Good old Porty

[marcolo]

[Guest]

[Susan]

[Kirstielove]

[Guest]

[Gemini]

[Susan]

[Jamesie]

[Jamesie]

[Guest]

To further complicate matters, there are two types of servitudes. A positive servtude (eg the right to walk over a certain route) can be acquired by usage and doesn't need to be written down anywhere in order to be effective. But a servitude of light is a negative servitude which can only be acquired by writings (not necessarily, as Jamesie correctly says, recorded deeds - so a trip to Meadowbank House might not actually give you the answer...)

In order to acquire a servitude of light, in practical terms, the proprietor of the benefited property has to either get a formal deed from the proprietor of the other land, or if the benefited proprietor at one time owned the whole of the land, he has to reserve the servitude of light in his own favour when selling off the other land.

Servitudes of light are very rare.

Errr... are we getting a bit too technical here?

Alex

[Jamesie]

[Susan]

[Jamesie]

[Guest]

Well... The council can make a Compulsory Purchase Order, which is then followed up by a General Vesting Declaration if the owner still refuses to sell. It's not likely the Council would do it unless there was some pressing reason, such as wanting to redevelop the land for the good of the whole community. (Which may well be the case, but persuading the council of that..?) And the Council couldn't just take possession, they actually have to buy it with hard cash (from our Council Tax!).

There's no such thing as losing your right to land in Scotland, just because you aren't using it. The land has to actually be sold to the peson who is staking the claim. Usually (d'uhh!) the seller is the person who owns the land. But if that person can't be traced (and you have to prove they can't be traced) the buyer can get their solicitor, or a member of their family to sell it to them for a nominal sum (this is an "a non domino" sale). Even then, the sale can be challenged for a period of at least ten years.

If the rightful owner is deceased, the land goes to their heirs. If they have no heirs, it goes to The Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer (ie the Government, on behalf of the Queen) who can then pass a good title to the purchasers.

But I'm pretty sure this site is privately owned... so all this debate is academic.

And yes, Porty is a grand place to be!

Alex

[Guest]

I think James and I must have been typing simultaneously!

There is case law (McDonald vs the Keeper, 1914) which establishes that the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland has a duty to maintain the integrity of the Registers... so it would be difficult to get the deed of sale recorded unless you could prove the true owner couldn't be found.

[ecm]

If you want to check out if servitudes and stuff like that don't go to Meadowbank House - Registers of Scotland have a customer service outlet at Erskine House at the west end of Queen Street for members of the public to do searches. You can also use their on-line service at :-


http://www.ros.gov.uk/citizen/index.html


cheers
ali

[Epykat]

[Pal of Porty]

[Robin!]

[Porty]

[Bob Jefferson]

[archimedesign]

[Aldoned]

Or Andy Blackie who had the newsagents on the corner at Scotmid.