#2026/17Crofting and Scottish Land Court Act 2026
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
This law updates Scotland’s crofting rules and allows crofts to be used for planned environmental purposes, not only cultivation or other approved productive uses. Crofters will need to manage land actively and avoid neglect, while the Crofting Commission gains a clearer role in enforcing statutory duties. It also provides for the Scottish Land Court and the Lands Tribunal for Scotland to be merged. The practical effect is a more modern framework for rural land use and land dispute handling in Scotland, especially for crofters, landlords, rural communities, and advisers working with crofting land.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Refer to official sources for legal decisions.
Key Changes
- Allows crofts to be used for planned and actively managed environmental purposes
- Updates crofters’ duties so land must be cultivated, used for environmental benefit, or put to another approved purposeful use
- Provides for the merger of the Scottish Land Court and the Lands Tribunal for Scotland
Obligations
What this law requires
Crofters must use each croft for cultivation, an environmental use, or another purposeful use consented to under section 5C(4), and must not wilfully and knowingly use the croft for other purposes.
Crofters must ensure that every part of a croft capable of cultivation, environmental use, or another approved purposeful use is actually cultivated or used for one of those purposes.
Crofters must manage crofts so that they meet the standards of good agricultural and environmental condition under the Common Agricultural Policy (Cross-Compliance) (Scotland) Regulations 2014, except where an environmental or other approved purposeful use is incompatible with those standards.
Crofters must keep crofts in a fit state for cultivation, except where an environmental use or other approved purposeful use is incompatible with keeping the croft in that condition.
The Crofting Commission must enforce compliance with statutory duties as part of its general functions relating to crofting.