What average time is taken to register a title in the conveyancing of domestic property.

Registers of Scotland does not maintain a record of the average time taken to complete an application for registration of domestic properties. This method of reporting was used for a limited range of application types previously. In 2007-08, RoS reviewed the appropriateness of capturing this information and concluded that the measure was not encouraging improved performance or necessarily demonstrating where efficiencies were being made.
The length of time that an application spends awaiting attention and undergoing processing depends largely on its complexity. As a generalisation, the more complex an application is, the more time it will take to complete registration.
Rule 9 of the Land Registration (Scotland) Rules 1980 provides for three different types of application to be made to the Land Register. Those are an application for first registration (FR), an application for registration of dealing of a whole registered interest in land (DW) and an application for registration of a transfer of part of a registered interest in land (TP).
FR and TP applications can be complex and time-consuming as they require the preparation of new Land Register title sheets and title plans and the examination of legal documents by experienced registration staff. By contrast, DW applications involve relatively minor amendments to the Land Register and are generally more routine and quicker to complete. Land registration provides a state indemnity (guarantee) to registered titles against errors and omissions in the Land Register and particularly complex cases require time and very careful handling by senior Land Register caseworkers. This may entail in-depth analysis of the preceding title history of property, investigation of title problems, requisitioning of additional evidence from solicitors and complicated mapping procedures.
The Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979 imposes no set time-limits for the processing of applications for registration. However, the Keeper does set annual targets for the completion of applications to the Land Register and the Sasine Register. The following table sets out the key application completion targets for 2011-2012 along with performance against the same. Some 87% of applications submitted to the property registers fall within these performance targets.
Turnaround Time information for 2011-12
Key Performance Target
Performance for Year 2011-2012
Complete 80% of standard FR applications within 60 days and the remainder within 120 days.
99.20% completed within 60 days. Remaining 0.80% completed within 120 days.
Complete 80% of standard DW transactions within 60 days and the remainder within 120 days.
98.81% completed within 60 days. Remaining 1.19% completed within 120 days.
Complete all applications submitted through the on-line Automated Registration of Title to Land system within 24 hours.
99.99% completed within 24 hours.
Complete recording of 80% of writs presented to the Sasine Register within 20 days and the remainder within 40 days.
100% completed within 20 days.

Identical completion targets have been set by the Keeper for 2012-13. Currently all targets are being met.
For those FR applications not covered by time bound completion targets (termed complex transactions) the Keeper has set a target that by the end of March 2013 no FR application will be older than six months, except for those where the Keeper cannot complete because of factors outwith her control, such as court action, or by agreement with the submitting solicitor. The target that the Keeper has set for TP applications is to have no such applications older than nine months by October 2013.