Farming right to buy

Subject to approval of the relevant subordinate legislation, Part 2 of the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 is scheduled to come into force on 15 December 2004. This gives the tenants in defined types of agricultural leases the opportunity to obtain a pre-emptive right to buy. The Act allows such tenants to register an interest in the land comprised in their leases in the Register of Community Interests in Land (RCIL). A tenant who registers will then have first option to buy the land when the landowner next proposes or takes action toward selling or transferring it.  A registered interest endures for five years and is renewable.

Statutory instruments have been made to set out the required form of “notice of interest”, which is also the registration application form, and also the registration fees. These are respectively the Agricultural Holdings (Forms) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 and the Agricultural Holdings (Fees) (Scotland) Order 2004. In addition guidance notes are available to assist tenants and their agents in completion of the notice of interest and the application procedure. These are published on the Agency website together with a downloadable version of the notice of interest at www.ros.gov.uk/pdfs/agholdings_guidance.pdf.

The RCIL is free to view and search on the internet, via the dedicated website www.ros.gov.uk/rcil, and can also be accessed free via a link on Registers Direct or at the Agency’s customer service centres.

We published a Registers Update on 7 December giving further details.  This is available on the Agency website at www.ros.gov.uk/updates.

Contact: craig.anderson@ros.gov.uk (0131 659 6111 ext 5444)