Jeremy's Blog 18th June 2021: Schedule of Time Limits

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 17th June 2021

The completion of the tenancy legislation for England under the Agriculture Act 2020 has prompted a new edition of the CAAV’s Schedule of Time Limits for Valuers and a moment for reflection before it goes to members with the News Letter, the Agricultural Tenancies Update and Value to an Incoming Tenant.

There is continuity. With statutory tenancy regimes, previous Schedules have long aided members since Laurie Perks first put together a guide to the time limits and periods for actions to be effective under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1948. Followed by his brother Peter Perks, later President, who in turn brought in JB Mumford for the third edition after the consolidating 1986 Act, Christopher Perks, Peter’s son and also President, and I caught up 2006 TRIG reforms.

That illustrates the pressure of change. Material on milk quota apportionment and the Dairy Produce Quota Tribunal has been removed – quotas went in 2015 and lost value before that. New ALT rules came in 2007 and, replaced for England by different First-tier Tribunal rules in 2013, remain for the ALT (Wales). Coverage of those joins that of the Arbitration Act 1996. The Model Clauses have been revised, the option of third party determination introduced and the Agriculture Act brings more change, with the 1986 Act tenant’s powers to challenge agreement terms commencing for England on Monday.

It is the first UK-wide edition with affiliation by Scotland and Northern Ireland. The differing Limitation Acts are noted and, with increased awareness and activity, the time limits of the UK-wide Electronic Communications Code are included.

The Schedule covers the changes made and yet to be made by the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 bringing seven different types of agricultural tenancy with their complexities, the Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010 and the time limits for the Land Court.

It responds to members’ widening range of work, now covering key aspects of the differing residential tenancy regimes in England (currently largely applying in Wales), Scotland and Northern Ireland and for business lettings in England with Wales and also Northern Ireland.

With the importance of time limits for professional work, the inevitable cautions are:

• to use the Schedule as an aide memoire, prompting consideration of how the legal reference applies to the case in hand, rather than just relying on the Schedule’s summary
• as there is never a final stable moment for such work, to check for the further legislative change that will doubtless come.