The Rural Landscape in Scotland - What’s New?

Introduction

This new full day course offers a comprehensive update as to the current hot topics in this fast-moving area.

The day will provide a full opportunity for questions and answers.

What You Will Learn

This course will cover the following:

Farming Partnership Agreements

Petra Grunenberg, Partner

This session will take you through the basic considerations when drafting partnership agreements for rural businesses and the main provisions to be included when drafting an agreement.

The session will cover:

• Partner assumptions
• Profit sharing arrangements
• Partnership continuation clauses
• Heritable property clauses
• Provisions for retirement and death of a partner touching on the interaction between partnerships and wills as part of succession planning

Agricultural Tenancies & Proposed Changes Introduced under the Current Land Reform

Emma Robertson, Partner

This session will cover:

• The current provisions relating to resumption under both 1991 Act tenancies and 2003 Act tenancies, and the proposals introduced by the Bill in respect of resumption for both secure and fixed duration tenancies
• The obligations on tenants in respect of undertaking tenant’s improvements under both 1991 Act and 2003 Act tenancies and the proposals for the introduction of new improvements for which a tenant would be entitled to compensation at the end of a tenancy
• Proposals under the Bill for compensation to agricultural tenants in the event of damage caused by game or game management
• A reminder of the current provisions relating to rent review and highlighting the proposals for rent review under the Bill

The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill 2024

Aileen Gordon, Senior Associate

This session will discuss Part 1 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill 2024 and will focus in particular on:

• Section 1: Community Engagement Obligations on Owners of Large Land Landholdings
• Section 2: Extension of the Community Right to Buy
• Section 4: Prohibition on the Transfer of Land without a Lotting Decision
• Section 6: Introduction of the Land and Communities Commissioner

The Register of Controlled Interests (‘RCI’), Register of Overseas Entities (‘ROE’) & Their Relevance to Farming

Gillian Gibbons, Director

This session will explore:

• Why the RCI was introduced
• A brief overview of the RCI
• Working examples of more complex cases (including partnerships)
• The ROE and register and where it needs to be considered in terms of rural property transactions

Changes in Housing Legislation & How this Interacts with Agricultural Tenancies

Alexandra Lane, Director

This session will look at:

• Private tenancies in Scotland
• Updates to private letting legislation
• The repairing and tolerable standards
• EPC requirements