Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003

7 Assignation and subletting of limited duration tenancies S

(1) A lease constituting a limited duration tenancy may be assigned by the tenant if, following notice under subsection (2), the landlord consents to a proposed assignation.

(2) The tenant must give the landlord a notice in writing of any intention of the tenant to assign the lease; and the notice must include the particulars of the proposed assignee, the terms upon which the assignation is to be made and the date on which it is to take effect.

(3) The landlord may withhold consent to the proposed assignation if there are reasonable grounds for doing so; and, in particular, the landlord may withhold consent if not satisfied that the proposed assignee—

(a) would have the ability to pay—

(i) the rent due under the lease; or

(ii) for adequate maintenance of the land; or

(b) has the skills or experience that would be required properly to manage and maintain the land in accordance with the rules of good husbandry.

(4) Any such withholding of consent (and the grounds for withholding it) is to be intimated in writing to the tenant within 30 days of the giving of the notice under subsection (2); and, if no such intimation is made, the landlord is (except where the landlord exercises the right under subsection (5) to acquire the tenant’s interest in the lease) deemed to have consented to the proposed assignation.

(5) Where the landlord has been given notice under subsection (2), the landlord is entitled to acquire the tenant’s interest in the lease provided that—

(a) the landlord gives the tenant notice—

(i) in writing; and

(ii) within 30 days of the giving of the notice under subsection (2),

of the landlord’s intention to acquire that interest; and

(b) the terms upon which the landlord acquires that interest are no less favourable to the tenant than any reasonable terms upon which the proposed assignation was to have been made.

(6) For the purposes of subsection (3)(b), what is good husbandry is to be construed by reference to the Sixth Schedule to the Agriculture (Scotland) Act 1948 (c. 45).

(7) A tenant may sublet the land comprised in a lease constituting a limited duration tenancy only on such basis as the lease expressly permits.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 7 in force at 27.11.2003 by S.S.I. 2003/548, art. 2(a) (with Sch.)