Comedian Alan Carr has purchased a 17-bedroom castle in Scotland for more than £3.3 million, with attempts made to keep the exact sale price undisclosed. The property, Ayton Castle in Berwickshire, was acquired by the 50-year-old television personality earlier this year.
The 19th-century baronial-style home, situated on over 160 acres, was listed with offers starting above £3.25 million. The final price paid was £3,310,300. The castle's ownership was transferred to Alan Graham Carr in mid-June.
To conceal the purchase price, a legal loophole in Scotland was utilized. Buyers can opt not to disclose the monetary consideration for land transactions to Registers of Scotland, the public record office. Instead, they can insert the legal term 'implementation of missives' under 'non-monetary consideration,' preventing the price from appearing on title deeds or the public land register.
This method requires individuals seeking the sale price to formally request the application form from Registers of Scotland, a process that incurs additional cost and time.
Land reform analyst Andy Wightman stated that this practice is contrary to the spirit of land registration rules and suggested that regulations should be updated. Ayton Castle, designed by architect James Gillespie Graham in 1845, also features a 600-meter mini-railway on its grounds.
A spokesperson for Registers of Scotland confirmed that land registration law mandates the disclosure of consideration, which is typically monetary but can also be non-monetary. The Keeper of the Registers is required to record the consideration precisely as presented in the deed and cannot ascertain the nature or reasons for non-monetary consideration.
