The last post of Giles Peaker. I very much admired him. RIP and condolences to all his friends and family

I can’t recall when I was more upset by the death of someone I’d never met than of that of Giles Peaker.

Awful news. I never met him in person but had numerous informative exchanges with him here, in the blogosphere, and in the other place.

Such very very sad news.

Giles was so generous with his time and information, and patiently signposted me several times when I worked with families who would often have housing issues as well as needing help with benefits - he will be much missed.

Another great, important thread debunking the way the right-wing media misleads and misrepresents at every turn.

I posted a thread yesterday about what the SNP and certain other parties are saying about land reform and housing in their manifestos. If anyone has any thoughts about what else is worth including, let me know.

The manifesto is silent, but presumably not, at least in situations when a buyout has actually happened under legislation (given public interest and sustainable development criteria, plus local accountability).

Bluntly though, this is never going to be implemented, so no need to worry about that.

They also touch on public access to land and transparency. Separately, they say they'll strengthen rent controls for residential tenants. This is probably the most radical of the manifestos (I suppose because they are unlikely to actually form the Scottish Government themselves).

The Greens also commit to "updating Community Right to Buy legislation to make it easier" with a view to empowering communities, and "a review of succession law to ensure the inheritance of landholdings does not contribute further to Scotland’s monopoly of landownership." >

"Apply a Public Interest Test on those who want to purchase large areas of land, which would exclude overseas owners and overturn the concentration of land ownership in the hands of a few." These [separate] steps have also been considered before. >

"Introduce Compulsory Sale Order powers to force the sale of sites that have been consistently left vacant and derelict in cities, towns and rural areas." These have been mooted before. >

"Deliver a radical Land Reform Bill to limit how much land can be owned by any individual or company to a maximum of 500 hectares, unless it can be proved that ownership will make a significant contribution to the common good." [Query whether this would be retrospective - ECHR issues if so.] >

After those striking headings, it says "The Scottish Greens will fight for transformative land reform – for bold legislation that diversifies land ownership, strengthens community right to buy, and finally addresses urban land reform." Bullet points then detail various devices. >

Turning to what seems to be the busiest manifesto on land reform, the Greens (at section 30 of 36) say "THIS LAND BELONGS TO ALL OF US" and "LAND IS POWER. AND FOR TOO LONG, THAT POWER HAS BEEN CONCENTRATED IN TOO FEW HANDS" greens.scot/sites/defaul... >

Scotland Manifesto | Reform UK Reform UK is Britain's fastest growing political party. Join us to fix broken Britain with common sense policies on immigration, the economy, the NHS and more.

Meanwhile, Reform, despite the name, doesn't like land reform. They simply say, "In Government, Reform UK will: Repeal SNP bad laws including Hate Crime and Land Reform". > www.reformparty.uk/view-pdf/sco...

Manifesto Accessibility - Scottish Labour You can find the pdf version of Scottish Labour’s 2026 Manifesto here. Below you can find the Large Print Manifesto. More accessible versions coming soon.

For fuller coverage, I'll mention some other parties. Labour don't say too much on land reform, beyond, "Simplify Community Right to Buy, making the legal process easier for local people to buy and own local land and assets for the benefit of communities." > scottishlabour.org.uk/manifesto-20...

Finally from the SNP, I note the commitment to tenement law reform. This strikes me as welcome, given all the work of the Scottish Law Commission in this area. >

That is, a landlord has a ground for possession when a sale is genuinely planned. Do they still get to try to evict first [and a tribunal gets to rule on reasonableness]? Or does the eviction ground only apply where a tenant has indicated they can't or don't want to buy? >

"...give private rental tenants a period of first refusal
to purchase the property they rent at a fair
market price when the owner chooses to put it
up for sale." This is definitely not a forced transfer, but it is still a big deal. I wonder how it will interact with evictions. >

[At page 30]: "We are aware of the challenges that private renters face in saving up for their first home and how that can be particularly challenging when
their landlord decides to sell their property. To
tackle this, we will introduce new legislation to..." >

Community rights to buy review – some thoughts on the Scottish Government’s recommendations In March 2026, the Scottish Government published “proposals to combine Right to Buy legislation to simplify the process for community groups to take over land and assets”. This followed…

I digested that "Community rights to buy review" on my blog: basedrones.wordpress.com/2026/04/13/c... The other land reform measure is the proposed "Tenant Right to First Refusal". Some people might not call this land reform - I will. The manifesto says >

It goes on: "supporting existing tenants and providing new long-term opportunities for progressing farmers, and enhancing opportunities and support for
community right to buy and ownership". Query whether this will involve new legislation beyond the recent community RTB review. >

The manifesto says, "The [Rural Renewal Bill" will continue our land reform journey", with "steps to make
land ownership transparent, implementing robust anti-avoidance measures". There have been transparency steps in the past (notably in the 2016 Act). >

There is to be a Rural Renewal Bill, which will involve rural planning law reform, the creation of new "small land holdings" [query whether this is to have a technical meaning], support and opportunities for new entrant crofters, plus land reform stuff. >

SNP Manifesto – The Scottish Parliament Election 2026

That's the SNP Manifesto for Holyrood 2026 out. Given the way the polls are looking, I'm going to offer some thoughts on what it says about land reform and housing here. I'll then branch off into what some other parties say (Labour; Reform; Greens). > issuu.com/hinksbrandwi...

Community rights to buy review – some thoughts on the Scottish Government’s recommendations In March 2026, the Scottish Government published “proposals to combine Right to Buy legislation to simplify the process for community groups to take over land and assets”. This followed…

The Scottish Government recently aired its proposals for reforming community rights to buy in Scotland. Here's my blog post that seeks to distil and comment on the various recommendations (and indeed non-recommendations). basedrones.wordpress.com/2026/04/13/c...

Further Reporting of Offences to Police Scotland - Land Matters The Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land was established under Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 to provide greater transparency on who owns land. It requires partners...

BLOG - I have reported further offences to Police Scotland under the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land. andywightman.scot/2026/04/furt...

Community rights to buy review – some thoughts on the Scottish Government’s recommendations In March 2026, the Scottish Government published “proposals to combine Right to Buy legislation to simplify the process for community groups to take over land and assets”. This followed…

The Scottish Government recently aired its proposals for reforming community rights to buy in Scotland. Here's my blog post that seeks to distil and comment on the various recommendations (and indeed non-recommendations). basedrones.wordpress.com/2026/04/13/c...

Cover of Legal Education in the Classroom: The transformative potential of community engaged teaching and learning by Suzanne Egan, Deirdre McGillicuddy and Alison Struthers. Beige cover with coloured pencils.

Available for pre-order now, should legal education be your bag...or maybe you have budget to use up before year end?

Oh, wait, nobody has budget anymore.

But, available in paperback, not prohibitively expensive, & hopefully useful!

That's my pitch!

bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/legal-educat...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán concedes defeat after 'painful' election result Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has conceded defeat after what he called a ″painful″ election result, ending 16 years in power for a powerful figure in the far-right movement allied with U.S.

BREAKING: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán concedes defeat to Peter Magyar after "painful" election result, ending 16 years in power.