2 Agricultural Tenancy Legislation

1.03 The farm tenancy legislation nevertheless retains a central position in any consideration of the law as it applies to agricultural land. Since 1st September 1995 there have been two tenancy structures for agricultural land tenure based on radically different policy foundations:

•The Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 and its subordinate legislation apply to all tenancies granted prior to 1st September 1995.

•The Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 introduced a new tenancy structure – the ‘farm business tenancy’ – for all tenancies granted on or after 1 September 1995. The 1995 Act is based on freedom of contract. It confers no security of tenure on the farm business tenant, preferring to leave the negotiation of matters such as the length of the term granted and the rent (and its review) to the landlord and tenant.

1.04 Prior to the introduction of farm business tenancies in 1995, the proportion of tenanted land subject to the direct application of the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 and its predecessors had steadily decreased, and this trend will continue as ‘old’ tenancies expire and become spent. It nevertheless remains significant. The 1986 Act will continue to apply to succession tenancies granted to close family members of the original tenant after 1st September 1995, and it will also have an important effect in shaping negotiations for the rearrangement of estates after this date, as tenants with old tenancies conferring security of tenure will want to protect their position – for example when taking on additional land or swapping tenancies. The importance of the Agricultural Holdings Acts cannot, indeed, be measured solely by reference to their impact on the decline of the landlord/tenant sector. The very existence of the security of tenure, rent control and compensation provisions contained in successive Agricultural Holdings Acts is important to an understanding of the various arrangements that have developed by which land is held outside the landlord/tenant relationship. Although the tenanted sector was in decline until the introduction of farm business tenancies in 1995, much land was held under arrangements designed specifically to avoid the creation of a tenancy subject to the protective provisions of the Acts, and the legislation was important in shaping many common forms of business arrangement commonly found in modern farming eg partnerships, share farming and other forms of joint venture.