A Hong Kong-based investment firm has bought up Scots land it claims will turn people into lords and ladies. It’s telling customers they can obtain the titles by purchasing a square foot plot for $50 (£40).
But customers only get a certificate and the land ownership is kept by Galton Voysey Limited. They also claim to plant a tree for every order with “over 2,065,630 trees planted in Scotland and around the world where most needed”.
But the Trees for the Future charity they’ve planted the 2,065,630 trees with have no Scots projects and only work in Africa. Galton Voysey is selling the titles through a website called Established Titles.
Their frontwoman is Katerina Yip, a Hong Kong-based American who dreams of living in the Highlands. Scottish Land Registry documents obtained by the Sunday Mail show they’ve spent at least £350,000 on six pieces of land sectioned off into square foot plots for parties to stake a claim.
Established Titles describes them as “estates” but land registry maps show most are modest pieces of forestry land with the cheapest at £10,000. Questions over the company emerged last week after they launched a social media campaign which saw a string of popular Youtube hosts advertise their product amid claims of the rights to lord and lady titles.
That prompted viewers to claim the company was misleading customers and they later updated their website to describe the titles as a “fun gift, meant for a good laugh and not to be taken too seriously”.
Customers are told by Established Titles they can “save the Scottish woodlands, become a lord today” and after paying $50 for a square foot plot will receive a digital certificate by email with their name on it and a plot number in Scotland.
Yip told the Sunday Mail they had planted trees in Scotland with another group called One Tree Planted and helped a school project in West Lothian. She added they “always made it clear” it was a fun, novelty product.
According to the Registrars of Scotland, souvenir plots from groups like Established Titles cannot have ownership registered due to their “inconsiderable size and no practical utility”. Established Titles are just the latest in a series of companies which are selling off plots in return for lord and lady title certificates.
Highland Titles hit the headlines several years ago and have toured America to sell their products and earlier this year had them included as part of an Oscars gift bag to Hollywood stars.
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