Economic condition of crofting: 2019 to 2022

28. Scottish Land Court

28.1. The Scottish Land Court (SLC) is a Court of law. The Court's jurisdiction is set firmly within the context of Scottish farming. It has authority to resolve a range of disputes, including disputes between landlords and tenants, in agriculture and crofting. The Court is based in Edinburgh, but holds hearings throughout Scotland.

28.2. From 1 April 2017 the SLC became part of the Supreme Courts structure within the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, however the SLC retained its identity as a separate court.

28.3. Under current crofting legislation the SLC has, for example, jurisdiction to:

• Determine the extent and boundaries of a croft;
• Determine a fair rent for the croft;
• Authorise a landlord to resume (to take back) croft land or common grazings for a reasonable purpose;
• Authorise a crofter to acquire a heritable title to his croft from his landlord;
• deal with appeals from decisions or determinations of the Crofting Commission; and
• Deal with challenges to the first registration of crofts or common grazings in the Crofting Register.

28.4. During this reporting period the SLC continued to receive and decide Scheme for Development applications, mainly for renewable energy developments such as wind farms, although there have also been two applications for space port developments, but the biggest category after resumptions was crofting registration challenges.