This thesis is concerned with the reform of agricultural leases in Scotland. There is a review of selected topics in the history of legislation in this area concentrating upon the issue of security of tenure. It is argued that developments in 2010 with regard to prospective legislation and in case law have left open the road for renewed pressure for the creation of a compulsory “right to buy” for tenants with secure agricultural leases. Subsequent relevant developments are ‘noted up’. The thesis includes a Draft Bill which would introduce a new statutory structure for the tenure of certain farms currently held on “1991 Act tenancies”. The structure would rebalance the property law rights and duties of landlords and tenants with due regard to property rights and land management issues. Protections for the legitimate concerns of both former landlord and tenant are included and there is a major supervisory role for the Scottish Land Court. The Draft Bill includes detailed provisions on succession to the new form of tenure. The Draft Bill also innovates upon recently modified arrangements for fixed term farm tenancies Limited Duration Tenancies (“LDTs”) by the introduction of a degree of flexibility. Recent statistics on the take up of LDTs and the issue of a compulsory right to buy for secure agricultural tenants cast a shadow over the future of most of the currently available statutory forms of tenure. The new statutory structure and the innovation upon the LDT which would be introduced by the Draft Bill map out a future for Scottish agricultural tenancies which would enable the question posed in the title to be answered in the affirmative.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:577573 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Smith, Michael P. G. |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=196005 |
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