Ambitious Targets
The scale of the Scottish Government’s ambitious target to have all of Scotland’s land mass registered by 2024 resulted in a considerable backlog at Registers of Scotland (RoS). The delays in registration processing can have extensive implications, potentially impacting property transactions, refinancing efforts and even large-scale development projects while the application is open.
Current Backlog Status
As of March 2026, the Registers of Scotland’s backlog stands at 81,978 cases, representing a 31.11% decrease from 119,000 cases in April 2024. The oldest unresolved case now dates back to January 2019. While this progress is encouraging, the backlog still presents ongoing challenges for solicitors, and RoS reports that 83.0% of despatched land register applications in March 2026 were processed within 35 working days.
Impact of Solicitors
While homeowners are not restricted from selling, remortgaging or making changes to their land or property title whilst the application is open, it can create unnecessary additional time, effort and sometimes costs for solicitors.
More worryingly we have recently seen a number of occasions where standard securities that were recorded in the Sasine Register have not been discharged as part of the First Registration and solicitors acting in any subsequent transactions are not aware of their existence when following normal practices, until the application makes it out of the backlog!
Once a property moves to the Land Register, there is no need (in theory) to look at the Sasine Register. A Legal Report for a property that has left the Sasine Register will only report on the Land Register title or pending application(s). If the parties acting in the first registration have failed to satisfy their obligation to discharge an outstanding standard security, then this won’t be apparent in normal practice.
How Millar & Bryce can help
We can help mitigate the risk of the above situation. If a property is undergoing first registration, we can send the legal report as normal. However, we can also make you aware of, and arrange, an unregistered legal report. We can examine the evidence of the original, identify the Sasine search sheet and provide an unregistered legal report over the Sasine title(s), making sure there are no surprises when you receive your completed title sheet.
At Millar & Bryce we’re here to help; as well as being experts on searches, we understand your requirements for conveyancing and registration and provide proactive solutions to mitigate risks in transactions.
If you’d like further details, then please contact your Account Manager or email us at relationship@millar-bryce.com
Editorial note
All statistics, figures and market data presented in this blog are believed to be accurate as of 13th April 2026. Figures relating to open casework volumes and turnaround times are updated regularly by Registers of Scotland and should be checked immediately prior to publication to ensure accuracy.
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