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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 14 November 2024
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Displaying 1054 contributions

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Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 October 2022

Jeremy Balfour

I have a follow-up question, which, again, is to both of you. At the moment, the bill suggests that information updates to the register of statutory pledges will be voluntary. That means that, when a pledge is paid off, it will not necessarily show up automatically, because someone has to do it. Is that realistic for businesses? Will people do it, or will we end up with lists and lists of pledges that have been paid off but have never been taken off the register?

Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 October 2022

Jeremy Balfour

Good morning. You will have heard that I asked the first panel of witnesses about the voluntary nature of updating the register when a pledge has been discharged. Will that happen or will the register just build up more and more? Do you think that the voluntary approach will work, or would you like to see some statutory element to it?

Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 October 2022

Jeremy Balfour

I want to move on to another area. Perhaps one or both of the witnesses will want to take this question. At the moment, the bill does not deal with shares and other assets such as that, because of the Government’s view that it does not have the legal competence to grant that. Do you have a view? Should the bill be extended to cover shares?

Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 October 2022

Jeremy Balfour

It is several decades since I practised law, but, when I was practising, we discharged a standard security, or put the document forward to do so, only when we were selling a property. Often, a mortgage would be paid off but it would only be years later that the discharge would be done.

On Jon Hodge’s final point, my fear is that we end up with a register that is so large that it is almost impossible to find anything. Is that a danger?

Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 October 2022

Jeremy Balfour

The Scottish ministers will have the power to set the duration of registration for statutory pledges. In its submission, the Faculty of Advocates has suggested that asking creditors to set the timescale when they register would be a better approach. If the bill were changed, could you facilitate that?

Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 October 2022

Jeremy Balfour

Mirka Skrzypczak, among the partnerships and individuals you deal with, is there any appetite for allowing floating charges to be granted by them?

Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 October 2022

Jeremy Balfour

I want to come back to a point that Jennifer Henderson made, just to clarify what powers you have. When the land register was rolled out initially, there were arguments about whether the right piece of land was being registered, who owned what and where the boundaries were. With the registers under the bill, if somebody said that they did not take a security over something or that there had been fraudulent behaviour, would you have powers to investigate that or would you refer it to another body?

Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 4 October 2022

Jeremy Balfour

That is helpful. Obviously, people might register something and then discharge the debt, but forget to go back and take it off. That would be a due diligence exercise that would have to be carried out.

Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 4 October 2022

Jeremy Balfour

Good morning. I absolutely understand that your position is that consumers should be taken out. That is very clear. However, in case the Parliament does not go with you on that, for our scrutiny, I have a couple of follow-up questions about what should happen if consumers are left in, particularly around the register. Do you have concerns as money advisers about who can access the register? Is there enough information in the register for you to help your clients?

Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 4 October 2022

Jeremy Balfour

I think that it is not at the moment—is there a £20 charge?