After completion, your solicitor still has important work to do. In Scotland they submit your Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) return and pay any tax to Revenue Scotland, then apply to register your ownership, and any new mortgage, in the Land Register of Scotland. On a sale, the seller's solicitor repays the seller's mortgage and makes sure the old standard security is discharged.
This guide walks through each of those steps in order, how long registration takes, when you should receive confirmation that the property is in your name, and when it is reasonable to ask for an update.
Is completion the same as settlement in Scotland?
Yes, in practice. "Completion" is the term used in England and Wales. In Scotland, the day the price is paid and the keys are handed over is called settlement, and the agreed date for it in the missives is the date of entry.
On that day your solicitor sends the purchase price to the seller's solicitor and receives the signed disposition, the deed that transfers ownership to you. Our guide on what time you get the keys explains how the day itself usually runs. Everything in this guide happens after that point.
Submitting the LBTT return to Revenue Scotland
LBTT is the Scottish tax on buying property. The buyer must make an LBTT return and pay any tax due within 30 days of the effective date, which for a normal purchase is the date of settlement. The Revenue Scotland guidance on the duty to make a return sets out the deadline and confirms that the tax is paid at the same time.
Most solicitors submit the return online and pay the tax on or very shortly after the date of entry, using funds you provide before settlement. They do not leave it until the deadline, because Registers of Scotland will not register your disposition until the return has been made and the tax paid.
A return is usually needed even when no tax is due, for example if the price falls within the nil rate band or first-time buyer relief applies. The main exception is where the price is under £40,000. Our guide on LBTT for first-time buyers explains when relief applies.
Registering your title in the Land Register of Scotland
You become the legal owner of the property when your disposition is registered in the Land Register of Scotland, not when you get the keys. That is why registration is the most important job after settlement.
Your solicitor applies to Registers of Scotland (RoS) to register:
- the disposition, which transfers ownership from the seller to you
- your lender's standard security, if you have a mortgage
- the discharge of the seller's standard security, where the seller's solicitor has passed it on for registration with your application
Lenders expect this to happen promptly. The UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook for Scotland requires solicitors to register the lender's standard security "forthwith" after settlement.
How advance notices protect you
Before settlement, the seller's solicitor normally applies for an advance notice for the disposition. Your solicitor may also apply for one for your lender's standard security. According to Registers of Scotland guidance on advance notices, each notice gives 35 calendar days of protection.
During that period, a competing deed or an inhibition against the seller cannot defeat your purchase, as long as your application is submitted before the notice expires. This is another reason your solicitor sends the application soon after settlement.
What if the property is in the Sasine Register?
Some older titles are still held in the General Register of Sasines. When one of these properties is sold, the sale triggers a first registration in the Land Register. RoS has to map the boundaries and create a new title sheet, so first registrations usually take longer than a straightforward transfer.
How long does Registers of Scotland take to register a title?
Once the application is in, the timing is in the hands of RoS. RoS says it processes the majority of cases within 35 days. Its published casework turnaround figures for May 2026 show 85% of Land Register applications processed within 35 working days.
Transfers of a whole property tend to be quickest. First registrations and transfers of part of a property, such as a plot of land or a newly built house on a development, are more likely to take longer. RoS may also send requisitions to your solicitor asking for a missing document or a correction, which pauses the application until it is answered.
A delay in registration does not mean anything is wrong with your purchase. Your application has priority from the date RoS receives it.
When do you receive your title sheet?
When registration is complete, RoS updates the title sheet for your property to show you as owner and, if you have a mortgage, to show your lender's standard security. Your solicitor checks it is accurate and sends you, and your lender, a copy.
The title sheet records the property's boundaries on the cadastral map, the owners, any standard securities, and the real burdens and servitudes that affect it. Keep your copy somewhere safe, along with any other papers your solicitor returns, as they will help if you sell or remortgage later.
What does the seller's solicitor do after settlement?
When the price arrives, the seller's solicitor repays the seller's mortgage from the proceeds, pays the estate agent's fee if instructed to, and sends the balance to the seller. The seller's lender then signs a discharge of its standard security.
Under the Scottish Standard Clauses (Edition 6), the seller's solicitor does not give a traditional letter of obligation to clear the records. Instead, they give a letter of undertaking to either deliver the signed discharge to the buyer's solicitor within 28 days of settlement, or show a copy of the title sheet within 35 days proving the security has been discharged. Missives that do not use the Standard Clauses may still use a letter of obligation.
If you are selling, our guide to selling a house in Scotland covers the earlier stages of the sale.
When should you chase your solicitor?
It is reasonable to expect your solicitor to confirm, soon after settlement, that the LBTT return has been submitted and the registration application has gone to RoS. Ask for both if you have not heard.
After that, allow time for RoS to process the application. If around three months have passed with no news, or you need proof of ownership for a sale or remortgage, contact your solicitor. They can check the progress of the application with RoS and tell you whether any requisitions are outstanding.
Getting advice
The work after settlement is part of the conveyancing you pay for, so your solicitor should handle LBTT and registration without you needing to ask. Our purchase conveyancing service covers everything from your offer to the registration of your title, and you can get a fixed fee with our conveyancing quote calculator.
Kirsty Docherty, Head of Residential Conveyancing
Kirsty leads our residential conveyancing team and has over a decade of experience in residential property law in Scotland. Last updated 2 November 2026. This guide is general information about Scots law, not legal advice for your situation.
