Tenancy survey ‘should flush out rogue agents’

A survey among those involved in negotiating farm tenancies should, accordingtothedirectorof the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association (STFA), help flush out “rogue” land agents.

Angus Mccall said STFA was well aware that there were still some individuals who seemed to have a “cavalier attitude in the way they conducted their business”, adding: “We hope that this survey will help flush them out and put an end to the bad practice which has given their profession such an unfortunate reputation.”

But he said: “There will always be maverick landlords, tenants and agents who will continue to ignore codes of practice and codes of conduct and it will be up to the industry to put pressure on them to mend their ways.

“Landlords and tenants have become increasingly reliant on their professional advisers who now exert a disproportionate influence over the way in which let land is managed and on the relationships between landlords and tenants.

“Nowadays landlords invariably engage outside firms of land agents to factor their tenanted farms. The days of the traditional management style of the residential estate factor living on the estate and knowing the tenants are long gone, replaced by commercially driven firms of land agents with little personal knowledge of the estate and often the workings of the tenanted system.

“This lack of understanding and sometimes tactless behaviour usually comes to the fore during rent reviews.”

Mccall was responding to a call from Scotland’s Tenant Farming Commissioner, Bob Mcintosh, who encouraged landlords and tenants to take part in the survey.

It is part of the review of agents which he has been asked to complete under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016. Following the survey, he has, by next March, to make recommendations to Scottish Government ministers.

Mcintosh said he wanted to deliver a robust factual report. “Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, but I would encourage both landlords and tenants to take part so that we can get a true understanding of the current situation.”

He stressed the information provided would be completely confidential.