Terms and conditions
REGISTERS OF SCOTLAND (RoS) ONLINE SERVICES TERMS AND CONDITIONS
For:
- Forms
- Digital Submissions (Land Register, Sasines and the Register of Inhibitions and Judgements)
- Register Land and Property (RLP)
- Register of Deeds in the Books of Council and Session
- Entries in the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (RCI)
- Digital Registration (Discharge Service)
Together being “RoS ONLINE SERVICES”
Please note that as new Online Services are rolled out they may be done in a Beta environment (initially potentially as Private Beta, progressing to Public Beta or by Public Beta alone as appropriate). Where that is the case additional Beta Terms and Conditions may apply reflecting the fact that such an environment may be subject to enhanced testing and development. Such Terms and Conditions will fall to be read alongside these Terms and Conditions and in the same way, any further Terms and Conditions for the different services contained in RoS ONLINE SERVICES will fall to be read alongside these Terms and Conditions.
Please also note that these terms set out the ways in which you can access, use and cease using the System that holds the Registers (via RoS Online Services). The Registers themselves may have additional legislative provisions which will regulate your interaction with that Register. These Terms and Conditions will fall to be read alongside any such relevant legislation. If there is any inconsistency, the terms of the legislation will prevail. Any submission which RoS ONLINE SERVICES will accept as a hybrid application, where the deed/document is part electronic and part physical, will not be processed until all of the relevant sections of the hybrid application are received.
1. Introduction and general principles
RoS ONLINE SERVICES allows on screen completion of various registration and application forms, and uploading of digital documents used in the Registers maintained by the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland.
RoS ONLINE SERVICES are, subject to any statutory duties imposed on the Keeper, provided by the Keeper at the Keeper’s sole discretion to registered users, free of charge and without acceptance of any liabilities.
Crown copyright subsists in these RoS ONLINE SERVICES and registration includes a copyright licence permitting free reproduction with restrictions.
2. Definitions and interpretation
“Administrator”
Means an administrator(s) nominated by the Organisation to act on its behalf in relation to RoS ONLINE SERVICES, who shall by default automatically be the first user of an Organisation who applies for and is accepted by the Keeper for use of RoS ONLINE SERVICES
“Forms”
Means the application forms: Applications for advance notices; Application for registration; Notification of inaccuracy in the land register, SAF, DA1-3 and C&S1; forms created using the discharge service or RLP, forms used to make an entry in the RCI, together with, in each case, all future variations thereof and such further forms as the Keeper may choose to include in RoS ONLINE SERVICES
“Keeper”
Means the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. The address for the Keeper for any enquiries or service of any document in respect of these terms is Meadowbank House, 153 London Road, Edinburgh EH8 7AU or customer.services@ros.gov.uk
“Organisation”
Means a business or other organisation which has been registered to use ROS ONLINE SERVICES including (without limitation) a company, firm, partnership or sole trader, authority or other such entity or enterprise
“RLP Dashboard”
Means the manner in which RoS allows each Organisation access to all of their current land register applications within RLP, and such other functionality which is added to RLP from time to time
“User”
Means a single person with a unique email address who has been authorised by the Keeper and the Administrator to use the RoS ONLINE SERVICES and who has been assigned a log-in script in terms of clause 4 hereof
In these terms, except where the context otherwise requires, (a) words denoting the neuter gender include the feminine and masculine; (b) words denoting the singular include the plural and vice versa; (c) any reference to an Act of Parliament, Act of the Scottish Parliament or Scottish Statutory Instrument includes reference to that measure as from time to time amended, extended or re-enacted.
The paragraph headings do not form part of these terms and do not apply to limit the interpretation or application of these terms.
3. Organisational responsibilities
The Administrator warrants to the Keeper that it has the power to bind the Organisation to these Terms and Conditions and the Keeper may ask to see evidence of this.
The Administrator may appoint additional Administrators and if any person, being the sole or remaining Administrator ceases to be the Administrator for any reason, the Organisation shall appoint a new Administrator as soon as practicable.
The Administrator by nominating the User warrants to the Keeper that it has authorised the User to use any part of RoS ONLINE SERVICES and that it is within the User’s power to bind the Organisation for any entry made for RoS ONLINE SERVICES.
If an employee or User of the Organisation uses or permits another person to use their account any activity on such accounts will be the responsibility of the Organisation.
4. User registration
An application to use all or any part of RoS ONLINE SERVICES shall be in such form as is from time to time determined by the Keeper. Such application shall be an offer by the prospective User (sanctioned by the Administrator) to become a User and to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. If such offer is accepted by the Keeper, these terms (together with any additional terms accepted to access any Register) contain and constitute the whole agreement between the parties with respect to the supply and use of RoS ONLINE SERVICES and supersede any prior or contemporaneous agreements or understandings.
If the Keeper accepts the application, the Keeper will assign to the User a log-in script. When first accessing RoS ONLINE SERVICES the User will change the password element of the log-in script. The User must keep the password safe and secure and may not disclose it or permit it to become known to any third party.
The User uses RoS ONLINE SERVICES in the capacity as employee, agent or servant of the Organisation and the User binds the Organisation to these terms as if they were the Organisation’s acts, omissions and breaches up until such time as the Organisation has deactivated, or requested that the Keeper deactivates, that User’s access to RoS ONLINE SERVICES.
The Keeper may, at the Keeper's sole discretion and without being required to give any reason, refuse any application for registration as a User.
5. Permitted use, warranty and restrictions
The permitted use of RoS ONLINE SERVICES is for completion of the Forms in the course of the normal and lawful practices of complying with statutory registration duties relating to land and property in Scotland, conveyancing and registration activities, and/or searching of public registers.
No other use is permitted without the prior written approval of the Keeper. The User warrants that it shall use the service only for lawful purposes.
Other than with the express prior written agreement of the Keeper, no User or other party may (1) decompile, reverse engineer or disassemble RoS ONLINE SERVICES or (2) modify, sell, rent, transfer, create derivative works based upon or incorporating, or distribute RoS ONLINE SERVICES or any part thereof.
Subject to the Keeper’s statutory responsibilities, each User represents and warrants to the Keeper each time an electronic document or certification is authenticated that (a) it has taken reasonable steps to verify to the best of its knowledge and belief that all information in the electronic document or subject to the certification is true and correct; (b) the User has authority to authenticate any certification made on its behalf; and (c) proper steps have been taken to ensure that the User has authority to authenticate any electronic document which is so authenticated on behalf of its granter. Where the User receives a digital extract in return this should be promptly checked and any issues identified raised with the Keeper.
The Organisation and the User must abide by the Acceptable Usage Policy in Appendix 1 of these Terms and Conditions.
6. Ownership, withdrawal and modification
This agreement gives the User limited rights to use RoS ONLINE SERVICES and to generate Crown copyright Forms. The User does not become owner of any intellectual property right in RoS ONLINE SERVICES or the Forms. All rights not specifically granted in this agreement are reserved to the Crown.
The Keeper may at the Keeper’s sole discretion and without notice withdraw or modify RoS ONLINE SERVICES at any time.
Any information obtained from using RoS ONLINE SERVICES may include intellectual property rights that are owned and licensed to the Keeper by Ordnance Survey Limited (OS) or Royal Mail. Such information may be reproduced by the User solely for internal use or for provision by the Organisation to its clients for any purpose directly connected to the Keeper’s core registration business. If the User wishes to use the OS and/or Royal Mail information for any other purpose it must contact OS and Royal Mail directly to arrange this.
7. Disclaimer and exclusion and limitation clauses
RoS ONLINE SERVICES is supplied free of charge and on an ‘as is’ basis, without any undertaking to give technical support or warranty of any kind by the Keeper including, without limitation, any warranty of satisfactory quality or fitness for purpose.
Except insofar as exclusion of liability is prohibited by statute, the Keeper shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages or loss, nor for any damages for loss of business, loss of profits, loss of anticipated savings or the like, whether based upon breach of contract, negligence, product liability or otherwise, whether or not foreseeable and even if the Keeper or any representative of the Keeper has been advised of the possibility of such loss or damage.
Without prejudice to the foregoing generality (1) the Keeper shall have no liability in respect of any actions, claims, costs, demands, expenses or liabilities made against or incurred by the User arising out of any defect in, or the breakdown, failure or non-performance of, the systems and equipment (whether belonging to, maintained by or used by the Keeper, the User, the Organisation or any third party) utilised in connection with use of RoS ONLINE SERVICES; and (2) while the Keeper has taken and will continue to take reasonable precautions in respect of computer viruses, the Keeper shall not be liable for any consequence of any failure on the part of the Keeper to prevent the transmission of computer viruses through RoS ONLINE SERVICES. The User shall take such precautions as it deems fit.
In any event whatsoever, the total liability of the Keeper in respect of any use of RoS ONLINE SERVICES is limited to the amount set out by statute (such as of the fee prescribed by the Registers of Scotland (Fees) Order 2014) for the particular application form or service in respect of which the liability is claimed to have arisen.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits the statutory rights of consumers.
If any part of these terms is found by any court or competent authority to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable then the parties agree that that part will be deemed not to be a part of these terms and that it shall not affect the validity, lawfulness or enforceability of the remainder of these terms.
8. Crown copyright licence
Crown copyright subsists in the Forms. Under delegated authority from the King’s Printer for Scotland, the Keeper allows the User to reproduce the Forms through the mechanism of RoS ONLINE SERVICES free of charge as drafts or principals of applications to the Keeper for registration in, or reports or copies from, the Registers maintained by the Keeper. Application for copyright licensing of any other proposed reproduction of the Forms should be made to the Keeper.
9. Data capture
Any data entered by the User when using RoS ONLINE SERVICES may be retained and used by the Keeper —
(a) To populate the Registers maintained by the Keeper, for as long as is necessary in accordance with our privacy policy which you can read here - https://www.ros.gov.uk/privacy
(b) To the extent that doing so is necessary for the purposes of the administration of justice.
10. Termination
The Keeper may terminate the Organisation’s or the User’s use of RoS ONLINE SERVICES without notice and take such action as is necessary including suspending or cancelling access to RoS ONLINE SERVICES if the Organisation or any User misuses any element of RoS ONLINE SERVICES or the Keeper has reason to suspect use of RoS ONLINE SERVICES for fraudulent or other unlawful purpose or activity.
The Keeper may terminate the Organisation’s or the User’s use of the RoS ONLINE SERVICES by written notice to the Administrator where the Organisation or the User commits a material breach of these Terms and Conditions and, in the case of a breach which is capable of being remedied, has failed within seven days after a written request by the Keeper, to remedy the breach.
The Keeper may terminate the Organisation’s or the User’s use of RoS ONLINE SERVICES by written notice to the Administrator where the Organisation has a receiver or liquidator or trustee in bankruptcy appointed or any part of its undertaking or assets, or a resolution for the Organisation’s winding up is passed, it becomes insolvent or subject to an administration order, or enters into any voluntary arrangement with its creditors.
The Keeper may terminate the Organisation’s or the User’s use of the RoS ONLINE SERVICES by written notice to the Administrator where the Organisation ceases or intends to cease to carry on business or no longer holds the professional criteria that permitted it access to RoS ONLINE SERVICES or the Keeper ceases to operate RoS ONLINE SERVICES for any reason.
The Administrator may terminate the Organisation’s use of RoS ONLINE SERVICES at any time by written notice to the Keeper. All Users of the Organisation shall be cancelled with effect from the relevant termination date. The Administrator may also request that the Keeper cancels an individual User at any time.
These provisions, as well as those relevant to suspension, may be subject to any relevant statutory right of appeal.
11. Governing law
The parties agree that the supply and use of RoS ONLINE SERVICES is governed by Scots Law and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish Courts.
Appendix 1 – Acceptable Use Policy for RoS ONLINE SERVICES
1. You may only use RoS ONLINE SERVICES (the Services) and the system of which it forms part (“the System”) in a manner that is lawful. Specifically, you must ensure that you comply fully with any and all local, national or international laws and/or regulations, and you must not use the Services in any way, or for any purpose, that is unlawful or fraudulent.
2. You may only use the RLP Dashboard for administrative purposes connected with your client’s application for registration in the Land Register and not for any other purpose.
3. The information on the RLP Dashboard is for read-only use.
4. You must ensure that appropriate organisational and technical measures are in use within the Organisation to ensure that access to and use of RoS ONLINE SERVICES by any User is appropriately controlled.
5. The Organisation and/or the Administrator must immediately withdraw access to RoS ONLINE SERVICES from any User who is suspected of or has been involved in improper use of RoS ONLINE SERVICES or breach of these Terms and Conditions, or whose circumstances have changed such that the User is no longer authorised to act on behalf of the Organisation. The Organisation must also immediately bring this to the attention of RoS.
6. The Organisation is responsible for providing training to the User on access to and use of RoS ONLINE SERVICES (including the importance of non-sharing of accounts) and the Organisation shall ensure that the User is suitable, qualified and sufficiently competent and that the User uses the RoS ONLINE SERVICES in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.
7. The Organisation and/or the Administrator must take all reasonable steps to ensure that all their staff who use RoS ONLINE SERVICES are a User and that there is no sharing of accounts. If the Administrator finds that any of their staff are using RoS ONLINE SERVICES other than as a User the Administrator should inform RoS immediately of the relevant account affected and take appropriate steps to stop such use.
8. The User must not:
(a) Use the System, Services, or data obtained from use of the Services to claim any arrangement or official partnership with RoS to supply or reuse data and/or information;
(b) Reproduce any register accessed through the Services or a service similar to it comprising information extracted from the Services;
(c) Attempt to rectify, or permit any other person to rectify, any fault or inaccuracy in the System, or otherwise attempt to make any deletions, additions, alterations or adjustments to the System, or the Services. For the avoidance of doubt this does not apply to creating, amending or deleting data on a register where this is in accordance with the Services Terms and Conditions;
(d) Use the System or the Services in any way that causes any damage or interruption to the System, Services or any register available via the Services;
(e) Conduct any manual, systematic or automated data collection activities on or in relation to the System, any part of it, or any information contained in it (including without limitation, data scraping, data mining, data extraction and/or data harvesting) or otherwise use any manual, systematic or automated process, device, program, algorithm or methodology to monitor or copy any of the material or information on or in relation to the System;
(f) Without prejudice to the generality of Clause (e), use or attempt to use or permit the use of any automated software agents or any other device, routine, programme, algorithm, methodology, process means, including, without limitation any web scraper, spider, robot or web crawler, to access or attempt to access the System for any purpose including without limitation to search, copy, acquire, monitor or obtain links to the System or any part of it or any information contained in it, other than as expressly authorised by RoS in advance in writing;
(g) Use the System or the Services in any way that causes an adverse effect on the operation, security, integrity, stability or overall efficiency of the Services, or any damage, impairment or interruption to the System and/or Services in any way.
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