and promotes the interests of crofting in Scotland
to secure the future of crofting.
Assignation of a Grazing Share
What is Assignation of a Grazing Share?
Assignation is the term used to describe the permanent transfer, with Crofting Commission consent, of a grazings share tenancy from the crofter, referred to as the ‘assignor’ or ‘current tenant’, to another person of their choice referred to as the ‘assignee’ or ‘proposed new crofter’.
Who can apply?
This application form can be used where you are:
• the tenant of a croft which shares in a common grazings, and you want to assign only the grazings share(s)/rights which pertains to it
• the tenant of a croft which solely comprises of grazings share(s)/rights in a common grazings*
*(This may have happened because the whole croft was purchased by the crofter but the grazings share(s)/rights pertaining to it were not included. These grazings share(s)/rights are ‘deemed’ to be a separate, distinct croft which is held in tenancy by section 3(5)(a) of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993. As such, these ‘deemed crofts’ are given an individual entry in the Commission’s Register of Crofts).
If the tenancy of the grazings share(s) is sublet, you must give your subtenant 6 months written notice of your intention to assign the tenancy before you apply.
We would encourage you to contact the local Grazings Clerk/Constable to make them aware of your proposals, as experience has shown this can help establish good community relations.
A grazings share tenancy cannot be assigned to more than one person.
You can apply to assign the tenancy of the grazings share(s) to any individual that you choose.
If you want to assign only part of the grazings share(s) in a common grazings and remain tenant of part, you must first apply to the Crofting Commission for consent to divide the grazings share(s).
Succession planning for your croft is an important consideration and one option is to transfer your grazings share(s) to your successor within your lifetime. This is known as ‘living succession’. For a tenant crofter, this is done by assignation of a grazings share. For more info see here Succession
The Commission uses a set of criteria for each application type, which are referred to as ‘parameters.’ The parameters determine how the decision on the application is taken. If the application meets the parameters, and no objections have been received, the decision to approve the application is made as a straightforward approval (known as Tier 1 approval). These types of decisions are reached the most quickly.
Here are some examples of parameters for an Assignation of Grazing Share application:
Here are some examples of parameters for a Assignation of Grazing Share application
- The proposed new tenant is or will be ordinarily resident within 32 kilometres of the common grazings, or will be within 18 months of obtaining the tenancy
- Evidence has been provided that the proposed new tenant (assignee) will use the grazings share(s)
- The proposed new tenant has the skills to carry out their proposals for the grazings share(s).
- The proposed tenant occupies 5 or less crofts (including ‘deemed crofts’ comprising of apportionments or grazings share(s)/rights)
- Demand has not been expressed for the tenancy of the grazings share(s), or the person expressing demand already has grazings share(s), or there are vacant grazings shares in the township.
- There have been no objections from the landlord
- There have been no objections from any member of the crofting community
If an application does not meet all the parameters, it is considered to be a more complex application. Complex applications are decided by more senior staff at the Crofting Commission. Complex applications may take longer for a decision to be taken. For further information on our tiered decision-making process please visit "How decisions are taken on applications"
What you need to apply:
- A completed ‘Assignation of a Grazing Share(s)’ application form
- You must advertise your application to assign the tenancy of the grazing share(s) in a local newspaper, allowing 28 days for comments to be sent to the Commission. A sample application advert is provided in the application form guidance documentation. The advert should appear no earlier than 1 month before the submission of the application and no later than 2 months after the submission of the application.
- You must give written notification of your assignation application to the landlord and to the owner(s) of the common grazings. There is a sample notification in the application form and guidance notes.
- A Registers of Scotland Crofting Register application form (more info below on the steps to do this, depending on whether the croft or common grazings is already registered with Registers of Scotland)
Application form
As you fill out your application form it is important to read the guidance notes provided. The guidance will tell you what information is needed, and what additional documents you must submit.
It is also important to consider the decision parameters when preparing your application.
If the application doesn’t meet the parameters, it will take longer to process and decide your application. If there are any inconsistencies between the application and the Commission’s Register of Crofts, or if the application is not completed correctly, we will not be able to process it.
You can submit your application online or by post. The application form and guidance notes can be accessed via our form finder.
Here is a summary of the key points:
- Read the guidance notes as you fill out your application.
- Consider the parameters when preparing your application.
- You can submit your application online or by post
Registers of Scotland Application
The ‘Registers of Scotland’ (RoS) hold the Crofting Register, which is a map-based register of croft and common grazings land. If you are applying to assign a grazings share(s) you will need submit a registration application, but this depends on what it is you want to assign, as explained below:
1. You are applying to assign only the grazings share(s) pertaining to your tenanted croft and you want to remain tenant of the croft land.
If the croft is not already registered, you need to submit a ‘First Registration (FORM A)’ application. In this application you will need to provide a map of your croft boundary. This should ideally be submitted at the same time as your ‘Assignation of a Grazings Share(s)’ application. Your first registration application must be submitted within 6 months of the Crofting Commission receiving your Assignation of a Grazings Share(s) application, otherwise we cannot process your assignation application. For details of how to prepare a map of the croft, and the correct form, please refer to the Registers of Scotland website .
You should submit your ‘First Registration (FORM A)’ application to the Crofting Commission by post . There is a fee of £90 payable when you submit the application. This can be paid by a cheque made out to the ‘Crofting Commission’ or by bank transfer. The Crofting Commission will check and process your application and forward it to Registers of Scotland.
If the croft is already registered on the RoS Crofting Register, and your assignation application is approved, the proposed new tenant (assignee) will need to submit a ‘Subsequent Event (FORM B)’ application, within a specified timescale. Information about this will be included in the letters sent to you and the proposed new tenant by the Crofting Commission notifying you that your application is approved.
2. You are applying to assign a ‘deemed croft’ which comprises solely of grazings share(s)/rights in a common grazings
If the common grazings is not already registered on the RoS Crofting Register, you must submit a ‘First Registration (FORM A)’ application. In this application you will need to provide a map of all or part of the common grazings showing the general location of the ‘deemed croft’. This should ideally be submitted at the same time as the ‘Assignation of a Grazing Share’ application. Your first registration application must be submitted within 6 months of the Crofting Commission receiving your ‘Assignation of a Grazings Share’ application, otherwise we cannot process your assignation application. For details of how to prepare a map of the common grazings, and the correct form, please refer to the Registers of Scotland website.
If the common grazings is already registered on the RoS Crofting Register, and your assignation application is approved, the proposed new tenant (assignee) will must submit a ‘Subsequent Event (FORM B)’ application within a specified timescale. Information about this will be included in the letters sent by the Crofting Commission notifying you and the proposed new tenant that your application is approved.
Here is a summary of the key points:
- You may need to submit a ‘First Registration (FORM A)’ application to register your croft or ‘deemed croft’ with Registers of Scotland, if you are applying to ‘Assign a Grazing Share(s)’ and neither the croft nor the common grazings is already registered. The FORM A application should ideally be submitted at the same time as your ‘Assign a Grazings Share(s)’ application. If you don’t apply to register your croft or ‘deemed croft’ within 6 months of the Crofting Commission receiving your assignation application, your assignation application cannot be processed, and you will need to re-apply
- If the croft or common grazings is already registered, the proposed new tenant must submit a Subsequent Event (FORM B) application if the ‘Assignation of a Grazing Share(s)’ application is approved. The approval decision letter will explain what they need to do next to register the assignation of the grazings share(s) on the RoS Crofting Register
- Each RoS application has a fee of £90, payable by cheque or bank transfer
- The Crofting Commission will process and forward the registration application to Registers of Scotland.
Once the Crofting Commission has received your completed ‘Assignation of a Grazing Share(s)’ application, we will check to make sure that you have completed the correct form and submitted all the required information. If you have not submitted everything correctly, you will be made aware and will have a specified amount of time to submit the information requested.
After the 28-day public consultation period has passed, the Crofting Commission will consider any correspondence it has received about your assignation application. This is to establish if the person is entitled to object or otherwise has a relevant interest in your application. Any rejected submissions will be returned or destroyed. We will let you know if there are any valid objections or submissions supporting your assignation application, and both you and the proposed new tenant will be able to reply to the Crofting Commission about these.
The Crofting Commission will also consider whether it is necessary to undertake any further investigation before making a decision on your application. This may include a report being prepared by the ‘Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate’ (SGRPID) office, situated in the locality of the croft or the common grazings
If the croft or the appropriate common grazings, is registered with the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland and the application meets the decision parameters, the Crofting Commission will be able to decide your application more quickly. We would aim to take a decision within 16 weeks for straightforward applications where there are no objections, and no further investigation is required.
If the application does not meet the decision parameters, it may take longer to be processed and decided. Please refer to how decisions are taken on applications for more information.
Here is a summary of the key points:
- The Crofting Commission will check your application to make sure that it is complete and correct.
- If no one objects to your application, the Crofting Commission will try to make a decision within 16 weeks.
- The Crofting Commission cannot make a decision on your application if your croft is not registered with the Registers of Scotland.
The Crofting Commission may either:
You and the other involved parties will have the option to appeal the Commission’s decision or determination of the application to the ‘Scottish Land Court’ within 42 days from the day of the decision letter. Please refer to the Appeals page for more information.
If a croft is registered on the Crofting Register for the first time because of an ‘Assignation of a Grazing Share(s)’ application which is granted for a croft or ‘deemed croft’ the applicant must notify the Crofting Commission within 3 months of the date of the Commission’s decision letter that the change of tenancy has ‘taken effect’. The assignation will take effect on the date specified by us in the notification form. The Commission will notify the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland of the change on receiving the completed notification form.
If the croft or ‘deemed croft’ or where appropriate, the common grazings, is already registered, the proposed new tenant (assignee) must submit a ‘Subsequent Event (FORM B)’ application together with the £90 fee payment within a specified timescale. Information about this will be included in the letters you and the proposed new tenant receive from the Crofting Commission notifying you that your application is approved. The Crofting Commission will process the FORM B application and send this to Registers of Scotland to record the assignation on the Crofting Register. The Assignation will take effect on the date it is registered on the Crofting Register.
It is important to note the time limits for completing and returning the notification form or the Registers of Scotland FORM B application are set by law and the Crofting Commission cannot extend them. Failure to submit the forms within the relevant timescales means the assignation of tenancy will not take effect and you will need to re-apply to assign your grazings share(s).
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