Highland Titles Conservation - How Much Income Actually Goes Towards Conservation Work?

Highland Titles proudly tout themselves as a "Conservation Company". From their advertising, press reviews and interviews etc., one obtains the clear impression that conservation is their raison d’etre, that it’s the reason the company was set up. The conservation aspect is what customers are buying into. But from the figures, you would be justified in wondering if it is principally a hook, and the true purpose of the exercise is making the tax-exile owners very wealthy!

Highland Titles are notoriously secretive and wholly unaccountable when it comes to publishing actual figures in relation to their income and actual spending on conservation work. Genuine UK conservation charities, by contrast, are required to make full accounts publicly available.

Now, thanks to Stephen Rossiter the Highland Titles sales and marketing director, and public publication of sales figures for their affiliate program, we can work the figures out for ourselves and see a very reasonable estimate of what those figures actually are,

In a recent radio interview with Huffington Post, apart from the utter garbage spouted by Mr Rossiter about Laird, Lord, and Lady titles, he does state quite clearly, 4:13 "over the last 2 years, we would have raised in excess of $250,000."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/06/how-to-become-a-lord_n_6280516.html 

That's in  Dollars, translated to Pounds that comes to around £80,000 raised per year over the last two years, excellent we now have something to work with. All we need now are the total sales per year and how much income on average each sale is worth. Fortunately, tucked away in a corner of the Internet unlikely to be found by consumers, we can find these figures from the Highland Titles affiliate program, neat!

 http://darwin.affiliatewindow.com/merchant-profile/4728 - I think it likely that shortly after publication of this post, this page will either disappear or the figures will be changed. If you are a bona fide journalist, lawyer, or government agency etc. I can provide a verified accurate copy of this page which cannot have been tampered with. (Yes the program information and traffic figures have now been removed from the affiliate page 22/12/2014) 

Program Information
Average Order Value  -  £64.36
Commission  -  15%
Avg. Conversion Rate - 2.95%

Traffic
Over 90k Monthly Unique Visitors
Over 250k Monthly Pageviews

To get a pretty good picture of the actual number of sales all we need do is multiply the Monthly Unique Visitors by the conversion rate.

90,000 monthly unique visitors * 2.95% conversion rate = 31,860 sales per year.

Multiply the sales per year by the Average Order Value, 31,860 * £64.36 and we get a total of £2,050509, that's over 2 million Pounds, or for our USA friends, around  $3,219,300, well over 3 million Dollars gross income per year.

So over a two year period, Highland Titles' gross income is around £4,101019, yes that is over 4 million pounds, of which around £160,000 is collected for conservation projects. So out of the gross income, only around 3.9 percent is collected for conservation purposes.

Can these figures be relied upon to be accurate? Oh yes definitely, they come out of the mouth of Stephen Rossiter the Highland Titles sales and marketing director during a radio interview, and from their own publicly published affiliate program data.

What does this mean? What it means is that your £30 purchase from Highland Titles, only results in around a rather miserly £1 being collected for conservation projects.

Put it this way, would you donate £30 to a charity if you were aware that only around £1 of that amount was actually going to be spent on the cause, with the remaining £29 going towards overheads and salaries?

Richer Sounds currently give 15% of their profits to charitable organisations, do they call themselves a "charitable cause company"? Of course not! Highland Titles on the other hand, collect a tiny amount of their income for conservation projects yet call themselves a  "conservation company". As with many claims made by Highland Titles, when looked at closely, the claims are more marketing hype than anything based on reality. By far the biggest slice of income generated on the back of the famous Glencoe name, where their land isn’t, goes to the tax free haven Channel Islands, and very firmly stays there.

There is another concern, what do Highland Titles class as conservation work? We know they spent money on a track to extract the wood from the commercial forestry operation (while claiming it was a cycle track!). We know they have built a visitor reception hut, a car park, an ornamental stone bench, and some paths for the comfort of visitor. The natural world has little use for any of those, for my money those are more for the comfort of visitors and advertising hype, rather than spending on conservation.

Equally, if they spend £100,000 acquiring land planted with commercial timber to “salvage” the land, is that chalked up as £100,000 of conservation spending given that the price paid mainly reflects the value of the timber (such land is of very little value apart from the timber), and they will recoup the outlay when the timber is felled? Other people buy these plantations as investments!

Going by their own figures, for every £30 purchase made from Highland Titles, it seems only around £1 is actually collected for conservation.

Is that really what you expected from a company whose proclaimed reason for existing at all is for conservation?

For comparison, here are some figures for UK registered charities who's accounts, unlike the hidden accounts of Highland Titles, are available for public scrutiny.

Figures taken on 20/12/2014

Small Woods Association - 75% charitable spend, so of your £30, £22.50 is spent on the cause.

THE Whitley Fund For Nature - 82% charitable spend, so of your £30, £24.60 is spent on the cause.
 
The Woodland Trust - 65% charitable spend, so of your £30, £19.50 is spent on the cause.

Plantlife International - 84% charitable spend, so of your £30, £25.20 is spent on the cause.
 

Thinking About Calling Yourself Laird Lord or Lady of Glencoe?

Since it's formation, Highland Titles Ltd, not a Scottish company but based in the Channel Islands, have been advising tens if not hundreds of thousands of members of the public all over the world, that it is a good idea to buy personal rights to a plot of land, (not even in Glencoe) off of them, and call themselves Laird Lord or Lady of Glencoe. As with many other misleading notions spread by these professional con artists, this does not stand up to even the slightest scrutiny.

Glencoe in Scotland is famous worldwide for two reasons. One, it is generally considered as one of the most breathtaking areas of natural beauty in the whole of Scotland. Two, it is the site of possibly the most heinous crime ever committed on Scottish soil, murder under trust, the infamous Massacre of Glencoe. This is when Scottish chieftains and members of the MacDonald clan were ruthlessly slaughtered without any chance to defend themselves, while providing food and shelter to their attackers.

Donald Alexander Smith was at one time owner of virtually the whole of  the land in Glencoe, without question the principal landowner. When made a peer and free to choose any title he wished, after initially considering taking the title Lord Glencoe, decided as a mark of respect to the slaughter which took place there, not to take that title, and instead take the title Lord Strathcona. We can see this from his biography.

http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/smith_donald_alexander_14E.html

"In the spring of 1897 Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain informed him that he was to be made a peer. When news leaked out that he had chosen the title Lord Glencoe, after a glen where Scottish chieftains had been slaughtered in 1692, a glen he had only recently acquired, colleagues prevailed on him to reconsider. He created the name Strathcona, a Gaelic variant on Glencoe."

So who on earth with any knowledge of or empathy for Scottish tradition, would recommend that it would be in any way appropriate for anyone owning personal rights to a miniscule plot of land in Duror, to title themselves Lord Glencoe? Not only is it wholly inappropriate and utterly disregarding of any genuine Scottish tradition, it is as Lord Strathcona was prevailed upon to realise, gravely insulting.

There could really be only two reasons why anybody would choose to call themselves Lord Laird or Lady of Glencoe. One would be out of ignorance of Scottish traditions and history, the other would be a quite deliberate attempt to cause offense.

Highland Titles continually demonstrate that their only interest in Scottish traditions is to manipulate them with half truths and fantasy in order to line their own pockets. In the process they have certainly caused unsuspecting trusting people to unwittingly insult families whose ancestors were slaughtered in the Glencoe Massacre.

And if you think Highland Titles is principally about conservation, you might want to have a look at this post where according to their own figures, it is demonstrated that only a tiny amount of their over £2 million annual income is collected for conservation, the really big slice going to their Channel Islands tax haven and staying there.

Please do not support Highland Titles.

Highland Titles Scottish Woodland Alliance Cycle Track Farce

It is interesting that currently Sustrans are apparently in discussion with Highland Titles about routing a cycle track over their land at Keil Hill ..... hold on, that's a bit strange, there would seem to be little point as it seems a cycle track has already been built at the expense of Highland Titles.

Let us have a look at what seems to be the only piece of work that the Scottish Woodland Alliance actually claim to have done on Keil Hill.  The construction of a cycle track over Keil Hill

This is the claim from their website at http://lairdswood.org.uk

It seems that this post has prompted the removal of the entire lairdswood.org.uk website, not to worry there is an independently captured screenshot of the front page here http://www.screenshots.com/lairdswood.org.uk/2014-01-28 

"In 2007, we agreed with Sustrans that they could route the Oban to Fort William Cycleway over Keil Hill.  By 2008 we learned that Sustrans had decided to leave cyclists on the road for this dangerous part of the route. Thus in August 2009 SWA built a cycle track at our own expense that crosses Keil Hill from the Salachan Burn to Duror Cemetary. This will prove to be of value both to the people of this small community and to walkers, cyclists and equestrians."

So, over 5 years into the cycle track's existence, let us take a quick photo tour that illustrates the gulf between the marketing hype, and the woeful reality.

First cyclists have to find the track. It doesn't appear as a cycle route on any maps that I can find. This is the view as you travel South on the A828 (no, it's not the tarmac strip on the right; it's behind the farm gate on the left)

A close up view of the entrance and signage, not exactly inviting. You'd think they didn't want anyone to use it?

 This section of the access is overgrown  with dense grass. Cycles have to come through this section, so exactly how much cycle or any other traffic can there have been?

 

These stepping stones are also part of the route! This is going to take road bikes off the A828, remember?

At last we arrive at something which might be described as some kind of track, a section specially constructed in 2009. Rough doesn't begin to describe it. Wholly unsuitable for road bikes. Suitable for logging and 4x4 access to the half-acre plots, though. Does anybody still think this was constructed as a cycle track for road bikes to take them off of the A828?

The thought that this was constructed as any kind of cycle track for road bikes to take cycle traffic off the main A828 road is obviously utterly farcical.

It seems to me a much more likely reason for the construction is for the extraction of the commercially planted timber when it matures. In case you were unaware, the approximately 220 acre Keil Hill estate comprises roughly half  commercial forest (leaving only 110 or so acres for the Highland Titles Nature Reserve), planted with government grants.

Highland Titles Nature Reserve Planning Application False Statements

You would think that any reputable company when applying for planning permission for a building of any kind would tell the truth to the local council planning department about the purpose of the planned building, yes?

Not so with Highland Titles, the rules it seems do not apply to them, and false statements regarding the purpose of a building on the Highland Titles Nature Reserve were presented to the Highland Council planning department.

The planning application for what Highland Titles currently describes variously as their Rangers Hut or visitor reception, actually described the purpose of the building as "Storage for machinery for commercial forestry" in the planning application to Highland Council.

The entire planning application can be seen here .....

http://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=MUTATPIH7R000

No mention of rangers huts, visitor reception, electricity supply, water supply, or toilets for visitors is there ?

The application was made by a Mr Robert Wilson, who is or was (please correct me if I'm wrong), the manager of the Bevis family holiday letting business at Tulloch Farm.

Then there is the matter of the modifications to the entrance from the main A828 road for their newly constructed car park. I can find nothing in council records which would indicate that these modifications have been authorised.

I understand that Highland Council have been made aware of these concerns, but I'm informed have chosen not to take any action.

It certainly makes me wonder if there is something distinctly smelly going on here. An unauthorised development complete with an illegal entrance to and from a main road intended to be used by members of the public, I'd expect Highland Council to be more than a little concerned, but apparently they are not .... I find that more than a little strange.

If you are involved in any type of accident at this entrance, or indeed in the "Rangers Hut", you might want to contact the Highland Council and ask them for the authorisation paperwork for these developments. If they cannot supply the relevant documents I'd think you might have a very good case for taking legal action against both Highland Council and Highland Titles.

If Highland Titles are prepared to cause false statements to be made to the planning authorities, does it not seem quite likely that an awful lot of their other claims might also be false?

Clan Donald Worldwide Are Not Highland Titles Supporters Then!

Clan Donald Worldwide on Facebook, a group with over 1000 members, have included in their membership rules, that supporting Highland Titles is not compatible with membership of the Clan Donald Worldwide group.

https://www.facebook.com/download/595308380577699/GroupPolicy-HighlandTitles-01a.pdf

Some quotations from the document:

"This group of charlatans, operating form Alderney in the Channel Islands, and with no real connection to Scotland except what they can charm out of innocent and unsuspecting people, who just want to celebrate their heritage, have to be stopped. I cant do it on my own, and others have met some unbelievable challenges in the past. Some have been vilified, others reported to Facebook. Fake Fb accounts have been setup and identity theft has been practiced to post stuff that leaves honest people looking like bad rubbish. So, when I post this, I expect to get some hassle. Hey ho. Our friends in Glencoe are extremely upset by this company trading upon their local and heritage identity.

The first thing I can do is this:

I declare that association with Highland Titles - Glencoe Estates, in any of their guises, is incompatible with membership of CDWw."

"ANYBODY WHO IS IN THE CLAN DONALD WORLDWIDE GROUP, and who is found to have an active 'like' on the Glencoe Highland Titles Fb page, or who shares their pictures, in the group or elsewhere, will be reminded of this document and asked to read it. If they have not seen fit to discontinue their support for this odious organisation, they WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE GROUP"

Update - The Press And Journal newspaper covered this story. Rather oddly the online version of the story about Highland Titles has been removed from the Press And Journal website. I can think of two reasons for this, either Highland Titles have threatened legal action and the newspaper is reluctant to get involved in a costly legal battle even if they win the case. Or Highland Titles have contacted the Press And Journal and related some cock and bull story about the character of Mr MacDonald the administrator of the Facebook page and it has been withdrawn "just in case". Such is the style and nasty nature of Highland Titles, I do hope that the Press And Journal will publish an explanation of this, though I seriously doubt that will ever happen.

Not that it really matters, I have a copy of the text of the article and will put up a scanned copy of the physical newspaper when I get a minute.

Meanwhile here are the important quotations from the article, this is not the full article.

"Press And Journal 10 September 2014

A Scottish clan has accused a company of “trading upon the misery and carnage” of an infamous massacre by selling plots of land that give the impression of being in Glencoe.

Clan Donald Worldwide (CDWw) has warned its members to have nothing to do with the company, Highland Titles. And it now states in its membership rules that anyone who fails to heed this advice will be excluded.

The clan points out that the plots being offered for sale – which range from £29.99 for 1sq ft to £499.99 for 1,000sq ft – are not even in Glencoe.

Chas Mac Donald, of CDWw, has stated to members: “Their operation is not based in Glencoe. It is a good distance away, in Duror and Appin. They are trading upon the misery and carnage that was the Massacre of Glencoe.

He says they are taking advantage of “innocent and unsuspecting people, who just want to celebrate their heritage”.

Mr Mac Donald declared that association with Highland Titles – Glencoe Estates, in any of its guises, was incompatible with membership of CDWw.

He wrote: “Anybody who is in the Clan Donald Worldwide group and who is found to have an active ‘like’ on the Glencoe Highland Titles Facebook page, or who shares their pictures, in the group or elsewhere, will be reminded of this document and asked to read it. If they have not seen fit to discontinue their support for this odious organisation, they will be removed from the group. ""

Peter Bevis of Highland Titles Telling Lies Claim

Over on the Bletherskite website on their article about Scots Titles, there are some interesting comments. Most recently commenter Darthula has been pointing out some of the claims made by Peter Bevis of Highland Titles, which have very definitely not come true. I'd thoroughly recommend reading all the posts, they are very illuminating on a range of matters.

 http://www.bletherskite.net/2011/02/23/end-to-buying-a-fake-scottish-title/#comment-41576

Ignoring some of the other exposures for now, or this post would be in danger of turning into a book, I'll concentrate currently on just one of the subjects brought up. The Private Eye story about an Advertising Standards Authority finding that Highland Titles were linking to fake newspaper articles from their website. Mr Bevis, rather foolishly, seems very keen to claim that this story is untrue.


Some quotation from Mr Bevis on the Private Eye story.

"You or someone like you has fed Private Eye, The Mirror, The Scotsman and probably every other newspaper on the planet with an endless stream of cobblers. Somethimes these works of fiction even get published. That does not make them true. It simply makes you a mindless hooligan."

"You were lucky that Private Eye published your story without checking if it was accurate. That does not make it true. Private Eye is a rag"

Fairly clear then that Mr Bevis considers the story is untrue.

Now let us look at the truth of the matter.

The ASA stated the nature of the complaint in a Freedom of Information request response HERE

FACT - The Highland Titles website "about us" page did contain multiple links to cloned copies of real newspaper articles hosted using the domain name newsfeed.ws. The content of these copies had been altered to shed a more favourable light on Highland Titles than the originals.

FACT - A member of the public did report this matter to the Advertising Standards Authority.

FACT - The ASA investigated this and found that Highland titles were in fact linking to these fake stories from their website.

FACT - The ASA did contact Highland Titles about this matter, the result of which was that Highland Titles agreed to point the links to accurate copies of the newspaper articles.

FACT -  as well as the linked to fake newspaper articles hosted on newsfeed.ws, there were other non linked ones to fake articles, one of which contained entirely false quotations from Scottish MSP Rob Gibson in which he appeared to support these fake "Laird Schemes", when in fact Mr Gibson is most definitely opposed to these schemes.

FACT -  As well as fake newspaper articles, the same webspace also contained a pdf document stolen from the Baronage Press. This document had been altered to shed a favourable light on so called "Laird schemes", which was not the case with the original. The meta data contained in this document is identical to pdf documents produced by Highland Titles, the Author field of the meta data containing the initials PB .... Peter Bevis perhaps?

If Peter Bevis of Highland Titles is claiming that this Private Eye article is in any way substantially inaccurate, I would without any hesitation call Mr Bevis a liar.

Council of Scottish Clans & Associations and Highland Titles

It would seem the Council of Scottish Clans & Associations (https://www.facebook.com/AncestralScots) are not exactly keen on Highland Titles or any other vendor of fake Scottish titles, if their Facebook post is any indication.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1504570596437563&set=a.1398303573730933.1073741829.1396006190627338&type=1&theater

The text of their Facebook post reads ....

"FRIENDS DONT LET FRIENDS BUY HIGHLAND TITLES! Heads up folks - we have a serious issue to talk about. You may have heard about a Facebook company called Highland Titles. With 135,000 Likes on FB they offer the chance to buy a micro-plot of land in the highlands and by doing so - says Highland Titles - you also acquire the right to call yourself "Lord" or "Lady". NOT!

Please folks think twice about supporting a scam like this. The very fact of it scoffs at our real heritage and ancestry. We celebrate history while Highland Titles is selling fantasy. Don't buy into it and don't let your friends get caught up in this nasty business either.

To make matters worse Highland Titles also claims to be working to conserve the Scottish environment. NOT! That claim is silly and there are some really outstanding true conservation groups out there for you to support and know you are doing the right thing. Try The John Muir Trust for starters. And Trees4Scotland is an awesome project as well.

Try not to waste your paycheck on a Highland Titles scam. Do the work of discovering your own true heritage and hand THAT down to your kids. Along with a donation to a REAL conservation outfit in Scotland!

Now - one more thing. We know that Highland Titles likes to launch punitive measures at those who challenge them. Well, Pish. 'Mon the Con! We aren't alone on this - you will be finding this message popping up all over the world wide webs from good people who have had enough. So OK Highland Titles take your best shot. We would rather have you chasing us than selling people the garbage you typically purvey."

And there is a poster too which you might like to pass around .....

 

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t1.0-9/p843x403/10346645_1504570596437563_6939970651213189505_n.jpg

Peter Bevis Of Highland Titles Linkedin Profile Jiggery-Pokery

In the last post we saw how Stewart Borland of Highland Titles changed his Linkedin profile to portray a different take on his position shortly after the post went up. Peter Bevis of Highland Titles has also recently changed his Linkedin profile  to tell a different story to the previous one.

In March this year Mr Bevis claimed his current position was "Trustee at The Highland Titles Charitable Trust for Scotland".

And the summary read, "Retired from normal business, I am now devoting my time to running a small charity the Highland Titles Charitable Trust for Scotland ...."

Now (April) the claim is "Managing Director at Highland Titles Limited"

And the summary reads "Retired from normal business life, I am now devoting my time to running a small business Highland Titles ..... "

It seems Mr Bevis might no longer involved with the Highland Titles Charitable Trust for Scotland, or perhaps he'd rather not be associated with it any more?

The logical conclusion would seem to be, that nothing on either profile should be taken at face value. They seem to change at a whim to reflect  more what they want the reader to believe than anything approaching reality. Should people who can't even tell a consistent story on their own public profiles by trusted to be involved in the running of a charity?

Linkedin Profile Extract For Peter Bevis on March 22nd 2014

 

Linkedin Profile Extract For Peter Bevis on April 19th 2014

 

Stewart Borland Of Highland Titles Nature Reserve Review

Update

My thanks to the sender of a note to point out that Mr Borland posted his Tripadvisor review before he actually worked for Highland Titles. The review was posted on 2nd August, I understand Mr Borland took up his position with Highland Titles later that same month. This report should therefore not be taken as a deliberate deception, but more perhaps forgetfulness in not contacting Tripadvisor to let them know of the position. As always I'm happy for it to be pointed out if it looks like I have made an error, and am quite happy to correct any issues. My sincere apologies to Mt Borland if I have suggested any deliberate deception on his part if this was not so.

Remember in this post we found that William Melnyk, a Highland Titles distributor in the USA, had a review published of the Highland Titles nature reserve on Tripadvisor against Tripadvisor rules? .... I can report that Highland Titles employee Stewart Borland also had a review of the nature reserve posted.

Stewart Borland from Ballachullish, of the HIghland Titles sales and marketing department, better known as their "meet & greet" man for their nature reserve, has also had his Tripadvisir review removed for violating Tripadvisor rules by having a review of the property of his employers.

The reviewers user name was CraigavonCottage, and guess what? ... yes ... Highland Titles employee Stewart, runs Craigavon Cottage as a self-catering holiday home.

Stewart Borland's "Craigavon Cottage" Highland Titles Nature Reserve Review

 

 

Further Update

Well well ... Stewart seems to have changed his Linkedin profile shortly after this post was published, apparently he's now a volunteer. Errrr Stewart, were you being a bit short on the truth before, or are you being a bit short of the truth now?

Stewart's Profile Before This Article

 Stewart's Profile After This Article

Highland Titles Charitable Trust For Scotland Misleading Says Scottish Charity Regulator

Fresh from the revelations by the Advertising Standards Authority that advertising about Scottish titles by Highland Titles is misleading, now the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator has found the Highland Titles Charitable Trust For Scotland to be misleading. Not only that, but the judgement also claims that Highland Titles Ltd was thought to be falsely presenting themselves as a charity in December 2012.

“On 3rd April 2014, OSCR issued a direction under Section 31(5) of the 2005 Act requiring Mr Peter Bevis to stop representing the ‘The Highland Titles Charitable Trust for Scotland’ as a charity registered in Scotland."

The story starts here:

http://www.oscr.org.uk/news-and-events/latest-news/highland-titles-charitable-trust-for-scotland/

The full judgement can be seen in pdf format here:

http://www.oscr.org.uk/media/472678/2014-04-03_s33_report_the_highland_titles_charitable_trust_for_scotland.pdf

"As a result of inquiries made under section 28 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (the 2005 Act) it appears to OSCR that a body known as The Highland Titles Charitable Trust for Scotland has been misrepresenting itself as a charity in Scotland."

We can see from the judgement that Highland Titles were thought in the past by OSCR, to be misrepresenting Highland Titles Ltd (a full for profit limited company) as a charity.

"OSCR initially received a complaint in December 2012 alleging that a body known as Highland Titles was misrepresenting itself as a Scottish charity. On receipt OSCR took action to warn Mr Peter Bevis that this was misrepresentation and should be amended."

 Some quotations from the judgement:

"In Addition, although the organisation is registered in another jurisdiction OSCR takes the view that where a body carries out activities in any office, shop or similar premises in Scotland, the 2005 Act provides that it may not represent itself as a charity even where it is registered as such under the law of another country.

It is not therefore entitled to refer to itself as a "charity" or "Scottish charity" or to use in its name words which imply such a status."

The Highland Titles Charitable Trust for Scotland is registered in Guernsey, and as such is completely and utterly unaccountable, not required to reveal anything about its activities other than the name and address. They should not be representing themselves in any way as a Scottish charity.

"A person, who without reasonable excuse refuses or fails to comply with a direction under section 31(5) of the 2005 Act is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5000) or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 6 months or to both."

Feel free to report anywhere you seen this charity representing itself as a Scottish charity, to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. info@oscr.org.uk 

Response From Scottish Lawyer On The ASA Ruling Against Highland Titles

There was an interesting response publish in The Scotsman newspaper after the story about the ruling against Highland Titles was published. This is letter to the Scotsman newspaper sent by Craig Anderson, Lecturer In Law at Robert Gordon University Aberdeen.

In it Mr Anderson makes it very clear that in his opinion, buyers of souvenir plots in Scotland do not own the land they might have been led to believe they have bought.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/letters/law-of-the-land-1-3336742

Who would you rather believe, a lecturer in law in Scotland, or a company like Highland Titles who have been found by the Advertising Standards Authority to be publishing misleading information in their advertising materials?

The letter is reproduced in full below.

"I note from your article, “ASA raps company over ‘fake Scots laird’ titles”, (11 March) that the Advertising Standards Authority has taken action against a company claiming to sell minuscule pieces of land, entitling the purchaser to adopt the title Laird, Lord or Lady of Glencoe.

Such action is to be welcomed. However, I am afraid that, in ­reporting the exposure of one part of this company’s misrepresentation, you have given ­credence to another. Your article stated that the sale of these plots has “created 7,500 new Scots landowners”. It has done nothing of the sort. A person who buys land in Scotland can only become the owner by registration in the Land Register of Scotland.

The Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979 does not allow registration of “souvenir plots”, meaning “land which, being of inconsiderable size, or no practical utility, is unlikely to be wanted in isolation except for the sake of mere ownership or for sentimental reasons or commemorative purposes”.

As the square-foot plots sold by this company clearly fall within this definition, they cannot be registered and, as a result, their purchasers can never become owners of the land they believe that they have bought.

In other words, so far is this company’s scheme from creating 7,500 new landowners, that it has in fact created none whatsoever.

Craig Anderson

Lecturer in law

Robert Gordon University

Aberdeen"

ASA Rules Highland Titles Misleading And Laird Titles Are Fake

There has now been an Advertising Standards Authority Ruling made against Highland Titles, which finds they have been misleading customers to believe that they receive a Scottish landowners Laird Lord or Lady title, when this is not actually true.

It's official, there are no Scottish landowner titles, and you cannot buy a Scottish Lord or Lady title from Highland Titles or anybody else. Laird isn't a Scottish title, that is just something made up by the con artists trying to sell you one.

Some quotations from the ASA ruling.

“However, we considered the overall impression of the website and noted a large number of statements that implied a direct link between the purchase of the land sold by Highland Titles and the attainment of the titles Lord, Lady or Laird."

“We considered that consumers were likely to understand those statements to mean that through the purchase of a souvenir plot of land from Highland Titles they would gain the right to use a title to which they would not otherwise have had the right."

“We considered that those statements contradicted the message that anyone was able to use those titles and gave the impression that the titles available to customers who bought land from Highland Titles were recognised in a way that titles adopted by ordinary members of the public were not."

“Because we considered that the ad included a number of contradictory statements in relation to the nature of the titles available to Highland Titles’ customers, we concluded that the website was ambiguous and likely to mislead.”

 The story was reported in several Scottish newspapers.

 Screen capture from the Herald Scotland website of the Highland Titles Fake Laird Titles ASA story

Two screen captures from The Scotsman newspaper website on the Highland Titles fake laird titles story

Scan of the Metro newspaper of the Highland Titles fake laird titles story.

As pointed out in a comment the story was also the Daily Record, under the headline "You Have Been 'Ad M'lady". http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-361213255.html

Highland Titles have been found to be misleading people into believing that through ownership of land they gained the right to take up a Laird Lord or Lady title. The Advertising Standards Authority have pointed out this is entirely untrue. If Highland Titles are willing to knowingly mislead their customers like this, what else might they be leading them to believe which is not true? Perhaps the extent of and the amount of money spent on conservation work?

Footnote

As also pointed out in a comment, the Highlend Titles story appeared on The Scotsman newspaper website for a while on the 11th March (screen captures above), then vanished. I don't know if this is the reason it was withdrawn, but it does appear that The Scotsman has some kind of 'partner' relationship with Highland Titles as a Google search reveals.

One would hope that any such arrangement would not compromise editorial decisions, but I'd bet The Scotsman wouldn't be very popular in Glencoe if that was found to be the reason the article was withdrawn from The Scotsman website.

Highland Titles Getting Your Money Back From And Complaining About

Perhaps after purchasing a "package" from Highland Titles or another similar business and have now found out against expectations that you did not get any sort of meaninful title, that the land "ownership" is actually some kind of private contract which does not in fact bestow real ownership, or that any conservation work is possibly dubious at best, largely unnacountable and non transparent, and you now feel you want a refund, what can you do?

If you paid for a plot of land from Highland Titles and are now in any way dissatisfied, the good news is that it should be simplicity itself to have your money refunded as highland Titles offer a 30 day 100% no quibble guarantee.

From http://www.highlandtitles.com/buy-your-plot/refund-policy/ on 02/01/2014.

"100% “No Quibble” Money Back Guarantee......
...... If you are not totally satisfied with your order or have simply changed your mind, please return the product to us within 30 days of your order date and we will refund you for the product. Please include a brief letter including your name and address and an explanation as to why you are returning the item(s)."

From http://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.highlandtitles.com on 02/01/2014

"We are so confident that you will be 100% satisfied with our product, that if you are not, we guarantee to refund your purchase price if you return your Laird Pack within 30 days. No questions asked."

This means that should you request a refund for any reason, even that of simply changing your mind, you should receive that refund immediately, without any argument whatsoever ..... that is no argument at all, none.

If Highland Titles offer any resistance at all to immediately refunding your money without argument, report them to the Advertising Standards Authority on the grounds that their refund policy is not actually "100% no quibble". Include any supporting correspondence, emails etc. to demonstrate that they have attempted to dissuade you from obtaining your promised refund.

The ASA complaints procedure can be found here.

You may also want to complaint to Trading Standards, in the United Kingdom this is normally done via the Citizens Advice Bureau. There is an online form for reporting issues which can be found here.

For the Channel Islands including Alderney where Highland Titles are based, Guernsey Trading Standards can be contacted as below.

Guernsey Trading Standards
Trading Standards Service
Raymond Falla House
PO Box 459
Longue Rue
St Martins
GY1 6AF
Guernsey
Telephone: 01481 234567
Email: ts@commerce.gov.gg

If you feel you have been misled in any way by the various promotions and advertising produced by Highland Titles, or any other vendor of "Scottish Titles", please complain to the relevant above agencies with details of how you think you have been misled. Include any relevant information, keep any printed documentation or emails, and take screen captures of any online promotions and advertising you feel is misleading as evidence.