Refer ownerless land or buildings to the KLTR

These guidelines explain how to refer ownerless land or buildings to the KLTR and provide information on how we handle such referrals. Please read them carefully before completing the referral form. 

In Scots law, the Crown can claim ownerless property. The King’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer (KLTR) acts as the Crown’s representative in Scotland who deals with ownerless property, which is legally termed ‘bona vacantia’. 

Most cases of bona vacantia involve property last owned by dissolved companies, which are governed by a statutory framework set out in the Companies Acts.   

Under common law principles, the Crown may also claim bona vacantia last owned by:   

• Deceased individuals who have died without having left a will and without heirs or representatives.  

• Missing persons or successors who cannot be traced.   

Please be aware that it is not the KLTR’s role to conduct title investigations or offer legal advice. You should take your own independent legal advice if you are not sure what to do. 

If you are unable to provide us with evidence confirming the last owner of the property in question, it is unlikely the KLTR will be able to deal with it.  Land or buildings do not become bona vacantia simply because the owner is unknown or because the owner does not want to deal with the property.  

If you are notifying us about property which you believe has no traceable title, then we would expect you to have carried out title investigations before approaching us – for example, instructing professional searchers, tracing agents, etc.   

To be able to consider if property is ownerless and to assess what actions the KLTR might take regarding any Crown interest in that property, we require specific documentation and information. The details of what is required are outlined in the referral form.  

The KLTR is not compelled to claim and deal with property even where a genuine bona vacantia interest is established. When bona vacantia land is brought to the attention of the KLTR, he can choose to claim it but is not required to take ownership. The KLTR reserves the option to change approach to bona vacantia property that has been brought to his attention, where it appears to us to be in the Crown’s interest to do so.

If you are a former director, shareholder, liquidator, or other connected person seeking to recover an asset lost in error after a company has dissolved, then you should consider the possibility of restoring the company under the Companies Act 2006.  

Restoring a company to the Company Register effectively ‘brings it back to life,’ reinstating it to its position immediately before dissolution. This means any heritable property or other assets that vested in the Crown as bona vacantia are automatically revested in the company as of the date of restoration.  

The KLTR has a policy of not intervening to apply Crown rights to transfer assets back to former company officers for free. Before making a referral, please consider this policy, which is available on our website through the following link:  

Our policies | BV13 Errors 

The KLTR adopts a cautious approach when assessing referrals that suggest Crown rights should be asserted over property previously owned by natural persons. The KLTR can only act on property that genuinely qualifies as bona vacantia, and a high standard of evidence is required to demonstrate that such property has fallen to the Crown as bona vacantia.   

If the last titles for a property were granted to natural persons, we assume the property remains with the owner or their successors if the owner is deceased. However, if evidence shows the last owner is missing or deceased with no traceable successors, or if successors cannot complete a title, the KLTR may accept that the property has fallen to the Crown as bona vacantia. In such cases, those approaching us must either conduct thorough searches for the owner or successors or provide evidence explaining to the KLTR’s satisfaction why the successors cannot complete title. 

Please note that the KLTR office does not offer services for tracing persons or conducting genealogical research. We require evidence from appropriate searches to trace the missing person or their successors, which must be provided by those approaching us. Typically, this involves placing advertisements in local and national press and obtaining reports from qualified tracing agents or genealogists. A common initial step is to obtain the deceased person’s death certificate, as it usually lists the next of kin. 

To assess risk and determine the KLTR’s capacity to act in cases involving property last owned by natural persons, we may seek specialist legal advice. Our standard practice requires interested parties to cover these legal costs, and they must agree to this before any substantive legal work begins.

The KLTR has a wide range of actions he can take when he is satisfied that property which has been notified to him is bona vacantia. These include, but are not limited to:   

1. Claiming and selling the property for assessed market value, either to an interested party or through public auction; and  
2. Choosing not to claim the property and disclaiming the Crown’s interest in it.  

During our assessment of a new referral, we will also consider whether alternative measures appear to be appropriate to deal with the Crown’s interest. For example, we will assess the property’s suitability for referral to public bodies, local authorities, and eligible community bodies under the KLTR’s Ownerless Property Transfer Scheme (OPTS) (see section 7 below for more details). 

Depending on the complexity of the property titles, we may need external solicitors to review them and prepare a report to verify whether the property is ownerless. We would expect anyone approaching us with a view to acquiring bona vacantia property to meet these legal costs, and they must agree to this before any substantive legal work begins. 

Once we have established that the property in question is bona vacantia and are satisfied on title, we typically engage external property surveyors to inspect and value the property. If a sale to an interested party is being considered, they must cover these costs. Payment of our advisor’s fee is required before we release the valuation, and the fee is non-refundable even if the sale does not proceed.   

If the KLTR agrees to convey a bona vacantia property, it is the purchaser’s responsibility to satisfy themselves on the terms of the title granted, which will be reflected in the sale terms. We will instruct external solicitors to handle the conveyancing and provide legal advice to KLTR regarding the sale. Our standard practice requires the purchaser to cover the KLTR’s legal fees for the conveyancing work.  

Even where a property has been identified has being bona vacantia, there is no guarantee that the KLTR will sell that property to an interested party, or to anyone. The KLTR reserves the right not to sell a bona vacantia property where it does not appear to him to be appropriate to do so – for example, where new information is made available and the KLTR considers a sale would no longer be in the public interest. We recommend that interested parties carefully consider whether they are willing to incur costs when the KLTR cannot guarantee that an approach will lead to a sale.  

If we choose not to deal with a property, the KLTR may waive the Crown’s interest in that property by way of a disclaimer.  

A disclaimer removes the Crown's interest entirely. Following the issue of a disclaimer, anyone interested in the disclaimed property is free to explore alternative routes to ownership, such as making a prescriptive claim or applying to the courts for a vesting order.  

Please note that where the KLTR is not satisfied that a property notified to him is bona vacantia, he will have no standing to deal with it. The KLTR only has the ability to deal with bona vacantia.

Before making a referral to the KLTR, we recommend that those approaching us familiarise themselves with our policy relating to heritable property (BV5 Heritable property): 

Our Policies | BV5 Heritable property 

The KLTR usually will not intervene to claim and sell areas of land that have historically been, either formally or informally, designated for the amenity benefit of neighbouring properties. The usual course of action is for KLTR to disclaim the Crown’s interest in bona vacantia that appears to comprise amenity land.  

Before making a referral, please consider our policy on amenity land, which is published on our website and accessible through the following link: 

Our policies | BV6 Amenity land

The Crown has a right to deal with the property and assets of a dissolved company, but it does not inherit the debts and liabilities of that dissolved company. That means, the Crown would not be responsible, as a ‘normal’ owner would, for any liabilities attaching to ownerless property, such as carrying out repairs or contributing to the cost of common repairs, nor for maintaining any ownerless property.     

If you are considering management or maintenance work on ownerless property and seek authorisation, please note that the KLTR cannot approve any proposed works. However, we have no grounds to object to such works either. 

The KLTR’s Ownerless Property Transfer Scheme (OPTS) is a public interest initiative aimed at creating new opportunities for communities to acquire ownerless property notified to the KLTR. Many areas across Scotland continue to be blighted by ownerless property and OPTS seeks to create opportunities to bring ownerless property back into productive use, thereby supporting local aspirations. This scheme offers local authorities, public bodies, and appropriately constituted community bodies the opportunity to take ownership of ownerless properties at cost recovery value, which is often significantly below market value.

If you believe you have identified a suitable ownerless property for OPTS and represent a public body, local authority, or community body, please review our guidance for prospective OPTS applicants on this website and consider whether it would be appropriate for your organisation to make an application through this scheme. You can access the OPTS guidance through the following link:

Information For Prospective Applicants | KLTR

If you have any questions about OPTS, please email the OPTS casework team at OPTS@kltr.gov.uk.

You can access our ownerless land and buildings referral form through the link below. To make a referral, please email the completed form along with the required documents (listed in section 3 of the form) to enquiries@kltr.gov.uk. All documentation must be sent to us in PDF format.