Agricultural Tenancies
A proposal to amend the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 and Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 in order to remove burdens on landlords and tenants of agricultural land and on persons appointed to arbitrate in disputes between them. It will:
- Expand the range of activities from which relatives of a tenant of agricultural land could derive income without jeopardising any rights of statutory succession to a tenancy;
- Remove existing restrictions on the eligibility of parties to a tenancy agreement for compensation for improvements (in the case of tenants) or dilapidations (in the case of landlords) at the end of that tenancy;
- Bring the provisions of the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 relating to the management of the arbitration of disputes over tenancies into line with arbitration mechanisms of the Arbitration Act 1996;
- Amend statutory provisions which govern the holding of rent reviews for agricultural tenancies;
- Make it easier to add new land to an agricultural holding which is subject to a tenancy under the agricultural Holdings Act 1986, without that necessarily voiding the existing tenancy agreement; and
- Abolish the upper limit of 4 months for a notice to put a tenancy under the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995, so that indefinitely long notice could be given.
Initial Scrutiny period began 30 March 2006.
Final Stage Scrutiny
