Following a recent consultation exercise the Fees in the Registers of Scotland Amendment Order 2010 has been signed by the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism and has been submitted to the Scottish Parliament. The new fees will come into force on 10 January 2011
The fees are increasing from between 20% and 100%. For example the application to register a Saisines title is increasing from £30 to £60 whilst new fees are being charged for searches of the Registers Direct Service that are not presently charged for.
The consultation paper states that “the intention is to stop ROS making losses and put it on a sound financial footing”.
Given that the Scottish economy has faced a similar decline in the number of property transactions as the market in England and Wales we wonder whether the reorganisation program undertaken by Land Registry will prove sufficient to avoid fee increases in the Land Registry fees we pay.
