TRYING to find out who owns land in Scotland needs to be cheaper and easier, campaigners have said.
The report by pressure group Community Land Scotland (CLS) says ordinary people are being priced out of learning who owns properties in their communities.
Last month The Sunday Post revealed Scottish property and land worth £2.9 billion is being held by companies based in foreign tax havens.
Revealed: Tax haven firms own Scottish property worth around £3 BILLION
The information from the Registers of Scotland cost £1560 but campaigners point out that the same data is free south of the Border.
The report concludes: “There is currently a gap between the desire for a ‘publicly accessible’ land registry and the reality. Access for citizens to anything other than the most basic information is fragmented, expensive and complicated.”
Dr Calum MacLeod, CLS Policy Director, said: “This report reveals weaknesses in the existing system for promoting transparency of ownership.
“It also shows that lifting the existing veil of secrecy on beneficial ownership of land in Scotland requires the new land register to be comprehensive and freely accessible by the public.”
Our investigation revealed that Scottish property – including pubs and care homes – is held in 22 different tax havens around the world by 776 companies.
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