RoS fees up for review

Background

RoS operates as a Trading Fund. This means that we are entirely self-financing, covering our expenditure primarily through the fees we charge for our registration and information services. Fees must be set at a level that covers costs and these levels are set by Scottish Ministers by means of orders in the Scottish Parliament.

We announced in our 2010-13 Corporate Plan that we intended to conduct a review of both information and registration fees biennially. The first such review is now under way, and a three-month public consultation on its proposals was launched on 21 June.

The basis for registration and recording fees is the Fees in the Registers of Scotland Amendment Order 2006, which amended the Fees in the Registers of Scotland Order 1995. The 2006 Order was designed to reduce RoS’s annual income by at least 26 per cent, in order to reduce the reserves then held.

The regime for information fees is set out in the Fees in the Registers of Scotland Amendment Order 2009, which also amended the 1995 Order. The fees introduced in 2009 represented a reduction of 45 per cent in information fee income and were designed to reflect costs against volumes at that time.

The economic downturn, with the fall in house prices and volume of sales combined with the reduced fees, has resulted in RoS incurring substantial annual losses. These are larger than planned and are not sustainable. The fees proposed in the consultation paper seek to re-establish full cost recovery. A wider financial sustainability review is also being undertaken to introduce greater efficiencies to RoS.

Proposed changes to registration and recording fees

Scottish Ministers propose to increase the minimum fee for transfer applications submitted in paper form from £30 to £60, with the ARTL minimum fee increasing from £20 to £50. All other fee bands will increase by 20 per cent, except those applying to properties for which the consideration is greater than £1 million, which will remain unchanged. These changes will see a £240 (ARTL £180) fee for an average-priced property compared to a £330 fee in 1995.

The fee for registering or recording any deed relating to a standard security will increase from £30 to £60 for paper applications and from £20 to £50 for ARTL applications.  (The 1995 fees ranged from £22 to £3,750.)

Proposed changes to information fees

Scottish Ministers propose to increase the standard Registers Direct fee from £1.80 plus VAT to £3 plus VAT. To reflect the costs involved, they also propose to introduce additional charges of £8 for searches conducted by RoS staff from letter, fax or email requests and £12 for those requested in person at our customer service centres. Nil returns on Registers Direct will continue not to attract a charge and free access to our online Scottish House Prices will also be retained.

Full details of all of the proposed charges are set out in the consultation paper. Visit ros.gov.uk or the consultation pages on the Scottish Government’s website.

Consultation responses

The consultation will run from 21 June 2010 until 10 September 2010. All comments received by the end of the consultation period will be considered by Scottish Ministers prior to their finalising a new Fee Amendment Order and laying it before the Scottish Parliament. It is anticipated that any change in the fees that RoS charge would not be implemented until the first quarter of 2011. If you have any queries, please contact Hugh Welsh on 0141 306 1513 or hugh.welsh@ros.gov.uk .