Pressure on tenant farmers to pay 'unjustified' rent rises

Published on Friday 20 November 2009 21:46

NEXT Saturday marks the traditional term time when the rents of farm tenancies come up for review. Pre-empting this negotiation, the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association has condemned the bullying tactics being used by some landlords or their agents to increase rents.

The SFTA claims to have been "inundated with calls from tenants facing unreasonable and unjustified demands for big rent increases from some factors and agents using 'terror tactics' rather than facts and figures to pile the pressure on tenants".

Another allegation made by the SFTA is that some tenants have reported attempts to hoodwink them into an immediate rent rise despite no proper rent notice having been served upon them first.

According to STFA chairman Angus McCall: "Rent reviews in Scotland have become dire for many tenants. There are some agents out there trying to take advantage of vulnerable tenants who may not be fully aware of their rights."

He added that this showed a complete disregard for the recommended code of practice by the cross-industry stakeholder body, the Tenant Farming Forum, which advocates communication, respect and trust.

Because rent reviews have been a contentious issue since the commencement of the landlord/tenant system, there is legislation setting out clear rules within which both parties must operate.

This states that farm rent notices must be served at least one year and not more than two years before the term date. These notices must be correct and properly served and tenants should only be paying rent on land and equipment provided by the landlord and not on their own improvements.

McCall advised that if tenants are at all unsure or confused about their rights they should take proper advice and not be coerced into a paying too high a rent for the next three years.

The SFTA were also exercised by the fact that no rents had been set by the land court for the past decade, leaving no benchmark for guidance, a problem exacerbated, according to McCall, by agri-industrialists paying big rents for arable land. This has had the effect of ratcheting up rents throughout Scotland.

The recent difficult harvest would prove the economic folly of this "crazy inflated market in agricultural rented land".

He warned that land agents who mostly carry out the rent review work for landowners would be painting a rosy picture as a result of good livestock prices.

"But with high inputs, an analysis of actual margins would prove that in real terms profitability hasn't moved on significantly in twenty years."

"Times are hard for many tenants and in all honesty there are no opportunities for genuine new entrants in a completely profit-driven industry. I sympathise with the view expressed to me by many tenant farmers of a sense of disillusionment and vulnerability."