The Land Register of Scotland inherited its county based operation from the old Sasine Register system. Each county has its own operational date that is a date when the modern land registration started in that particular county. Transactions prior to that date are not registered in the Land Register.

A property becomes first registered in the modern Land Register when it is first sold for a consideration after the operational date of the Land Register. Other transactions such as charges, discharges, inheritance etc. will not trigger a registration in the Land Register and these transactions will be recorded in the old Sasine Register until the property becomes registered in the Land Register.

The Land Register operational dates by (historical) counties are as follows:

Renfrew 6 April 1981
Dumbarton 4 October 1982
Lanark 3 January 1984
Glasgow 30 September 1985
Clackmannan 1 October 1992
Stirling 1 April 1993
West Lothian 1 October 1993
Fife 1 April 1995
Aberdeen 1 April 1996
Kincardine 1 April 1996
Ayr 1 April 1997
Dumfries 1 April 1997
Kirkcudbright 1 April 1997
Wigtown 1 April 1997
Angus 1 April 1999
Kinross 1 April 1999
Perth 1 April 1999
Berwick 1 October 1999
East Lothian 1 October 1999
Peebles 1 October 1999
Roxburgh 1 October 1999
Selkirk 1 October 1999
Argyll 1 April 2000
Bute 1 April 2000
Midlothian 1 April 2001
Inverness 1 April 2002
Nairn 1 April 2002
Banff 1 April 2003
Caithness 1 April 2003
Moray 1 April 2003
Orkney and Zetland 1 April 2003
Ross and Cromarty 1 April 2003
Sutherland 1 April 2003