Update landlords on any work done, tenants told

With the amnesty on notification of tenants’ improvements now up and running, tenants were yesterday advised to make the most of the opportunity to update landlords on work which had been carried out without formal notification.

With both the Tenant Farming Commissioner (TFC) and the Scottish Agricultural Arbiters and Valuers Association (SAAVA) launching a code of practice and full guidance on the issue respectively when the amnesty was launched on 13 June, NFU Scotland and Crown Estate Scotland yesterday highlighted how the issue should be handled.

With the waygo amnesty now in operation, the organisations want tenants to consider if they have carried out improvements which, for a variety of understandable reasons, were never notified to their landlords.

Without this notification, should the tenants ever leave their farms they would not qualify for compensation for the work at waygo. However, part of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016, the amnesty which began in June and will last for three years, allows such omissions to be rectified.

And to encourage the uptake of the amnesty and raise awareness of the opportunities, Crown Estate Scotland’s head of property, Andy Wells, said that in line with the organisation’s desire to promote best practice in tenant landlord relations, he would write to all the estate’s agricultural tenants with a copy of the code of practice.

While the code of practice produced by the TFC, Bob Mcintosh, outlines the manner in which the negotiations between landlord and tenant should be conducted, the SAAVA publication, which was drawn up in association with the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, is a more detailed guide which focuses on the more technical and legal aspects of the legislation.

NFU Scotland policy manager Gemma Cooper welcomed the move taken by the Crown Estates towards promoting best practice for relationships between landlords and tenants and urged others to do the same:

“The Tenant Farming Commissioner’s first code has been produced to accompany the start of the amnesty, and the union encourages landlords and tenants to familiarise themselves with this.”

She said that during discussions around agricultural holdings prior to the new legislation being passed it was clear that uncertainty over waygo had been one of the main areas of friction between tenants and landlords.

“NFU Scotland is pleased that Crown Estate is taking the lead in actively providing all of its agricultural tenants with a copy of the code to allow them to make an informed decision about whether to utilise the amnesty.”

Wells added: “We are keen to work closely with tenants to resolve any outstanding matters regarding the notification of improvements, and hope that sending each tenant a copy of the code will help in this process. The code provides clear guidance to help inform negotiations and we urge all our tenants to consider if there is a need to review, record and agree any improvements they have made as set out in the code.”

Copies of the TFC code are available online on the Scottish Land Commission’s website, while the SAAVA guide is available from members of the organisation.