New Rules on Ejections
June 2012

The Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007 gave powers to Ministers to make regulations regarding the procedure for the execution of ejections and removings. Some aspects of those procedures appeared to be grey areas with practices developed by custom and use over many years. Much of the procedure has now been clarified by the Act of Sederunt (Actions for removing from heritable property) 2012 This Act of Sederunt came into force on 18 June 2012, The main points of the new procedure are as follows.

Charge

A charge for removing is still served under the normal rules for service. Where service is effected by depositing it in the defender’s dwelling place or leaving it there so it comes to his attention, a further copy is sent by post to the last address where it is thought he will be found. Provision is now made for service on the Walls of Court where the defender’s address is not known. When service is effected on the Walls of Court the sheriff officer must also affix a copy of the charge to the door of the relevant property in an envelope bearing the notice “TAKE NOTICE: This envelope contains a copy of a charge for removing from a Sheriff Officer.”

Notice of Date for Removal

Formerly there was no prescribed form of notice of the date for removal and creditors and officers developed their own styles. That has now changed with a prescribed form in Form 4. This form is served by Sheriff Officer leaving the notice at the relevant property and sending a copy to the address at which he thinks it most likely the defender will be found. The date of the removal must be at least 48 hours after the notice is served. That period can be dispensed with on application to the sheriff.

Execution of Decree

There were no prescribed formalities to define when a decree of removing had been executed. A practice had developed of pinning a notice to the door with the Royal Initials and a statement that a removing had been effected. Now, an officer will complete an execution in Form 7 certifying the date and the fact that the decree has been executed. A copy of that certificate of execution will be affixed to the main door of the property.

There is nothing particularly novel in these provisions and they formalise the situation so there is a degree of certainty for officers, creditors and debtors.