Advice for
landowners and
managers

Practical guidance for responsible land ownership

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Owning and managing land in Scotland brings opportunities as well as responsibilities.

Decisions about land affect the people who live and work around it, as well as the economy and environment.

The Scottish Land Commission provides clear, practical advice to help landowners and managers make decisions in the public interest and in line with good practice.

Key principles for landownership

Our advice is built on the Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement (LRRS), which sets out what responsible landownership means in Scotland.

We have developed a series of protocols to help landowners and managers understand how these principles look in practice, and to support consistent good practice across the country.

Community engagement - Involving people in decisions about how land is used.
Good stewardship and natural capital - Managing land responsibly to balance economic, social and environmental outcomes.
Transparency - Making ownership and decision-making information open and accessible.
Opportunities for ownership, use and lease of land - Creating fairer access to land through shared or diversified arrangements.
Common Good - Ensuring land held for the benefit of local people is used in ways that reflect community interests today.

Our advice and guidance

We publish a range of guidance to help landowners and managers put these principles into practice. Key tools include:

Protocols – practical steps for applying the Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement.
Guidance and toolkits – detailed advice on specific issues.
Events and training – opportunities to learn and share good practice.
Case studies and stories – examples of what works in practice.

Featured guidance

Community benefits are an expected outcome of natural capital investment projects. This Route Map provides a practical guide for landowners, project developers and communities on how to discuss and embed proportionate benefits from the outset.

Route map: Community benefits from natural capital investment

A practical framework to help deliver fair, lasting benefits through natural capital projects.

Access the route map

Good Practice in action

Across Scotland, landowners and managers are putting the Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement into practice. Our case studies and news posts highlight how good stewardship, community engagement and transparent decision-making work on the ground, and the difference these approaches can make for landowners, communities and the wider public.

Read case studies and stories

How can you demonstrate good practice?

One way is by joining the Commitment to Responsible Landownership (CoRLa), a new scheme that gives landowners public recognition for putting the Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement into practice.

Through CoRLa, landowners carry out a simple self-evaluation, develop an action plan for improvement, and make a public commitment that communities and stakeholders can see.

Find out more about CoRLa

Related areas of our work

Good practice in landownership connects to other parts of the Commission’s work: