5.04 By virtue of s 1(1) of the 1986 Act, an ‘agricultural holding’ is defined to mean the ‘aggregate of the land (whether agricultural land or not) comprised in a contract of tenancy which is a contract for an agricultural tenancy’

Whether a contract is that of an agricultural tenancy is to be determined by reference to the terms of the tenancy, the actual or contemplated user of the land (both ab initio and subsequently) and ‘any other relevant circumstances’.⁴ However, the tenancy will be agricultural only if the whole of the land comprised in the contract of tenancy, ‘subject to such exceptions only as do not substantially affect the character of the tenancy’, is let for use as agricultural land.⁵ The correct question is whether the substantial user of the whole of the holding is agricultural or not.⁶