Farmers warned they must register land leases online

Concerns raised over ‘excessive’ level of detail required to satisfy property register obligations

THOUSANDS of farmers have been warned that they are legally obliged to register leases online as part of a move to bring more transparency into the letting market.

However, concerns have been raised that the “excessive” level of detail required will mean people will be able to pinpoint what individual farmers are paying for their leased land.

A large-scale awareness campaign has been launched by the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) to warn farmers who have taken out a lease on land that they must register it online within 30 days.

“The aim of the registration of these leases is to give transparency to what the real price of leases is, not only in agriculture but in businesses across the board,” said the IFA’s business chair Martin Stapleton.

“The difficulty that we have is there is no need to name the townland to give transparency.

“We would have liked it identified at district electoral division or even better county level,” he added, saying this would protect personal information for individual farmers.

It is expected that there will be keen interest in the prices being paid for leased land in the key dairy farming areas, where competition among farmers for land has seen prices soar.

Details of all the leases, including addresses, rent, date and term of the lease, will be available for public viewing on the commercial leases register on the PSRA website.

The name of the farmer leasing the land is not included on the website, but farm bodies warn that the property will be easily identifiable from the address and key information.

Campaign

Over 13,000 out of 22,000 letters have been issued by the PSRA so far to all commercial lease tenants, including on land, buildings and shop units.

A spokesman said they are carrying out an awareness campaign to make tenants aware of their obligations to register a commercial lease.

The PSRA also intend to pursue the logging of expired leases that were taken out since 2012.

A PSRA spokesman said it ensures transparency in the area.

“Widespread compliance will ensure there is more accurate published information which will in turn provide a more level playing field for existing and prospective commercial tenants,” he said.

“Sensitive information such as the personal details of the tenant and the landlord are not included in the published register and there is no charge for submitting the form.”

Over 8,300 leases have been registered since 2012 — with 1,406 returned by tenants so far this year.

Many farmers who have taken out leases on land were unaware of their legal requirements under the 2011 Property Services (Regulation) Act, with a penalty of up to €5,000 upon conviction in the district court.

Blarney auctioneer Dan Fleming believes that landowners and tenants won’t like it as it makes public what was agreed privately.

“Farmers are very private people,” he added.

Auctioneer Stephen Barry feels that putting the details of land leases online is releasing commercially sensitive material into the public arena and questions the benefits of it.

“If a tenant has 1,000ac of tillage leased, his competitors and/or his bank or merchant will be able to put all that information together and make a business call on what should be private information,” he said.

ICMSA deputy president Lorcan McCabe questioned the need for the reporting of such detail, describing it as “clearly excessive”.

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