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ARTICLE · 09 OCTOBER 2025

What Is A Cottar?

Shepherd and Wedderburn
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This recently published judgment of the Land Court in the case of MacLachlan v Lamont & MacDonald sheds light on a little-discussed but potentially consequential area of the Scots law of property.

United KingdomReal Estate and Construction
Ross Simpson
Ross Simpson
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This recently published judgment of the Land Court in the case of MacLachlan v Lamont & MacDonald sheds light on a little-discussed but potentially consequential area of the Scots law of property.

The Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993 grants certain rights to 'cottars' – broadly, people who occupy a dwelling-house in the crofting counties and pay little or no rent. One of those rights is an entitlement in some circumstances to a conveyance (in effect, to take ownership) of the site of the dwelling-house. The Act also allows a cottar to apply to the Land Court if they are unable to achieve this by way of agreement with their landlord. But what, exactly, makes someone a cottar? That was the key question in this case.

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