More reform needed as new Land Court confirmed, says STFA

The Scottish government has confirmed plans to create a single judicial body to rule on land dispute cases.

The Scottish Land Court and the Lands Tribunal for Scotland will be amalgamated to form a Scottish Land Court following a public consultation last year.

The government said the move will make the process “simpler, clearer and easier’’.

See also: Costs are ‘barrier to justice’ says Scottish tenants’ body

Legislation will be brought forward to enact the change during the life of the current parliament.

While the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association (STFA) has welcomed the announcement, it says it doesn’t go far enough.

It wants the amalgamation to act as a catalyst for further reform, including changes to the way expenses are awarded against unsuccessful appellants.

This had been one of the proposals put forward in the consultation, but has not been adopted.

The association said the current system acts as a “significant barrier to justice’’ for tenants in dispute with their landlord over farm rents and compensation for improvements. 

STFA chairman Christopher Nicholson said: “Allocating expenses to the ‘winner’ acts as a deterrent to individuals who may have the necessary experience and expertise to argue the case themselves, but are deterred from doing so because of the fear of having landlord’s expenses awarded against them, especially where the landlord is armed with an array of expensive advocates and professional advisers.’’

He insisted that justice “must become affordable’’, either by introducing a statutory cap on awards of expenses, to allow appellants to know in advance what their maximum exposure to expenses is, or a discretion to limit awards in appropriate cases.