I am writing to you in response to correspondence I have received from members of REVIVE coalition.
First though, following the recent passage of the landmark Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, I would like to thank you, your colleagues and the wider REVIVE membership for the engagement and input you have provided throughout the Bill’s development and parliamentary process. The productive contributions from our engaged stakeholders have added considerable value to the measures we have brought forward in the Bill.
I was glad to hear that REVIVE’s annual conference in Perth was such a success, although disappointed not to be able to be there in person. I was pleased to receive written correspondence after the conference from a number of your members via the REVIVE website. In this letter, I will therefore provide a complete response to all the issues raised by REVIVE members. I understand and fully appreciate many of the concerns raised, and would like to offer assurance that the measures we have brought forward in Part 1 of the Bill will be a crucial step forward in addressing these issues.
I recognise that concentration and scale of landownership are key areas of focus for your members. You will be aware that our proposals are based on the recommendations from the Scottish Land Commission, who considered the evidence in depth and identified that concentrated land ownership can have a negative impact on community sustainability. The transfer test introduced by the Bill was developed and designed to address this issue, and will, for the first time in Scotland’s history, give Ministers the power to ensure that the public interest is considered in large land sales. Ministerial consideration during the transfer test process will allow for consideration of objectives such as economic development, repopulation, population maintenance, regeneration, public health, social wellbeing and environmental wellbeing – which are key to our vision for flourishing rural communities.
We are also supporting the delivery of affordable housing in rural and island areas through a range of policy and legislative measures, including those set out in ‘Housing to 2040’, our first long-term housing strategy for providing safe, good-quality and affordable homes to meet the diverse needs of our population. Our target to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, at least 10% of which will be in rural and island communities, is supported by our Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan, published in October 2023. The Action Plan was developed through strong engagement with our rural and island stakeholders and it complements other ambitious work being taken forward in support of our rural and island communities. It marks an important step in tackling the challenges head on and reinforcing the systems and support for the delivery of the right homes in the right places.
On 2 September 2025, the Cabinet Secretary for Housing published the Housing Emergency Action Plan. The Action Plan contains specific action to meet the housing needs of rural and island communities. We will support the delivery of more homes in Scotland’s rural and island communities by working with public bodies, landowners and the Scottish National Investment Bank to unlock land, build delivery capacity and develop a pipeline of investment opportunities.
To date we have already actioned commitments to provide tools and powers to local authorities to help them make best use of existing housing stock. As well as introducing short-term let licensing to regulate safety, local authorities may also designate short-term let control areas as a way to manage high concentrations of second homes that also operate as short-term lets. We believe fairer taxation can also encourage owners to use their accommodation differently.
Since April last year local authorities may now apply a council tax charge of up to double the standard rate onboth second and long-term empty homes and in future, via provisions in the Housing (Scotland) Act passed this year, they will be able to set higher rates if they choose to do so. Our approach to Land and Building Transaction Tax also reflects concerns about the effects of additional properties purchased for private use. The Additional Dwelling Supplement has been increased to 8% of the total purchase price on additionalhomes of £40,000 or more and is in place to support first-time buyers and home-movers by helping them compete with buy-to-let investors or those buying second homes. The correspondence received from your membership also highlighted concerns around the transparency of land management and ownership. We are committed to improving transparency of those who own and control land in Scotland. The pre-notification measures in the Bill will directly improve transparency of land sales from large landholdings, and will offer communities an enhanced opportunity to make a late application under existing community right to buy legislation. This will make a difference in situations where a community body may not have expected that the land would ever be sold, and may not have a registered community interest in the land already. Pre-notification may enable communities in those circumstances to make an application to purchase land, which if successful would allow them to deliver benefits for the whole community and meet local need.
The land management plan and community engagement obligations in the Bill will place statutory
requirements on the owners of large landholdings over 1000 hectares. Owners of these estates will be
required to engage communities on the development of public land management plans. There is some detail on the face of the Bill about the type of information which must be included in plans – for example owners will be required to set out how land is used and how that contributes to key public policy priorities such as addressing climate change and protecting and restoring nature. At Stage 3 of the Bill, we supported amendments to strengthen these provisions by requiring owners in addition to set out how they are increasing biodiversity on the landholding, rather than simply sustaining it, as well as how community engagement has informed the development of the plan.
With the Bill having been passed by the Scottish Parliament on 5 November 2025, we are now in the period where we require Royal Assent to be received before the Bill can become an Act. After this period, we will turn to planning for implementation of the measures in the Bill, which will include consultation on the development of secondary legislation and guidance to accompany and support measures introduced by the Bill. I hope that our constructive engagement can continue throughout the implementation of the Bill..
As always, I am grateful for REVIVE’s contribution to the land reform agenda and welcome the opportunity to ensure that positive engagement continues on this most important issue of land reform in our country.
Yours sincerely
MAIRI GOUGEON
