Land for housing and development: Research on transparency of Options Agreements

As part of our work on reforming land markets, SLC intends to commission a suitably experienced contractor to examine the benefits, barriers, and options around improving transparency to improve the ways in which we bring forward land for housing.

This research will review existing evidence, and conduct primary qualitative research with key stakeholders, to examine the Commission’s recommendation to “Introduce a new transparency obligation that would require options agreements and conditional contracts over land to be disclosed on a public register.” The research will explore the benefits to implementing this recommendation, as well as any barriers, before suggesting options for a public record of options agreements and conditional contracts on raw land.

The objectives of this work are:

1. To understand what level of information is available on land optioned for housing development in Scotland.
2. To set out the case for transparency versus arguments for commercial confidentiality.
3. To suggest options for a public record of options agreements and conditional contracts on raw land.