Over at the scots-titles.com forum, there is a post with a link to a blog post by Scottish solicitors Halliday Campbell. This explains very nicely the position in Scots law as seen by them of buyers of souvenir plots of land in Scotland, It also goes into Laird and Lord titles, and use of Coats of Arms, a very interesting, informative, and enlightening article, well worth a read. Who would you rather believe, a company which makes proven misleading statements and uses fake newspaper articles in it advertising, like Highland Titles Glencoe Estates, or a company of reputable Scottish solicitors?
http://www.hallidaycampbell.com/2012/06/who-owns-souvenir-plot.html
Bottom line is, if you bought a souvenir plot of land from Highland Titles or anybody else, you can't really own it under any accepted definition of the word own. It simply is not possible to do so under Scots law, all you can ever have is a personal right against the existing owner.
Ownership of the property, which is a real right, (that is, a right in the land as opposed to a personal right against the existing owner, and which prevails on insolvency) does not pass to the purchaser until the disposition is registered in the Register of Sasines or Land Register of Scotland. Which is specifically prohibited in Scots law for souvenir plots.
Further confirmation if any is needed of the legal position regarding sales of souvenir plots can be seen on the HMRC Customs Scottish land law terms page.
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageLibrary_ShowContent&propertyType=document&id=HMCE_CL_000157
Disposition
This is a formal document transferring ownership, or 'title', to land. Following the first stage in the sale of a property (the missives or contract), the purchaser has a personal right against the seller - that is, a purely contractual right to make the seller confer ownership on the purchaser in exchange for payment of the price. (Purely personal or contractual rights often cannot be enforced if the person who is due to perform them is or becomes insolvent). Ownership of the property, however, which is a real right, (that is, a right in the land as opposed to a personal right against the existing owner, and which prevails on insolvency) does not pass to the purchaser until the disposition is registered in the Register of Sasines or Land Register of Scotland."
Personal right
Right enforceable only against a specific person or limited class of persons for example, a contractual right. The disadvantage of personal rights is that, if the person against whom the right is enforceable becomes insolvent, the right is likely to be worthless in practice.
Real Right/Personal Right
A real right is one which is enforceable against everyone (in the traditional phrase, 'against the whole world'), as opposed to being enforceable only against one person - which is a personal right (such as rights arising under a contract). The main difference between them is that personal rights may be unenforceable against the party who is bound by them if for example, he/she becomes insolvent; while real rights (such as rights of ownership or registered securities over land) prevail against everyone, regardless of their status.
So if those interpretations are correct, what do you get for your money when you buy into one of these plot of land / title deals? Apparently not a lot, you don't get any word to use you could not have put in front of your name and said was your title perfectly legally already, and it looks like you don't actually own the land. Might as well have burnt your money, at least you'd have a bit of heat off of that.
http://www.hallidaycampbell.com/2012/06/who-owns-souvenir-plot.html
Bottom line is, if you bought a souvenir plot of land from Highland Titles or anybody else, you can't really own it under any accepted definition of the word own. It simply is not possible to do so under Scots law, all you can ever have is a personal right against the existing owner.
Ownership of the property, which is a real right, (that is, a right in the land as opposed to a personal right against the existing owner, and which prevails on insolvency) does not pass to the purchaser until the disposition is registered in the Register of Sasines or Land Register of Scotland. Which is specifically prohibited in Scots law for souvenir plots.
Further confirmation if any is needed of the legal position regarding sales of souvenir plots can be seen on the HMRC Customs Scottish land law terms page.
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageLibrary_ShowContent&propertyType=document&id=HMCE_CL_000157
Extracts from the HMRC Customs Scottish Land Law Document
Disposition
This is a formal document transferring ownership, or 'title', to land. Following the first stage in the sale of a property (the missives or contract), the purchaser has a personal right against the seller - that is, a purely contractual right to make the seller confer ownership on the purchaser in exchange for payment of the price. (Purely personal or contractual rights often cannot be enforced if the person who is due to perform them is or becomes insolvent). Ownership of the property, however, which is a real right, (that is, a right in the land as opposed to a personal right against the existing owner, and which prevails on insolvency) does not pass to the purchaser until the disposition is registered in the Register of Sasines or Land Register of Scotland."
Personal right
Right enforceable only against a specific person or limited class of persons for example, a contractual right. The disadvantage of personal rights is that, if the person against whom the right is enforceable becomes insolvent, the right is likely to be worthless in practice.
Real Right/Personal Right
A real right is one which is enforceable against everyone (in the traditional phrase, 'against the whole world'), as opposed to being enforceable only against one person - which is a personal right (such as rights arising under a contract). The main difference between them is that personal rights may be unenforceable against the party who is bound by them if for example, he/she becomes insolvent; while real rights (such as rights of ownership or registered securities over land) prevail against everyone, regardless of their status.
So if those interpretations are correct, what do you get for your money when you buy into one of these plot of land / title deals? Apparently not a lot, you don't get any word to use you could not have put in front of your name and said was your title perfectly legally already, and it looks like you don't actually own the land. Might as well have burnt your money, at least you'd have a bit of heat off of that.
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I have a lot more evidence suggesting dishonest and unethical business practices by several souvenir plot / title vendors which I have not published.. If you are a bona fide journalist or Government department with an interest in investigating this business and would like access to that evidence, please get in touch with me by using the email address on the right or sending me a comment marked "confidential", I will not publish comments so marked.
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