Introduction
Feuduty
251.Compensation will be payable to former superiors for the loss of the right to feuduties (and certain other payments analogous to feuduty) on the same basis as the redemption of feuduty under the Land Tenure Reform (Scotland) Act 1974. It will be paid by the former vassals. A former superior will have to serve a notice on the former vassal within 2 years of the appointed day for abolition of the feudal system of land tenure in order to claim compensation, but in practice many superiors may not bother since the amount of compensation will in many cases not be worth collecting. The Scottish Law Commission estimate that only around 10% of all feuduties are still extant and payable following the operation of the redemption provisions in the 1974 Act for quarter of a century. It is thought that most remaining feuduties will be cumulo feuduties where the feuduty applies to a larger area which has been sub-divided between various vassals. These are found, for example, in tenement blocks and there may have been an informal apportionment of the cumulo feuduty payable for the whole block between the vassals. The 1974 Act only provided for the compulsory redemption of cumulo feuduties on the sale of a property which have been formally allocated by the superior as opposed to the informal apportionment of these between vassals. Apportionments on individual tenement flats can be as low as under £1.
252.The calculation of compensation for the extinction of feuduty will use the same formula as the 1974 Act. The vassal will be required to pay that sum of money which, if invested in 2.5 per cent Consolidated Stock at the middle market price at the close of business last preceding the appointed day, would produce an annual sum equivalent to the feuduty. In practice a redemption factor is drawn up unofficially from the statutory formula. Multiplication of the annual feuduty by the factor then produces the sum due on redemption. Currently the factor is around 20. The Act contains a presumption that existing apportionments of cumulo feuduty will be used as the basis for calculation of the compensatory payment by each vassal for a cumulo feuduty. There is also provision for payment of compensation by instalment where the total compensatory payment to be paid is over £50.
