New lease of life for letting sector

Themodernlimitedduration Tenancy (MLTD), part of the 2016 Land Reform Act, officially came into operation yesterday – replacing the Limited duration Tenancy (LDT) as the letting vehicle for tenancies of ten years or more in an attempt to give the letting sector a new lease of life.

Despite the staggered nature of enactment of much of the Act’s revamped agricultural holdings legislation – due the requirement for often complex secondary legislation – the change was welcomed yesterday by the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association (STFA). The organisation said that MLTDS were very similar to LDTS although there were some important differences which were designed to make them more attractive to those leasing the land out.

“There is now much more freedom to agree fixed equipment provided by the landlord and, as in LDTS virtual freedom of contract to agree rent review provisions, although tenants must be allowed to initiate a rent review – and upwards only rent reviews are prohibited,” said STFA chairman, Christopher Nicholson.

“We hope that MLDTS will soon become the norm in letting land and we are pleased to note that there are already new tenancies on the point of being signed, some for substantial periods on time”.

Nicholson said that since LDTS had been launched in 2003 there had been a number of changes to address concerns voiced by landlords.

“Minimum term lengths have been reduced from 15 to 10 years and the latest reform introduces break clauses to allow landlords to get rid of an unsatisfactory new entrant and a get out of jail card for a new entrant in an unsatisfactory tenancy.”