An MSP has said that it is “simply unacceptable” that he had to intervene on behalf of two of his constituents who had waited for two years to receive title deeds for their property from Registers of Scotland.
Highlands and Islands MSP Donald Cameron had to repeatedly contact Registers of Scotland, who are responsible for keeping public registers of land, property, and other legal documents in Scotland, before they finally provided the documents to Mr & Mrs Sherlock for the purchase of their Farm, near Dunoon. Mr Cameron said: “Frankly it is simply unacceptable that a public organisation like Registers of Scotland could be so slow in providing Mr and Mrs Sherlock documents that they have every right to and which is, after all, the main responsibility that Registers of Scotland is tasked with discharging."
“It really shouldn’t take an MSP to intervene before they respond. The possession of title deeds can be a very important matter and people should not have to put their lives on hold because of delays of this nature."
“We have received an apology from Registers of Scotland which indicates they acknowledge that their performance wasn’t good enough and I very much hope that no-one else has the same experience as Mr and Mrs Sherlock.”
Mr and Mrs Sherlock said: “We were somewhat surprised to find that two years had elapsed before we had sight of the Title Deeds to our new property - which we now have, due to the help we have had from Donald. There is clearly a log-jam in the RoS system which at worst would cause financial issues to anyone wishing to sell or purchase property in Scotland.”