However, if there was, it could mean that Sheikh Mohammed al Rashid, the billionaire ruler of Dubai, would not be able to acquire his 63,000 acre Scottish estate. Other prominent foreigners with large land holdings in Scotland include Yuri Scheffler, a Russian billionaire who made his fortune in spirits, including Stolichnaya vodka. Scotland’s largest landowner, Anders Povlsen, is an environmentalist and Danish billionaire who built a fashion retail empire. Under the new plan, it is also proposed that farms will have to submit to an existing public land register before owners can qualify for taxpayer-funded subsidies such as those for tree planting. Fewer than 400 land titles in Scotland are believed to cover areas of at least 3,000 hectares, or 7,413 acres, the proposed threshold for the rules to apply. These holdings cover just over a fifth of Scotland’s land. The public interest test for land sales will consider “whether, at the point of transfer of large-scale land ownership, there would be a risk of the creation or continuation of a situation in which excessive power acts against the public interest”, the consultation said. . Conditions imposed could include requiring the land to be sold in smaller lots and offering first refusal to community agencies, who would also usually be notified of the owner’s intention to sell.
Possible damage to the economy
Rachel Hamilton, the Scottish Tories’ spokeswoman for rural affairs, said she feared the move would make it harder to buy and sell land and therefore hurt the economy. Landowners could also be fined if they fail to comply with a ‘Statement of Land Rights and Responsibilities’, currently a voluntary document, under the proposals. Mairi McAllan, the SNP’s land reform minister, said the new bill, to be introduced by the end of the year, would represent “an important step forward” in ensuring fairer land ownership and use “for the benefit of people of Scotland”. He added: “We are continuing the work to devolve more power to people and local communities, encourage and support responsible and diverse land ownership and ensure communities have a say in how land is used.”
