Shepherd and Wedderburn

This Practice Note gives guidance on the rent review provisions applying to agricultural tenancies under the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991 (1991 Act tenancies) in Scotland, and the procedures to be adopted in initiating and negotiating a rent review. It does not deal with procedure in the Land Court if the parties fail to agree the new rent.

This Practice Note considers rent review provisions applying to Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 (2003 Act tenancies) and the procedures to be adopted in initiating and negotiating a rent review. This Practice Note does not deal with procedure in the Land Court if the parties fail to agree the new rent.

This Practice Note summarises the circumstances in which a landlord of a let agricultural property in Scotland can take property back out of a 1991 Act Tenancy or 2003 Act Tenancy by way of resumption, the procedure for resumption for different kinds of agricultural leases and the consequences of resumption including compensation and reduction of rent. The statutory procedures in AH(S)A 1991 dealing with notices to remove parts of the property let under a 1991 Act Tenancy are discussed.

This Practice Note considers virtual execution under Scots law, or execution of electronic documents. It covers the necessary steps for valid execution of electronic documents under Scots law and, in particular, looks at the use of the advance electronic signature (AES) in Scotland and the delivery steps required for the execution to be effective. In particular, it considers the Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995, Assimilated Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (UK eIDAS) and the Electronic Documents (Scotland) Regulations 2014, SSI 2014/83. It also considers the application, appearance and reading of an electronic document, and delivery of an electronic document, as well as ARTL, the electronic conveyancing system in Scotland.

This Style is a short limited duration tenancy (SLDT) of a small area of land for no more than one year under the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003. There are no provisions for assignation, subletting or rent review.

This Style is a grazing lease to which section 3 of the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 applies. The maximum period allowed is 364 days. The permitted use is for grazing or mowing and removing grass or similar feed crops. Optional provisions deal with grass cropping and animal welfare obligations and optional provisions where the premises are in a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone. The lease is personal to the tenant.