Meeting of the Parliament 09 January 2014
I acknowledge the minister’s point about the absent member, who was a tower of strength in my time on the Justice Committee. On occasions, he was a good shield when our convener got out of hand.
Our convener mentioned that this is a dry topic. My experience in two years as a member of the Justice Committee was that we visited many a dry topic. There is no doubt that, when I received the paperwork for the inquiry, I did not look forward to an exciting time. However, it was on occasions an exciting time, as witnesses expressed diametrically opposed views on whether the subject was being properly or badly covered.
The inquiry did not represent the first time that the convener had led me astray on such matters and got me involved in complex issues that are difficult to deal with. Nevertheless, I feel a better person for having gone through the experience. I have no doubt that I will cope with such challenges much better in the future.
I thank the committee clerks, the people who gave evidence to enlighten the committee about the challenges that are faced and the officials who supported the committee’s work.
The Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003 was a key part of the Parliament’s reform agenda for land ownership in Scotland, alongside elements that included the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc (Scotland) Act 2000 and the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004. The 2003 act updated the law on obligations—title conditions—as they appear in title deeds that pass ownership of land and buildings.
As well as binding original buyers, title conditions bind future buyers, so they create perpetual obligations that run with the land. That is the nub of many of the issues that caused conflict as we listened to witnesses, who seemed to be ignorant of the fact that such obligations passed to them or to much prefer the notion that the obligations never existed in the first place.
The inquiry into the 2003 act had four main elements. We sought views on whether the act creates a barrier to switching property factors and on whether it offers sufficient recourse for people who are dissatisfied with the services of land-owning maintenance companies. We sought experiences of the options that are available under the act to vary or remove existing real burdens. We also considered the practical operation of section 53, as we have heard.
We made many recommendations, which covered a host of elements of our debate. I will not repeat much of what has been said about that. It became apparent that, as much as the factors issue that our convener outlined caused concern, particularly in tenemental property, a great deal of emotion and heat was created when we discussed those who are involved in land management companies and the impact of those companies’ work on estates and new housing partnerships.
That conflict involves a number of elements, one of which is the contract that is deemed to exist between occupants of homes and the companies that provide services in the area, including green space services. Another issue is the ability of tenants or home owners to vary their relationship with service providers. It is fair to say that there was a quandary about whether the services are provided at an economically viable rate and about the quality of service delivery. There was no way of resolving that satisfactorily in debate in the committee.
The recommendations, which our convener outlined and to which the minister has responded, offer a way forward in a difficult set of circumstances. I look forward to colleagues contributing to the elements of the debate.
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