Community Engagement Obligations and draft large land holdings guidance under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2025– Consultation paper

Step-by-Step guide

To confirm if you own or control a large land holding, you need to:

1. List the land which you own
2. check which areas of land are close together
3. group land into single holdings
4. check if single holdings can be combined
5. check connections to other people or organisations
6. add connected land
7. repeat the checks
8. add up the total area

Step 1: List the land you own

Start by listing all land you:

• own yourself
• own jointly or in common

At this stage, include land even if:

• it is far away from your other land
• someone else rents or uses it

Do not include land that you only rent from someone else.

Step 2: Check which areas of land are close together

Areas of land can be counted together if they are ‘contiguous’. Under the Act, this means that areas of land are within 250 metres of each other, measured at the nearest point between boundaries.

Unlike some definitions of ‘contiguous’ in other contexts, boundaries don’t need to be directly adjoining.

Multiple contiguous areas of land can be combined to form one larger area. The Act calls this a “contiguous area”.

Example A: Grouping contiguous land

To be added to a contiguous area, each area needs to be within 250 metres of one other area. Areas can ‘chain’ as below:

• Area A is less than 250 metres from Area B. They are contiguous with each other.
• Area B is less than 250 metres from Area C. They are contiguous with each other.
• Area A is more than 250 metres from Area C. They are not contiguous with each other.
• Area A, B and C can be treated as forming one contiguous area.

Getting information on boundaries

You may need to consult title deeds to check boundaries of land you own.

The Registers of Scotland Knowledge Base includes guidance on land and property information, including:

• A guide to interpreting title plans and,
• Property boundaries - Registers of Scotland

Step 3: Group land into single holdings

At this stage, group together land that:

• has the same owner or owners
• forms one contiguous area.

The Act calls this a "single holding".

Example B: Grouping land into single holdings

More than one area of land can be included in a single holding.

For example,

• Area A and B are owned by Company Blue
• They are contiguous (within 250 metres of each other)

These two areas of land can be combined into one single holding.

Example C: Ownership of each area must match

The ownership of each area in a single holding must be identical.

For example:

• Area A is owned by Iona
• Area B and C are owned in common by Iona and Hardeep

If they are contiguous (within 250 metres of each other), Areas B and C can be combined into a single holding. This is because the ownership of these areas is identical.

Area A can’t be added to the same single holding as B and C at this stage. Iona is an owner of all three single areas but overall ownership is not identical.

After this step you would end up with the following single holdings:

• Single Holding A: owned by Iona
• Single Holding BC: owned by Iona and Hardeep

You would then consider if these can be combined further at the next step.

Step 4: check if single holdings can be combined

Sometimes separate single holdings must be treated as one larger holding. The Act calls this a "composite holding".

You may need to combine multiple single holdings into a composite holding if the single holdings:

• are contiguous (within 250 metres of each other), and
• share an owner or have connected owners

First, check if any of the single holdings share an owner and should be grouped.

Example D: combining land with the same owner

If we return to the Single Holdings from Example C above, we had:

• Single Holding A: owned by Iona
• Single Holding BC: owned by Iona and Hardeep

Single Holding A shares an owner with Single Holding BC.

Assuming these single holdings are contiguous (see Example A: Grouping contiguous land they can be combined into one composite holding.

Example E: overlapping composite holdings

There may be situations where composite holdings identified by different owners ‘overlap’ (include some of the same land).

If Hardeep from Example C and D above also owned land within 250 metres of Single Holding BC, then another composite holding would be formed with his land and Single Holding BC.

This composite holding and the composite holding formed in Example D would partially overlap as they would both include Single Holding BC.

As noted above in What is a large land holding section, land recorded under multiple titles may be considered together under the Act. Land being included in more than one composite holding under the Act does not have any impact on the ownership of underlying titles.

Step 5: Check connections to other people or organisations

Connected people or organisations may need to count their contiguous land together.

This means land that you do not own directly could still form part of the same large land holding.

You might be considered connected to another person or organisation in several ways. Common examples include connections:

• to a company, trust or partnership you control
• to a person or organisation that has control over you
• between different companies, trusts or partnerships in the same control
• between companies that are part of the same group

Family relationships alone do not mean that you are connected for the purposes of the Act. There must be some other form of connection, for example you might be connected to a family member through your role in a company, partnership or trust.

The legal rules on connections can be complex. If you think any of these situations might apply, read Further detail on connected persons and consider seeking professional advice.

Example F: Connections through a common connected person

Under the Act, people or organisations are connected to each other if there is a person or organisation with control over both of them.

For example:

• Calum has control over Company A
• Calum also has control over Trust B

This means that under the Act:

• Calum is connected to Company A
• Calum is connected to Trust B
• Company A is connected to Trust B

Example G: Shared control

If several people or organisations control the same organisation, they are each connected to the organisation under the Act. They would each need to consider if land owned by the organisation should be counted together with land they own.

They are not connected to the other people that also have control over the same organisation.

For example:

• Company A is controlled by two people: Calum and Alex
• Calum is connected to Company A
• Alex is also connected to Company A
• Calum and Alex are not connected to each other

Step 6: Add connected land

Your land should be grouped with land owned by connected people or organisations if it is contiguous (within 250 metres).

Once you have identified connected people or organisations, you should confirm any land owned by them. You should then check whether any of this land is contiguous to a single holding or composite holding you have identified.

If it is, then that land would be added to the composite holding. You should repeat this step until all land contiguous to the composite holding(s) is owned by people you are not connected to.

Example G: Adding land owned by connected persons

Anndra owns land in his own name.

He controls a company which also owns land.

Land owned by the company can be combined with land owned by Anndra if it is contiguous.

Dealing with more complex patterns of land ownership

If you have multiple connections to different people and/or organisations that own land close to yours then there is a chance that composite holdings may ‘overlap’. This means that the same land could be a part of more than one composite land holding (see Example E: overlapping composite holdings)

Step 7: Repeat the checks

Each time you add land to a composite holding:

1. Check the list of land owned by people or organisations that are connected to you again
2. check whether any of it is within 250 metres of the boundaries of the updated composite holding
3. add any connected land.

Keep repeating these checks until no more land can be added.

Step 8: Add up the total area

Add together all land in each final holding.

If the total is:

• 1,000 hectares or less: you do not have a large land holding
• more than 1,000 hectares: you have a large land holding

If you have a large land holding

You will need to:

• meet community engagement requirements, including preparing a land management plan
• follow additional rules before selling land

These duties are not yet in force, and this guidance will be updated based on the outcome of relevant consultations.

If you are not sure [H3]

Ownership arrangements of land can be complex.

Consider professional advice if:

• companies, trusts or partnerships are involved
• you are unsure whether people/entities are connected
• you are unsure about the boundaries of land (e.g. for land in the sasine register)