In England & Wales, the main relevant legislative provisions
are the Agricultural Holdings Act (AHA) 1986
IHTM24220) and the Agricultural
Tenancies Act (ATA) 1995. (
IHTM24240)
Under the Regulatory Reform (Agricultural Tenancies)(England
and Wales) Order 2006 (SI no 2805), from October 2006, further
changes to agricultural tenancy law were made. A number of matters
of detail which had broad consensus support were incorporated into
both the 1986 and 1995 Acts by the order.
Statutory intervention to improve the legal position of the
agricultural tenant actually began in 1875 with the Agricultural
Holdings (England) Act. Before this date the only protection was
under common law. Under this most agricultural tenancies were
terminable by six months’ notice to quit and there was no
security of tenure.
The first main legislative provision was the Agricultural
Holdings Act 1948, which replaced and consolidated all previous
legislation dating back to 1875. The 1948 Act set out a detailed
code of rights to compensation and security of tenure, as well as
providing a system of arbitration for the settlement of disputes as
to rent, compensation and the terms of tenancy agreements. This
legislation needs to be seen in the context of the fact that
post-war rationing was still in force and parliament regarded it as
essential that farm production was improved. So agricultural
tenants needed to be encouraged to maintain and improve their land
on a long-term basis.
Protection for tenants was further increased by the
introduction of succession rights in the Agriculture (Miscellaneous
Provisions) Act 1976. However these rights were removed for
tenancies granted after 12 July 1984 by the Agricultural Holdings
Act 1984 which also made a number of other amendments, including
the introduction of a statutory formula for the variation of rent.
The Agricultural Holdings Act 1986, which came into force on
18 June 1986 consolidated the previous legislation and also
contained a number of minor alterations. This Act puts into place a
comprehensive framework providing for security of tenure,
regulation of the terms and conditions of the tenancy and for the
payment of compensation to tenants for improvements and
disturbance.
In addition, the social legislation embodied in the Rent
(Agriculture) Act 1976 and now the Housing Act 1988 gives
considerable legal protection to occupiers of tied agricultural
accommodation, both in terms of security of tenure and control of
rents.
Such strong and wide-ranging protection, although providing
incentive to the tenant for long-term improvement of buildings and
land, was conversely a disincentive to landowners to let their
land. The existence of an agricultural tenancy could more than
halve the value of the land and succession rights could tie up the
land for three generations. So it is not surprising that landlords
have tried to take advantage of provisions for short-term
arrangements, which do not confer security of tenure and of
alternative arrangements by which land is held outside the
landlord/tenant relationship such as partnerships, share farming
and other forms of joint venture.
Because of the nature of the protection given to
agricultural tenants and also because of a move towards more owner
occupation by farmers, the proportion of tenanted agricultural land
fell into steady decline and reform was clearly needed.
This came in the form of the Agricultural Tenancies Act
1995, (
IHTM24240) which is the most radical
reform of land tenure legislation since 1948. It introduced a new
type of tenancy structure – the farm business tenancy (
IHTM24240) – which applies (with
some minor exceptions) to all tenancies of farmland granted on or
after 1 September 1995. The new legislation represents a
substantial deregulation of new lettings, with the parties free to
negotiate the terms of the tenancy without statutory interference
and without the imposition of security of tenure after the expiry
of the agreed term.
The new legislation has three main objectives
The ATA 1995 is part of the process of changing the legal
infrastructure of farming to provide a suitable legal regime for
planning and promoting rural diversification, in order to create a
more broadly based rural economy which is less reliant on
traditional agriculture.
Although it is not possible to create a tenancy (excepting a
few limited statutorily defined circumstances) of an agricultural
holding under the AHA 1986 from 1 September 1995, very many 1986
Act tenancies will remain in being for a considerable period to
come.
Many existing 1986 Act tenancies carry statutory succession
rights and succession tenancies granted from 1 September 1995 will
still be within the 1986 Act. You may
stillneed to consider the terms of the 1986 Act to
ascertain the legal status of many short- term, oral or
unconventional agreements entered into before the ATA 1995 came
into force. For instance, s.2 AHA 1986 acted to convert many
licences (
IHTM24222) and other insecure interests
entered into prior to 1 September 1995 into yearly agricultural
tenancies with full security of tenure.
The AHA 1986 and the ATA 1995 do not apply in Scotland, where the relevant legislation is largely contained in the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991. Certain matters such as the rules of good husbandry and good estate management are still to be found in the Agriculture (Scotland) Act 1948.
