Scottish local authorities hold unspent planning contributions paid under Section 75 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. Scottish developers pay over £511 million a year into these agreements, yet it is rarely checked whether the money was spent as promised. If your agreement is more than five years old, your right to recover may already have arisen. We carry out the full review at no cost. Nothing is owed unless we recover something.
Figure: research commissioned by Homes for Scotland.
We handle the entire recovery process on your behalf, from reviewing your Section 75 agreement through to receiving and accounting for the funds.
Complete our short enquiry form with the basics about your Section 75 obligation. We review the agreement and confirm whether a recovery entitlement exists, at no cost or obligation to you.
Free initial reviewWe write to your Scottish planning authority and request a full account of how your contribution was spent. Once an unspent balance is confirmed, we make a formal request for repayment and manage it through to payment.
We handle everythingWe deduct our success fee from the recovered sum and transfer the net balance to you within 5 working days of receipt. If nothing is recovered, you owe us nothing at all.
Success-only basis. Nothing owed if nothing is recovered.Many developers assume that the absence of an express repayment clause closes the matter. The position under Scots law is that where a genuine surplus remains and the purpose of the contribution has been fulfilled or can no longer be achieved, a case for repayment can be made. Section 75 agreements are registered in the Land Register or Register of Sasines and run with the land. Their precise terms govern entitlement, but we will assess your position and advise you at no cost before proceeding.
We charge nothing unless and until a sum is recovered on your behalf. Our fee is deducted from the recovered amount. You receive the balance, having risked nothing.
Prescription periods under Scots law (Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973) depend on the nature and terms of the specific obligation. We will confirm the applicable period as part of our free initial review. The rate and all terms are set out in our engagement letter, which you will receive before any work begins.
You hand the matter to us once. We carry it through and report back at each stage.
We work out what your Section 75 agreement required the planning authority to do with your contribution, and by when. Every review is specific to your agreement and your site.
We establish how much of the contribution was spent, what it was spent on, and how much remains. If the planning authority's account is incomplete, we follow up until the position is clear.
Where a balance is repayable, we write formally to the planning authority setting out the sum due, with interest where the agreement provides for it, and ask for repayment within a set period.
Where the agreement requires repayment, the planning authority is obliged to return the unspent balance. When payment arrives we deduct our success fee and transfer the balance to you within 5 working days.
If repayment is not made: We set out your options and take no further step without your instruction. Where proceedings are the right course, we work alongside Scottish-qualified solicitors.
A Scottish planning authority cannot lawfully refuse planning permission or treat a developer less favourably because that developer has exercised a legitimate contractual right. Planning decisions in Scotland must be based on material planning considerations only. Any conduct to the contrary is challengeable by appeal or judicial review as an improper purpose. We address this directly in every engagement.
We also work only in our own name. Every letter to a planning authority is sent by EM Development Consultants Limited, never by you and never under your company's name.
The legislation and case precedents below are the foundation for claims across Scotland.
Scotland has a separate legal system. English and Welsh case law is not binding in Scotland, though it may be persuasive. The recovery process under Section 75 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 operates under Scots law, with disputes resolved in the Sheriff Court or Court of Session. We work alongside Scottish-qualified solicitors where proceedings are required.
Two Section 75 agreements, approved in 2009 and renewed in 2018, required the developer to fund educational enhancements linked to the 400-home Greenan Views development, with a strict deadline for spending the contribution by September 2024. The anticipated rise in pupil numbers from the development had not materialised. On 10 February 2026 South Ayrshire councillors voted to return almost £6 million to the developer, with the council's service lead for Planning and Building Control stating that developer contribution money, while held by the council, is not the council's money, and that where the reason for a contribution has not come to pass, the council has no legitimate reason to keep it.
The primary legislation governing planning obligations in Scotland. Section 75 allows planning authorities to enter into agreements with developers restricting or regulating the development or use of land. These agreements are registered against the title and enforceable by and against successors in title.
This English High Court decision held that a repayment term can be implied into a Section 106 agreement without an express clause, but only in limited circumstances where the parties plainly intended it. Recovery under an express clause remains the materially stronger position. While not binding in Scotland, the reasoning is consistent with Scots law on unjustified enrichment and the terms of registered obligations.
Scottish Government guidance on developer contributions confirms that obligations must relate to the development, be necessary, and be spent on the intended purpose. Where contributions are paid and the stated purpose is not pursued, the basis for retaining the funds falls away, supporting the case for repayment.
Homes for Scotland's own commissioned research puts developer contributions under Section 75 agreements at £511 million a year across Scotland, £332 million of that towards affordable housing and £179 million towards other infrastructure, including £108 million for education. The research measures what gets agreed and paid. It does not, and nothing else published does either, track whether that money is ever actually spent.
Scottish planning authorities cannot lawfully penalise developers for exercising a contractual right. We address this in every client communication and monitor for any sign of retaliatory conduct. All correspondence with the planning authority goes out in our name, never the developer's.
We never take a one-size-fits-all approach. Every piece of correspondence we send to a planning authority is specific to your agreement, your site and your circumstances. The authority is given no room to respond in vague or incomplete terms.
If a planning authority does not repay, we set out the options and act only with your agreement, working alongside Scottish-qualified solicitors where proceedings are required.
Reviewing historic agreements for unspent balances is not a sideline for us, it is the whole business, at no cost or risk to you unless a sum is actually recovered. That is a different proposition to asking an existing adviser to look at it as one item among many.
EM Development Consultants Limited works only on the recovery of unspent planning contributions: Section 106 agreements in England and Wales, and Section 75 agreements in Scotland.
We bring 28 years of experience working with housebuilders and developers on new build sites, so we know how developments are delivered and what gets left unchecked once a site is complete.
Every instruction is led at director level, and we work alongside qualified solicitors where proceedings are required.
Tell us the basics and we will come back to you within 2 working days with a clear view of your recovery prospects.