Wealthy use loophole to conceal value of £300m in Scottish land sales

The Guardian - World NewsCenter-LeftEN 3 min read 100% complete by Severin Carrell Scotland editorFebruary 7, 2026 at 08:00 AM

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A legal loophole is allowing wealthy landowners in Scotland to conceal the prices paid for Highland estates, totaling over £300 million in undisclosed transactions. Land reform campaigners are raising concerns about the lack of transparency, as buyers are using a legal term instead of the monetary value on registration forms, preventing the public from knowing the actual purchase price. Organizations like Discovery Land Company, Oxygen Conservation, and even the John Muir Trust have utilized this tactic. The Scottish Land Commission and Community Land Scotland are urging ministers to close the loophole, arguing that it undermines efforts to make the land market more transparent and hinders informed policy making. They emphasize that land is a shared asset and transaction details should be publicly available.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Taymouth 40% Assynt 40% Kylesku 40% Perthshire 40% Registers of Scotland 50% Glenlyon estate 50% John Muir Trust (JMT) 60% Community Land Scotland ×260% Discovery Land Company 70% Scottish Land Commission ×270% Oxygen Conservation 70% Andy Wightman ×390%

Keywords

land sales 90% legal loophole 80% land reform 70% scottish land 60% property transactions 60% land market 50% highland estates 50% transparency 50% monetary consideration 40% registers of scotland 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Negative

Score: -0.40

Source Transparency

Source

The Guardian - World News

Political Lean

Center-Left (-0.40)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

Glenlyon estate

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

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land sales legal loophole land reform scottish land property transactions land market highland estates transparency monetary consideration registers of scotland

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