Landowners have been urged to move on from the debate surrounding the Absolute Right to Buy (ARTB) and “show a bit of courage” by making more farmland available to let.
The plea from Andrew Thin, who currently sits on the Scottish Government’s Agricultural Holdings Legislation Review Group, came at NFU Scotland’s council meeting yesterday in Battleby, near Perth.
“I think that landowners need to move on and show a bit of courage and realise that the ARTB is unlikely to happen,” said Mr Thin, who said the review group did not think ARTB was in the long-term interests of the tenanted sector.
The tenanted sector was not broken, but rather a sector in decline, said Mr Thin.
“Scotland has the lowest proportion of farmland in tenancies in Europe. We are right at the bottom of the pile and we need to reverse that,” he added.
“If we are going to grow the number of tenancies and the amount of tenanted land – and my goodness we need to grow – we need to change the framework.”
He said the key to bringing more land to the market was the creation of more flexible letting vehicles, as well as measures to make it easier for farmers to assign their tenancies.
“We need to encourage tenants who wish to retire to do so; they need to be able to get their money out so that they can retire with dignity,” added Mr Thin.
Provisional thinking coming through from the review group includes the extension of succession rights to all persons entitled to inherit on intestacy and a new right for producers to assign their tenancy to those who are deemed entitled to succeed during lifetime.
The group is also proposing a new right to assign secure 1991 Act tenancies for a value based on the market.
Firstly, landowners should be offered a pre-emptive right to buy out the assignation, or the alternative is that tenant has the right to assign a new retirement term Limited Duration Tenancy (LDT) for the market value, without the landowner requiring a pre-emptive right to buy.
According to Scottish Tenant Farmers’ Association chairman Christopher Nicholson, assignation was the key to stimulating movement and growth in the sector.
“I’m not sure that everybody realises the massive different that assignation will make,” said Mr Nicholson.
“At the moment we are seeing 100-200 tenancies come to an end each year due to lack of successors. The small ones would be ideal for a new entrant to step into. Although they are small, it provides a secure base from which we can let more land.”
Tenant farmer Iain Mackay, who also sits on the review group and chairs the new generation group, said an “unrealistic fear of ARTB” was faltering confidence among landlords to let out land.
“Assignation of 91 Act tenancies or a retirement LDT would help growing businesses,” he said.
Another proposal put forward by the review group in its interim report (CHECK) in June was the creation of the ombudsman to oversee and enforce a code of practice for the sector.
Mr Thin yesterday said the group was likely to recommend that this be statutory rather than voluntary.
The review group will publish its final report outlining recommendations on how to improve the sector in December.