Changes down the years on agricultural rent reviews
There have been various twists and turns since the procedure to review rents was first introduced in the Agricultural Holdings Act 1948.
Section 2 of the Agriculture Act 1958 was enacted with a view to standardising rents and it set out specified factors that were to be regarded.
One of the revisions in the 1984 Agricultural Holdings Act was a rental formula that looked to ensure a competent tenant farming the holding could pay a reasonable rent based upon the agricultural economic climate at the time of the review.
The 1948 Act and its amending statutes including the AHA 1984 were later all repealed and re-enacted in the current consolidating statute, the AHA 1986, within which Section 12 and Schedule 2 set out a procedural code for rent reviews.
The procedure to calculate the rent properly payable considers the terms of the tenancy, the character and situation of the holding, the productive capacity and related earning capacity of the holding and all other relevant factors.
Kathryn Williams, Davis Meade Property Consultants
