The Act Miscellaneous Part 4 – Land Attachment and Residual Attachment Section 92 – Application for warrant to sell attached land
272.Section 92 provides for the form and method of applying for a warrant to sell attached land.
273.A creditor may apply for warrant to sell attached land only where a land attachment is in effect, 6 months have elapsed since the notice of land attachment was registered, the sum recoverable by the land attachment at that time exceeds £3,000 (or another sum prescribed by the Scottish Ministers) and that sum has not been paid off. The power to change this sum is exercisable by regulations subject to affirmative resolution procedure (see section 224(4)(b)(i)).
274.Under subsection (2), the Scottish Ministers have power to restrict the creditor’s right to apply under subsection (1) for a warrant for sale. They can do this by excluding either all dwellinghouses or dwellinghouses of a specified kind from land in relation to which such an application may be made. Such dwellinghouses could still be attached by land attachment but the attaching creditor could not apply to have them sold. This power is exercisable by regulations subject to affirmative resolution procedure (see section 224(4)(b)(i)).
275.The application must, among other things, name a solicitor who is willing to act as the “appointed person” (see sections 97(2)(b) and 108) and to sell the land if warrant is granted. Subsection (4) covers the form and content of the application and the documents which are to accompany it, including reports on the searches in the property register and the Register of Inhibitions. Subsection (5) provides for the persons to whom the application must be intimated.
276.Under subsection (6), any person who receives intimation of the application is entitled to object to it but must lodge objections within 14 days of receiving the application.
277.Under subsection (7), the Scottish Ministers may by regulations make further provision about the reports on searches that accompany an application for a warrant to sell attached land. Such regulations are subject to negative resolution procedure (see section 224(3)).
278.Subsection (8) provides for the use of electronic communications. In particular, the application must be accompanied by a declaration signed by the solicitor who the creditor proposes as the appointed person. Where that declaration is an electronic communication, the signature must be a certified electronic signature (as defined in section 221).