will officially launch ARTL, Registers of Scotland’s (RoS) on-line system for the automated registration of title to land, and our upgraded information service, Registers Direct (RD). The launch, the biggest showcase event that RoS has ever hosted, is being held in Edinburgh’s Dynamic Earth, a setting befitting the significance of ARTL and RD to the Scottish economy.

Commenting on the event, Kenny Crawford, RoS’s Head of Business Development and Customer Services, said: “It will focus particularly on ARTL and RD. We will be using real examples, filmed case studies and independent research to demonstrate our products. It is also an opportunity to inform you of our future plans and innovations.”

RD is, of course, not new. It was first launched back in 2000 when its customer base was dominated by private search companies and the legal profession. Since then, many public and private bodies have signed up as customers, recognising the economic benefits of the information we hold and the ready access to that information that RD can deliver for them. In a recent analysis of RoS’s economic value to the Scottish economy, BiGGAR Economics estimated that using RD helped local authorities collect more than £90 million extra council tax. Without the electronic delivery of the information held on our public registers, such savings would not be possible.

We have recently completed the introduction of the new upgraded RD to our customers. The main change is a new architecture that provides a more robust platform delivering greater certainty of service availability. We will continue to work closely with our customers to ensure that the product meets their changing needs.

In contrast to RD, ARTL is a relatively new innovation, first introduced in 2007. Since then we have successfully registered over 21,000 paperless transactions on the Land Register. Initially limited to the online registration of standard securities and discharges, last year we introduced functionality to enable the online registration of dispositions and the collection of any associated stamp duty land tax as well as a range of local authority grants and charges. In financial terms, we estimate that the value of standard securities registered using ARTL already totals more than £1.1 billion.

We were deliberately cautious in rolling out ARTL to customers, as we wanted to make sure that the system positively supported the business process that takes place in the conveyancer’s office before engaging in a major publicity campaign aimed at both the public and the profession. Since the rollout began, we have made a number of functional and technical enhancements to the system based on the feedback that we receive from users. Customers tell us that ARTL now adds real value to the conveyancing and registration process.

There are now over 270 solicitor firms who have the capability to use ARTL and they are supported by 17 lending institutions who have made their standard securities available for use.

In these challenging economic times, ARTL provides us all with opportunities for administrative and financial efficiencies, and our website (ros.gov.uk) details these. It also includes testimonials from practitioners. However, ARTL was introduced – ultimately – for the benefit of your client, be that the person buying a house or the lender who is advancing loan funds. Registration fees for ARTL are significantly less than for traditional, paper-based applications and the registration process for ARTL transactions is, in the main, completed on the day the application is processed. Looking forward to the official launch John King, RoS’s Registration Director, said: “If you use ARTL your client will enjoy financial savings, a faster service and greater security. A major part of our future publicity will be aimed at informing the conveyancing public about ARTL. I would urge all conveyancing firms to commit to using the system so that your clients can take advantage of the financial and other savings that ARTL can offer.”

Professor Stewart Brymer, the convener of the Law Society’s ARTL Implementation Group comments: “The new upgraded Registers Direct is a welcome addition for conveyancers and the wider public. The real benefits will be gained from ARTL however. In ARTL, Scotland has one of the leading automated registration systems in the world. RoS are to be congratulated on their vision to invest in ARTL and it is hoped that a fully electronic conveyancing process will be in place sooner rather than later once e-missives become a reality.”

To find out more about ARTL and RD, please contact our eServices team by tel: 0845 607 0160 or email: eservices@ros.gov.uk or go to ros.gov.uk .