Registers of Scotland

What Registers of Scotland does

Registers of Scotland (RoS) is a non-ministerial office of the Scottish Administration, established in its modern form in 1948 and accountable to the Scottish Parliament through the Keeper (Jennifer Henderson since April 2018). It is the statutory custodian of 23 public registers covering land, property and related interests in Scotland, including the Land Register of Scotland (the modern map-based register) and the General Register of Sasines (established 1617, the world's oldest national public land register, being progressively migrated to the Land Register). RoS also administers the Scottish Landlord Register, the Scottish Letting Agent Register, the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (launched 2022), and the Registers of Moveable Transactions (Register of Assignations and Register of Statutory Pledges, launched April 2025 under the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Act 2023).

The organisation's core technology stack centres on ScotLIS, a public-facing portal for searching the Land Register, viewing cadastral boundaries, and ordering deeds and title documents, and on RLP (Register Land and Property), a digital case-management platform that connects advance notices, applications and submissions for professional conveyancers. Supporting infrastructure includes a digital submission service for electronic registration (including Sasine applications since 2020), API services for business account holders, and a Cadastral mapping system. Outputs are produced under the Code of Practice for Statistics and the UK House Price Index carries National Statistics designation. RoS is based at Meadowbank House in Edinburgh with a regional office at St Vincent Plaza in Glasgow.

RoS's business model is fee-based and demand-driven: it charges per-transaction fees for title registrations, mortgage discharges (£80 each), title sheets (£3 each), plans reports (£110-160), property help searches (£30) and will searches (£25), supplemented by monthly subscription data products (All Sales Data at £1,465/month for Scotland-wide, Market Value Residential Sales Data at £1,073/month) and bespoke GIS and data-matching reports. It is funded by registration fees and the Scottish Government budget. Customers span public consumers (citizens searching property), high-volume business customers (solicitors, conveyancers, lenders, local authorities, and developers such as Cala Homes, Persimmon Homes, Taylor Wimpey and Bancon Homes), and 32 Scottish local authorities. Distribution is primarily through digital self-service (ScotLIS, business online services, APIs), supplemented by phone/email customer service and appointment-only in-person support.

Name

Registers of Scotland

Legal name

Registers of Scotland

Website

https://ros.gov.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1948

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Registers of Scotland is a non-ministerial Scottish government department that maintains 23 statutory public registers, including the Land Register and the 1617-established General Register of Sasines, serving citizens, conveyancers, lenders, developers, and 32 local authorities via the ScotLIS portal and digital RLP platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Land and Property Registry Services

NAICS

Title Abstract and Settlement Offices (541191)

SIC

Real Estate Agents & Managers (For Others) (6531)

akta.pro primary industry

Title Search & Examination (BPAJAOAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Document Preparation & Recording Services (Deeds, Liens) (BPAJAOAG)

Keywords

• Land and property registry
• Public registers maintenance
• Title registration services
• Conveyancing digital services
• Property data and statistics

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Registration Fees: Fees charged for registering land and property transactions, including discharges of standard securities, transfers, and other dealings with property.
2. Document Sales: Revenue from selling copy deeds, title sheets, and other property documents to customers through ScotLIS.
3. Property Search Services: Fees for property help service (searching Sasine Register manually) and land title investigation services.
4. Plans Reports: Basic and standard plans reports for property transaction due diligence, sold to business account holders.
5. Data and Statistics Products: Sales data reports, GIS data, and bespoke data reports sold under licence to businesses and researchers. Includes all sales data and market value residential sales data packages.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Registers of Scotland compiles, maintains, and provides public access to 23 statutory registers covering land, property, and related legal interests in Scotland. Its core services include the registration of deeds, titles, mortgages, and discharges through digital platforms (ScotLIS and RLP), the sale of official title documents and plans reports, and the publication of licensed property sales data, GIS datasets, and the UK House Price Index. The organisation supports Scotland's land and property market by delivering legally authoritative, state-guaranteed records to both citizens and professional conveyancers.

Product overview

Registers of Scotland operates as a platform of 23 public registers covering land, property and legal documents in Scotland, with the Land Register of Scotland as the primary modern map-based register and the General Register of Sasines (established 1617) as the historic register being progressively migrated. The core digital products include ScotLIS (public-facing land information portal) and RLP (Register Land and Property for professional conveyancers). Data offerings comprise UK House Price Index, House Price Statistics, Sales Data Reports, GIS Data, and the Property Market Report. Supporting services include Plans Reports, Property Help Service, Development Plan Approval, Knowledge Base, and Learning Hub. Recent additions include the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (RCI, 2022) and Registers of Moveable Transactions (Register of Assignations and Register of Statutory Pledges, 2025) created under the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Act 2023.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ScotLIS: Scotland's Land Information Service - enables citizens and businesses to access land and property information, search the Land Register, find property prices, and view boundaries on a map.
• Register Land and Property (RLP)
• RLP

Products and services

• ScotLIS (Scotland's Land Information Service) Online portal enabling citizens and businesses to access land and property information in Scotland, search the Land Register, view property boundaries on cadastral maps, check prices, and purchase deeds and title documents. Provides free basic searches and paid document ordering.
• Register Land and Property (RLP) Digital tool for conveyancers to create cases connecting related advance notices, applications and submissions, simplifying the process of registering deeds by reducing data entry and eliminating the need to switch between services. Now supports First Registrations and Voluntary Registrations.
• Land Register of Scotland Modern, map-based digital register recording ownership of land and property in Scotland; the primary register maintained by RoS for most new property registrations.
• General Register of Sasines The oldest national public land register in the world, dating back to 1617; description-based register being progressively migrated to the Land Register of Scotland.
• Register of Deeds Register of preservation and execution for paper deeds and deeds signed with Qualified Electronic Signature (QES); includes will searches (£25 + VAT per name).
• Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (RCI) Statutory register showing who controls decisions of owners or tenants of land and property in Scotland where this information may not be publicly transparent; free to submit and search.
• Register of Assignations (RoA) New register created under the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Act 2023 allowing claims to payment to legally transfer in Scotland through registration of an assignation.
• Register of Statutory Pledges (RSP) New register created under the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Act 2023 enabling the legal creation of statutory pledges over moveable property in Scotland.
• Scottish Landlord Register Official public register of landlords in Scotland, allowing landlords to comply with registration requirements and helping improve standards in the private rented sector serving 700,000 private renters.
• Scottish Letting Agent Register Official register of Scottish letting agents, maintained by RoS for the Scottish Government; required for operating as a letting agent in Scotland.
• Register of Inhibitions Register of legal documents affecting people's ability to grant deeds relating to land in Scotland.
• Register of Judgments Register containing certificates of judgment from certain countries affecting land transactions in Scotland.
• Plans Reports Pre-registration assessment reports identifying issues prior to registration to reduce application rejection; available in Basic (£110+VAT) and Standard (£160+VAT) formats with Fast Track same-day option.
• Digital Discharge Service Service for creating and submitting digital discharges of standard securities (mortgages) directly to lenders using RLP, removing charges from property titles when loans are repaid.
• Advance Notices Service providing interim protection for deeds between two named parties intended to be registered in the land register.
• Property Help Service Specialist team assistance for locating properties that cannot be found through standard searches, particularly for properties in the Sasine Register; manual search at £30 + VAT per property.
• Land Title Investigation Service Service for searching land or property with no postal address, helping identify title information for unaddressed land parcels.
• Development Plan Approval Service Service publishing approved development plans confirming developments on land the developer owns, addressing extent issues to speed individual registration applications for new property developments.
• Order Deeds Service Service allowing ordering of copy deeds from the Land Register, Sasine Register and Register of Deeds, including wills.
• UK House Price Index Free monthly report covering all market value residential property sales in the UK, produced jointly with ONS, HM Land Registry, and Land and Property Services; designated as National Statistics by the Office for Statistics Regulation on 18 October 2018.
• House Price Statistics Statistical reports on all market value residential sales in Scotland based on registration date, covering median, mean, volume and value by local authority, house type, and funding status; produced in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.
• Sales Data Reports Comprehensive land and property sales data extracted from the Land Register under licence, including price, date, land classification; available from 2003 onwards. All Sales Data Package priced at £1,465 + VAT per month for whole of Scotland.
• GIS Data Spatial data services for all registered Land Register and Crofting titles, enabling geographic analysis of property information across Scotland.
• Property Market Report Annual comprehensive analysis of Scotland's residential and non-residential property market including median prices, sales volumes, and market values; for 2025-26 reported 104,408 residential sales totalling £24.3 billion.
• Digital Submission Service Electronic submission service enabling digital processing of registration applications for the Land Register and Sasine Register, replacing paper-based workflows.

Quantifiable outcome

• Median residential property price tracking: £198,000 in 2025-26, up 4% from £190,000 in 2024-25
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability7 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Geovation Scotland Accelerator ProgrammecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026RoS sponsors and manages the Geovation Scotland Accelerator Programme, an annual accelerator supporting early-stage tech startups innovating across land, property, and location sectors. The programme provides mentorship, resources, and support for innovation in the property technology space. Applications are open for Cohort 8.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• HM Land Registry: HM Land Registry is the UK government body responsible for registering land ownership in England and Wales — the closest functional peer to Registers of Scotland. Both operate statutory land registers, maintain map-based and historical deed-based systems, and provide digital registration, search, and data services to legal professionals and the public.
• Land and Property Services (Northern Ireland): Northern Ireland's land and property agency, jointly responsible for land registration, valuation, and rating. Directly comparable to RoS as a UK-jurisdiction government registry offering land registration, property data, and statutory services to legal and conveyancing professionals.
• Tailte Éireann (Property Registration Authority): Ireland's national land and property registration authority (formerly the Property Registration Authority). Operates the statutory land register for the Republic of Ireland with both map-based and deed-based systems — a near-analogue peer for land registry operations, digital transformation, and B2B conveyancing data services.
• Registers of Scotland: Note: This is the subject company itself — included only as a structural reference point. (Omitted in final ranking.)

Broad incumbents

• Ordnance Survey: Great Britain's national mapping agency, providing geospatial data and cadastral-adjacent datasets across the UK. Comparable as a public-sector geographic/spatial data steward serving government, legal, and commercial customers with map-based property and boundary information.
• Companies House: UK's registrar of companies, operating as a non-ministerial government department. Comparable as a UK statutory registry providing digital registration services, public-facing search, data products, and APIs — and is explicitly integrated with RoS's RLP for company-number lookups.

Emerging players

• Landmark Information Group: UK provider of property and land data, environmental searches, and conveyancing data services. Comparable as a commercial supplier of licensed property data and due-diligence reports that draws on, and competes with, public-registry datasets including RoS's sales data products.
• TM Group: UK conveyancing data and search provider offering property reports and digital ordering services. Comparable as a commercial intermediary on top of UK land registry data, addressing the same legal-professional customer segment as RoS's business accounts and ScotLIS.
• InfoTrack UK: UK conveyancing technology platform providing automated property searches, ordering, and workflow tools to legal professionals. Comparable as a digital intermediary consuming land registry data (including RoS) and competing for the same conveyancing-customer wallet share.

Regional players

• ONS (Office for National Statistics): UK's national statistics agency, joint publisher of the UK House Price Index with RoS, HM Land Registry, and Land and Property Services. Comparable as a public-sector producer of official property-market statistics under the Code of Practice for Statistics, with overlapping datasets and shared publication infrastructure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/registersofscotland
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/registers-of-scotland
• Xx.com/registersofscot

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Registers of Scotland