5.01 The Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 applies only to an agreement entered into before 1 September 1995.

All tenancies entered into on or after that date will be farm business tenancies within the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995. The only situations in which an agreement entered into on or after the 1 September 1995 can create a tenancy of an agricultural holding are set out in the saving provisions of s 4 of the 1995 Act,¹ eg, a tenancy granted by way of succession to an agricultural holding, to a qualifying close relative of a deceased or retiring tenant.

5.02 The 1986 Act will, nevertheless, continue to provide statutory protection for many tenancies for a considerable period into the future. Tenancies of agricultural holdings enjoy long term security of tenure, and many also carry statutory succession rights,² so that succession tenancies granted on or after 1 September 1995 will also be within the 1986 Act. This will necessarily perpetuate the relevance of the statutory code in the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986. A consideration of the terms of the 1986 Act will also be essential to ascertain the legal status of many short term, oral or unconventional agreements entered into before the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 came into force. As we shall see, s 2 of the 1986 Act converted many licences, and other insecure interests, into yearly agricultural tenancies with full security of tenure. The 1995 Act, by contrast, contains no comparable provision protecting short term agreements entered into on or after 1 September 1995. When considering the legal status of long standing arrangements for the occupation of land, especially where these are relatively informal, it will therefore be essential to establish whether the 1986 Act has applied so as to create a secure letting before 1 September 1995.³ If it has, the tenancy will enjoy statutory security of tenure and the other statutory rights set out in the 1986 Act, and may (depending upon when the tenancy was created) also enjoy statutory succession rights.

5.03 It follows that, while it is no longer possible to create a tenancy of an agricultural holding (save in limited cases) on or after 1 September 1995, the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 continues to be highly relevant in practice.