Abolition of feudal system The legal basis of land ownership in Scotland has been under review for a number of years. The Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc (Scotland) Act 2000 came into force on 28 November 2004, and brought about the most significant reform of land law in Scotland for centuries. It effectively abolished the feudal system. The feudal relationship between a superior and a feuar no longer exists, and subject to exceptions the rights of a superior have been extinguished. Examples of such rights might be the right to restrict the use of feuars' properties, the right to approve proposed new buildings or the alteration of existing buildings, or the right of pre-emption of a property when the feuar comes to sell. The Act does not affect title burdens contained in ordinary Dispositions (as opposed to feu writs), and these continue to be enforceable in terms of the existing law as amended by the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003. Nor does the Act affect servitude rights created in feu writs provided they are valid servitudes such as rights of access, water supply and drainage. A superior may have taken steps to preserve some of his rights by registering a formal Notice in the Land Register before 28th November 2004. However, the superior must have shown that the property or land over which he wished to preserve a right was subject to a burden that was enforceable by him, which means that at least one of the following conditions had to apply:- ' that the superior owns adjoining land which has on it a permanent building used as a place of human habitation or resort and which is at some point within one hundred metres of the burdened land;' or ' that the burden is a right to enter, or otherwise make use of, the feuar's land, or is a right of pre-emption or redemption;' or ' that the superior owns minerals or salmon fishings or some other incorporeal property, and that it is apparent from the terms of the burden that it was created for the benefit of that property.' In other words, a right of pre-emption could always be preserved, but most other rights only if the superior owned an adjacent building. There are separate provisions for preserving a superior's fishing or shooting rights. If the feudal burden did not qualify under one of the above conditions, it was still possible for the superior to preserve his right by entering into an Agreement with the feuar, and if the feuar refused, the superior could apply to the Lands Tribunal. The Tribunal could order that the burden be preserved only if it was satisfied that there would otherwise be substantial loss or disadvantage to the superior. If the superior took no action before 28 November to preserve his rights, he has now lost them. The Act also extinguished feuduties after 28th November 2004. The superior is still entitled to collect any arrears of feuduty, and to call upon the feuar by notice to pay a capital sum to buy out the feuduty, but that is enforceable only against the person who owned the property on 27 November 2004 - it is not enforceable against a new owner who bought after that date. The right to collect feu duty redemption money expires on 28 November 2006. This article is written only to bring to your attention the changes that have taken place. Any Superior wishing to take steps to ensure that he collects all sums due in feuduty should take legal advice as soon as possible. Failure to take action will result in the loss of all feu duty monies on 28th November 2006. 17-Jun-04 @ 12:40