2 Short-term improvements
9.35 By virtue of s 64(1) the tenant is also entitled to compensation on termination of his tenancy, on quitting the holding, for improvements specified in Part 1 of Sch 8 to the Act, viz short term improvements begun on or after 1 March 1948.
These are improvements that enure, for a period of limited duration, for the benefit of an incoming tenant by putting the land in good heart and condition. Because the improvements endure for a short term, their value is compensated as the value to an incoming tenant rather than the improvement they make to the long term rental value of the holding. The same rule applies to tenant right compensation (discussed below). Compensation under Sch 8, Part 1 can be claimed for: mole drainage and works carried out to secure its efficient functioning, protection of fruit trees against animals, clay burning, liming and chalking of the land, application of purchased manure and fertilizer and (finally) consumption on the holding of corn, cake or other feed stuff not produced on the holding, by horses, cattle, sheep, pigs or poultry. The landlord’s consent to these improvements is not required as a precondition to a claim for compensation (cf long-term improvements under Sch 7 above).9.36 Section 66(2) provides that the amount of compensation for short-term improvements is the value of the improvement to an incoming tenant, calculated in accordance with the prescribed regulations currently in force. Until October 2015, the regulations in force were the Agriculture (Calculation of Value for Compensation) Regulations 1978 (as amended).72 Part 1 to the Schedule of the 1978 Regulations sets out detailed rules for the calculation of compensation for Sch 8 improvements. The value of most of these improvements reduces to nil after several years. So, for instance, the value of mole drainage reduces to nil after six years73 and the value to the incoming tenant of purchased and organic manure applied to the land reduces to nil after three growing seasons.74 The regulations were considered to be unduly restrictive and were repealed in England from 1 October 2015.75 From this day the compensation payable for both short term improvements and tenant right matters (below) will be the value they generate for an incoming tenant, calculated without statutory interference or prescription. The 1978 Regulations remain in force for the time being in Wales.
9.37 Section 66(3) permits landlord and tenant to enter into an agreement in writing whereby, if any benefit is given or allowed to the tenant in consideration of his carrying out short-term improvements, that benefit can be taken into account in assessing compensation under the 1986 Act.