The Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (RCI) – What you need to remember

The Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (or the “RCI” for short) was a hot topic last year, with the 1^st of April deadline for submitting entries. You or your clients may have existing entries in the RCI, and the following is a reminder of the ongoing obligations to keep the RCI up to date.

The RCI – the basics

The RCI was introduced in 2022 to make the property registers more transparent by publishing details of the people or entities that are behind registered landowners or tenants and are controlling or influencing decisions that are made regarding land.

The Regulations apply to owners of land and tenants of leases with a term of over 20 years. The owner or tenant who is named in the Land Register or Sasines Register is referred to as the “Recorded Person”. A person who controls or influences the decisions that the Recorded Person makes is known as an “Associate”.

The RCI is a register of persons. If an entry is required, one will be needed for each Recorded Person in respect of each area of land that they own or lease and detail all the Associates relative to that Recorded Person.

A summary of the types of owners or tenants that require make an entry in the RCI and those that are exempt from having to register can be found here.

The Regulations imposed a deadline for all those that fell within the scope of the RCI to register entries by 1^st  April 2024. There was a big push to meet this because, after this date, failure to register became a criminal offence which could attract a fine of up to £5,000.

Existing entries in the RCI and when they’ll need updating

There are three types of events that will result in the RCI needing to be updated:

1. An Associate is no longer an Associate of the Recorded Person – for example, where an Associate who is a Trustee or a Partner has resigned or where an Associate has died.
2. The Recorded Person no longer owns or tenants the land – as a result, they cease to be the Recorded Person for the RCI. The property registers and the RCI won’t talk to each other, so the RCI has to be updated separately to remove reference to the land.
3. If any information provided by the Recorded Person in respect of the original RCI entry has changed – for example, where the Recorded Person or an Associate has changed their name or address, or if there is a new Associate. The new details must be added to each relevant entry in the RCI.

When any of these types of events occur, it is the Recorded Person’s duty to notify the Keeper of the changes by updating the entries in the RCI.

Associates also have a duty to notify the Recorded Person of any changes to their details.

The Recorded Person must update the RCI within 60 days of the event resulting in a change happening. Where a Recorded Person has been notified of an event or change, they have to update the RCI as soon as reasonably practicable following receipt of the notification.

The Recorded Person must also take reasonable steps to verify the accuracy of the information they are supplying when updating the RCI. When verification is sought, Associates have a duty to respond by confirming that the information is correct or, if it’s not, they must provide the correct information.

What are the consequences of failing to update the RCI?

Failing to update the RCI will have no impact on the ability to settle property transactions. But there are other consequences.

If a Recorded Person fails to update the RCI within the relevant timescale, unless they have a reasonable excuse for not doing so, they will be committing a criminal offence punishable by a fine of up to £5,000.

If an Associate fails to notify the Recorded Person of any changes or fails to provide information to the Recorded Person when requested, they will be committing a criminal offence, which is also punishable by a fine of up to £5,000.

Key takeaway

Ultimately, it is a Recorded Person’s responsibility to update the RCI, and they will be able to do so easily, provided they have a public user account. This can be set up and accessed via the Registers of Scotland’s website. It’s important that Recorded Persons make sure that they can access their public user account so that they are in a position to update the RCI going forward as and when any changes occur.

So, whether you are or you act for a Recorded Person or an Associate, if any of the three types of events mentioned above take place, it’s important to consider the RCI implications as early as possible to avoid committing a criminal offence and risk being fined.

How we can help

If you have any queries regarding keeping the RCI up to date, please contact Jennifer Thom (Jennifer.Thom@andersonstrathern.co.uk) or a member of our expert team for advice.