Meeting of the Parliament 19 March 2026 [Draft]
I have five amendments—51 to 55—in the group. These amendments are about promoting communication between the crofter and the landlord at the point of registration. We all agree that registration of crofts is absolutely critical and it has been Government policy for a while. The amendments would minimise and simplify the first registration of crofts and to identify any discrepancies at an early stage. The Crofting Commission would prescribe a form of notice to be given by a crofter to the landlord, which would include a copy of the application. That would allow the landlord to comment on the application. I stress that the commission would be required not to act as arbiter but simply to highlight the discrepancies to the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland when the croft was going through the registration process.
The amendments would not add an administrative burden to the commission or put it in the middle of a fight between a landlord and a crofter, if such a thing were ever to happen, but they would flush out potential areas of dispute as the registration process was going ahead. This has come about from my experience of trying to register a croft, which has sometimes been quite difficult because the ownership is quite difficult to identify in title deeds.
The other amendments in the group—22 to 24, 32 and 33—are minor technical amendments in the name of the minister. I confirm that we will support those amendments on this side of the chamber. The minister can talk to them for some length of time if he wishes to, or he could just accept our report and allow us to concentrate on amendments 51 to 55.
I move amendment 51.