Gary Donaldson
Gary is Head of Product and Innovation at leading land and property search organisation Millar & Bryce. Gary is responsible for ensuring that the wide range of property related services comply with current legislation and practice and driving innovation in the conveyancing sector.
He has been with Millar & Bryce for over 10 years. Previously having roles in Registers of Scotland and Ordnance Survey, he has a broad background of experience in the land and property sector. Gary led the Millar & Bryce changes when the 2012 Act was introduced and continues to look at improvements to support the registration process.
Gary regularly speaks on range of plans and land registration matters at events across Scotland. He was also instrumental in creating the Millar Bryce publication “A Basic Guide to Conveyancing” which is distributed to students of the Diploma in Legal Practice courses across Scotland.
Practice Area
Panel
- Scottish Panel
2 Contributions by Gary Donaldson
PRACTICE NOTES
Registers of Scotland: Sasine and Land Registers, Practice under the 1979 and 2012 Acts, First Registration, Cadastral Mapping, Warranty, Rectification, Keeper-induced Registration, Advance Notices, Digital Registration and Expedite Requests
Registers of Scotland (RoS)
Registers of Scotland (RoS) is the national authority charged with maintaining various registers, chief among them the Register of Sasines (the Sasine Register) and the Land Register of Scotland (the Land Register), each concerning land interests and rights. The organisation is led by the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland; for the Keeper’s remit, see Functions of the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia [17]. RoS looks after these records on behalf of the public.
Sasine Register
Created by the Registration Act 1617, the Sasine Register dates from 1617 and serves as a public ledger of deeds connected to land throughout Scotland. Its role was to safeguard rights in land by enabling those rights to be placed on public record. Administration is carried out regionally, with deeds concerning property rights entered in the relevant county register. Indexes for properties and for named individuals were introduced, permitting searches to trace particular recorded deeds. From 1876, sasine search sheets were brought in; these indicate the volume and page references for every deed affecting a specific building or parcel of land and provide a useful point of departure for historical investigations, enabling searches to be taken further back over time...
Property
PRACTICE NOTES
Scottish conveyancing: essential pre‑registration title searches and enquiries, including Land Register/Sasines, Register of Inhibitions, PEC, company, ROE/RCI and community rights registers
Searches are a vital component in the examination of any heritable title in Scotland, and no conveyance ought to settle without them. Findings usually derive from public records or registers, often enhanced with material drawn from a range of sources. Typical repositories include:
Land Register
Register of Sasines
Register of Inhibitions
Companies House
Local Authorities where relevant
Carrying out searches is a specialist, exacting and highly technical discipline. Since the mid-19th century, the legal profession has preferred to entrust this work to professional searchers and to rely confidently on their expertise. The seller’s solicitor will usually request the searches. As a matter of routine, they are commissioned early in the transaction to allow time to address any adverse findings. Certain searches must be current on the date of completion, so update searches are ordered immediately before settlement.
Standard pre-registration searches
The standard searches required for any given transaction depend on whether the property is already on the Land Register or is recorded in the Register of Sasines; see Practice Note: A guide to land registration and the...
Property
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