Landowners controlling estates in Scotland larger than 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) will also face losing farming, forestry and conservation grants if they fail to comply with the Scottish Government’s policies to restore nature or enhance community. The radical proposals were outlined in a land reform consultation unveiled on Monday by Màiri McAllan, minister for the environment and rural reform, alongside new controls on land sales for the largest estates. It proposes fitness tests where buyers of estates larger than 3,000 hectares, including charities and government agencies, must prove they would act in the public interest. Secret land dealings would be illegal, with local communities being told when a harbor master planned to sell an estate to allow them to consider bidding. Government analysis shows that this will affect almost 400 estates in mainland Scotland, covering around 20% of Scotland’s land. Much smaller estates on Scottish islands will also be included, where appropriate, depending on local factors. Ministers will also require estates to identify their ultimate owners, crack down on the use of offshore trusts and tax havens. They will need to prove they are registered for EU or UK tax purposes before they are allowed to buy large estates. McAllan said the case for legally mandated ownership transparency rules was underscored by the crackdown on sanctions against the Russians after the invasion of Ukraine. Landowners who fail to meet the tests could be forced to have land management plans imposed by a government regulator overseeing all the public policy tests proposed by McAllan, a Scottish Nationals minister and former property lawyer. “We have a strong track record of progressive and innovative land reform – but that journey is far from over,” he said. “We must continue to develop and implement land reform that tackles historic inequalities and challenges changing social, environmental and economic issues in modern Scotland.” The proposals are based on recommendations from the Scottish Land Commission, a government body, that all estates of at least 10,000 hectares be subject to these controls. McAllan has embraced a lower limit of 3,000 hectares, greatly increasing the number of estates involved. Earlier this year, research for the Commission found that in 2021 almost two-thirds of land transactions, including farms and forests, took place privately without the land circulating on the open market. Its analysis shows that Scotland has one of the least regulated and most concentrated land tenure systems in Europe. McAllan said she hoped to introduce legislation at the end of 2023 and have the powers in place in 2024. Ministers hope that by then all properties owned offshore will be registered in the Registers of Scotland, which still has large gaps in the public her registry. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST However, there were “massive legal issues” surrounding many proposals that could prevent them from being fully enacted, he said. They could violate the right under Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights to the peaceful enjoyment of private property. Properties held by private companies and trusts could also avoid the sanction because company law is reserved exclusively for Westminster. McAllan said Holyrood was seeking the UK Government’s help to be able to include the company’s owners in the proposals. Scottish Land & Estates (SLE), which represents the country’s largest landowners, suggested it was legislative overload: this was the third land reform act since the Scottish Parliament was established and transparency rules were introduced. Stephen Young, head of policy at SLE, said: “In terms of the public interest test in large-scale property transfers, this is an issue which the government itself has said is extremely complex and will need to be looked at in great detail.”
