Legal Definitions - infeftment

Infeftment is a term used in Scots law to describe the formal legal process by which a person's ownership of land or property (known as "heritable property") is officially established and recorded. It signifies the completion of a property transfer, making the new owner's rights legally binding and publicly recognized. Historically, this involved symbolic acts of delivery, but in modern Scots law, it primarily refers to the registration of the title deed in the Land Register of Scotland, which legally vests the property in the new owner.

Here are some examples to illustrate the concept of infeftment:

• Buying a New Home: Imagine a couple, Sarah and Tom, purchase their first house in Edinburgh. After they sign all the necessary contracts and the sale price is paid, their solicitor will submit the relevant legal documents, including the disposition (the deed transferring ownership), to the Land Register of Scotland. The act of registering these documents, which formally establishes Sarah and Tom as the legal owners of the house and records their title in the public register, is an act of infeftment. Until this registration is complete, their ownership is not fully legally recognized against the world.

• Inheriting a Farm: David inherits a family farm in the Scottish Borders from his late grandfather. To legally claim and establish his ownership of the inherited land and buildings, David must go through a formal legal process. This involves preparing and registering a deed of title (often a 'general vesting declaration' or 'notice of title' in such cases) in the Land Register. This formal registration, which legally transfers the property into David's name and confirms his rights as the new owner, constitutes infeftment.

• Transferring Land for a Community Project: A local council decides to donate a piece of unused land to a community trust for the development of a new park. After the formal agreement is made, the council's legal team will prepare a disposition transferring the land to the community trust. When this disposition is submitted to and accepted by the Land Register of Scotland, thereby officially recording the community trust as the new legal owner of the land, this process is an act of infeftment. It legally secures the trust's rights to the land for the park project.