Pertinent

In Scotland, a pertinent (plural: pertinents) is something that lawfully goes with a heritable property when you buy it, beyond the main house or flat itself. That can be a physical share (e.g. 1/8 of the close and stair) or a right that benefits the property.

The stock conveyancing phrase “parts, privileges and pertinents” (or “parts and pertinents”) is shorthand for the property plus whatever accessories and rights properly belong with it.

Pertinents come in two broad kinds.

Corporeal pertinents are physical things or land attached to the property. Examples include a garden strip, garage, bin store, coal cellar, or a share of ownership in a stair or roof. “Corporeal” means something with a physical presence.

Incorporeal pertinents are rights that benefit the property but are not themselves a lump of land you exclusively own. A classic example is a servitude (a right to use someone else’s land in a defined way, such as a right of access over a lane), or a right to enforce a title condition.

What you get is what the title deeds and Land Register title sheet grant, plus (for a tenement) any defaults under the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 where the title is silent. The stock phrase “parts and pertinents” does not add land or rights beyond that.

HMRC’s Scottish land-law glossary (VAT Notice 742/3) treats Parts, Privileges and Pertinents as accessory land and neighbouring rights that pass with the main subjects, such as a parking space that belongs with a flat.

Where will i encounter pertinents?

You will usually encounter pertinents during conveyancing, when your solicitor reviews what the title documents say you get with the home.

On a Land Register title sheet kept by Registers of Scotland, the property section (often called the A section) describes what is registered. Under the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012, that section must include particulars of any incorporeal pertinents (section 6(1)(b)). RoS guidance confirms that rights such as servitudes benefiting the plot are entered there.

Corporeal pertinents can appear in more than one way.

  • An exclusive pertinent of one property (for example a garage for one flat) may sit on the same title sheet as the main subjects.
  • A right in common (an undivided share, sometimes called pro indiviso) in a shared area is often narrated in the property section with wording such as “together with a [fraction] pro indiviso share in…”.
  • Shared areas may also sit on a separate shared-plot title sheet, with your flat or house title as a sharing plot that cross-refers to it.

Pertinents and rights are often first set out in the breakaway deed that created the individual flat or plot, or in a later deed of servitude or Deed of Conditions. Maintenance and cost-sharing rules about shared items often appear in the burdens section, and as other title conditions.

In a tenement, the close (the shared entrance, passage, stairs and landings) is a typical example of a common-property pertinent. Under the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004, flats that use the close for access normally get a right of common property in it unless the title says otherwise.

Shared roofs, solum, lifts, and service features can also sit as pertinents or as rights in common, depending on the deeds and the Act’s defaults. Buyers often call these shared bits “common parts”. That everyday label overlaps with pertinents but is not identical,

A Home Report and your viewing give a practical sense of shared areas, but title and deeds decide what rights and shares you actually get.

Boundaries on the title plan (the red edge and any tinted areas) help show exclusive extent versus shared ground.

What buyers confuse it with

A pertinent is anything that lawfully goes with the property when you buy it, beyond the main flat or house. That can be a physical share (e.g. 1/8 of the close and stair) or a right that benefits the property.

A servitude is one kind of right: a defined right to use someone else’s land (e.g. pedestrian access over a neighbour’s lane to the bins). You don’t own that land; you have a right to use it.

So: every benefiting servitude on your title is a pertinent; not every pertinent is a servitude. A share of the close is common-property ownership, not a servitude.

“Parts and pertinents” is not a guarantee of extra rooms, a garden, or parking if those are not in the title.

Pertinents are not the same as fixtures and fittings. Heritable fixtures usually pass with the land. Moveable property dealt with in the inventory or missives, not as title pertinents.

A pertinent is generally something you get (land or a right). A burden is an obligation or restriction on the property, often listed in the burdens section.

Exclusive ownership of a cellar or attic is different from a right in common. Buyers sometimes assume “the attic is mine” when the title only gives a share, or the other way around.

Sources

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