Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1949

Year1949


Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act , 1949

(12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6) CHAPTER 75

An Act to consolidate the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1923, Part II of the Small Landholders and Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1931, Part I of the Agriculture (Scotland) Act, 1948, and certain other enactments relating to agricultural holdings, save, with respect to rights to compensation, in their application to certain cases determined by past events.

[24th November 1949]

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Meaning of ‘agricultural holding’

Meaning of ‘agricultural holding’

S-1 Meaning of ‘agricultural holding.’

1 Meaning of ‘agricultural holding.’

(1) In this Act the expression ‘agricultural holding’ means the aggregate of the agricultural land comprised in a lease, not being a lease under which the said land is let to the tenant during his continuance in any office, appointment or employment held under the landlord.

(2) For the purposes of this and the next following section, the expression ‘agricultural land’ means land used for agriculture which is so used for the purposes of a trade or business, and includes any other land which, by virtue of a designation of the Secretary of State under subsection (1) of section eighty-six of the Agriculture (Scotland) Act, 1948, is agricultural land within the meaning of that Act.

Provisions as to leases

Provisions as to leases

S-2 Restriction on letting agricultural land for less than from year to year.

2 Restriction on letting agricultural land for less than from year to year.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, where under a lease entered into on or after the first day of November, nineteen hundred and forty-eight, any land is let to a person for use as agricultural land for a shorter period than from year to year, and the circumstances are such that if he were a tenant from year to year he would in respect of that land be the tenant of an agricultural holding, then, unless the letting was approved by the Secretary of State before the lease was entered into, the lease shall take effect, with the necessary modifications, as if it were a lease of the land from year to year:

Provided that this subsection shall not have effect in relation to a lease of land entered into (whether or not the lease expressly so provides) in contemplation of the use of the land only for grazing or mowing during some specified period of the year, or in relation to a lease of land granted by a person whose interest in the land is that of a tenant under a lease which is for a shorter period than from year to year and which has not by virtue of this section taken effect as a lease from year to year.

(2) Any question arising as to the operation of the foregoing subsection in relation to any lease shall be determined by arbitration.

S-3 Tacit relocation.

3 Tacit relocation.

(1) The tenancy of an agricultural holding shall, instead of coming to an end on the termination of the stipulated endurance of any lease, be held to be continued in force by tacit relocation for another year and thereafter from year to year, unless such notice to terminate the tenancy as is mentioned in section twenty-four of this Act has been given by either party to the other.

(2) The provisions of the foregoing subsection shall have effect notwithstanding any agreement or any provision in the lease to the contrary.

S-4 Provisions for securing written leases and for the revision of certain leases.

4 Provisions for securing written leases and for the revision of certain leases.

(1) Where in respect of the tenancy of an agricultural holding—

(a ) there is not in force a lease in writing embodying the terms of the tenancy, or

(b ) there is in force such a lease, being either—

(i) a lease entered into on or after the first day of November, nineteen hundred and forty-eight, or

(ii) a lease entered into before that date, the stipulated period of which has expired and which is being continued in force by tacit relocation,

and such lease contains no provision for one or more of the matters specified in the Fifth Schedule to this Act or contains a provision inconsistent with that Schedule or with the next following section,

the landlord or the tenant may give notice in writing to his tenant or his landlord requesting him to enter into such a lease containing provision for all of the said matters or a provision not inconsistent with the said Schedule or the said section, as the case may be; and if within the period of six months after the giving of such notice no such lease has been concluded, the terms of the tenancy shall be referred to arbitration.

(2) On any such reference the arbiter shall by his award specify the terms of the existing tenancy, and, in so far as those terms make no provision for all the matters specified in the Fifth Schedule to this Act or make provision inconsistent with that Schedule or with the next following section, make such provision for those matters as appears to the arbiter to be reasonable.

(3) On any such reference the arbiter may include in his award any further provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act relating to the tenancy which may be agreed between the landlord and the tenant.

S-5 Respective liabilities of landlord and tenant for provision and maintenance of fixed equipment and for payment of insurance premiums.

5 Respective liabilities of landlord and tenant for provision and maintenance of fixed equipment and for payment of insurance premiums.

(1) Where a lease has been entered into for the letting of an agricultural holding, a record of the condition of the fixed equipment on the holding shall be made forthwith, and on being so made shall be deemed to form part of the lease; and the provisions of section seventeen of this Act shall apply to the making of such a record and to the cost thereof as they apply to a record made under that section.

(2) There shall be deemed to be incorporated in every lease for the letting of an agricultural holding—

(a ) an undertaking by the landlord that, at the commencement of the tenancy or as soon as is reasonably possible thereafter, he will put the fixed equipment on the holding into a thorough state of repair, and will provide such buildings and other fixed equipment as will enable an occupier reasonably skilled in husbandry to maintain efficient production as respects both the kind of produce specified in the lease, or (failing such specification) in use to be produced on the holding, and the quality and quantity thereof, and will during the tenancy effect such replacement or renewal of the buildings or other fixed equipment as may be rendered necessary by natural decay or by fair wear and tear; and

(b ) a provision that the liability of the tenant in relation to the maintenance of fixed equipment shall extend only to a liability to maintain the fixed equipment on the holding in as good a state of repair (natural decay and fair wear and tear excepted) as it was in immediately after it was put in repair as aforesaid or, in the case of equipment provided, improved, replaced or renewed during the tenancy, as it was in immediately after it was so provided, improved, replaced or renewed.

(3) Nothing in the last foregoing subsection shall be deemed to prohibit any agreement made after the lease has been entered into between the landlord and the tenant whereby one of the parties undertakes to execute on behalf of the other party, and wholly at his own expense or wholly or partly at the expense of the other party, any work which the other party is required to execute in order to fulfil his obligations under the lease.

(4) Any provision in a lease requiring the tenant to pay the whole or any part of the premium due under a fire insurance policy over any fixed equipment on the holding shall be null and void.

(5) Any question arising as to the liability of a landlord or of a tenant under this section shall be determined by arbitration.

(6) This section shall not apply to any lease entered into before the first day of November, nineteen hundred and forty-eight.

S-6 Provisions supplementary to s. 4 and s. 5.

6 Provisions supplementary to s. 4 and s. 5.

(1) Where by virtue of section four of this Act the liability for the maintenance or repair of any item of fixed equipment is transferred from the tenant to the landlord, the landlord may within the prescribed period beginning with the date on which the transfer takes effect require that there shall be determined by arbitration, and paid by the tenant, the amount of any compensation which would have been payable under section fifty-seven of this Act or in accordance with subsection (3) of that section, in respect of any previous failure by the tenant to discharge the said liability, if the tenant had quitted the holding on the termination of his tenancy at the date on which the transfer takes effect.

(2) Where by virtue of section four of this Act the liability for the maintenance or repair of any item of fixed equipment is transferred from the landlord to the tenant, any claim by the tenant in respect of any previous failure by the landlord to discharge the said liability shall, if the tenant within the prescribed period beginning with the date on which the transfer takes effect so requires, be determined by arbitration, and any amount directed by the award to be paid by the landlord shall be paid by him to the tenant.

(3) Where it appears to the arbiter—

(a ) on any reference under section four of this Act that, by reason of any provision which he is...

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