Section 38 – Creation of floating charges
117.Subsections (1) and (2) of section 38 derive from section 462(1) of the Companies Act 1985 and restate the statutory rule that, in Scotland, a company may grant a floating charge. In view of the generality of the phrases “debt or other obligation” and “all or any part of the property” the reference in parentheses in the existing provision to the former including a “cautionary obligation” and the latter “uncalled capital” is unnecessary. The term “company” is defined in section 47.
118.Subsection (3) lays down the new rule that, after the new legislation enters into force, the creation of a floating charge occurs only when the document granting the floating charge is registered in the Register of Floating Charges (which is instituted in terms of section 37).
119.Subsection (4) clarifies the meaning of “document granting a floating charge” to reflect the fact that it is a company which grants a floating charge albeit by means of a document.
120.Section 462(5) of the Companies Act 1985 provides that a floating charge has effect in relation to heritable property without the need for the document granting the charge to be registered in the Land Register or recorded in the Register of Sasines. It is evident from section 28 of the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979 that a floating charge constitutes an “overriding interest” and is not a registrable interest. The provision that floating charges are created by registration in the Register of Floating Charges implies no further act of registration is required and the terms of section 462(5) are not re-enacted.