CAAV Note 240411: England - Woodland Carbon Guarantee
The Forestry Commission has announced the eighth auction of the Woodland Carbon Guarantee Scheme. This note provides more information.
This What's New section is a quick one-stop shop to show you the most recent additions to the Members Area (log-in required) and News items.
The Forestry Commission has announced the eighth auction of the Woodland Carbon Guarantee Scheme. This note provides more information.
DEFRA has opened a Farming Recovery Fund for farmers who suffered uninsurable damage to land during Storm Henk. It supports the cost of reinstating land which flooded between 2 and 12 January. This note provides more information.
Introduced into the Scottish Parliament on 26th March 2024, this Bill sets out a range of proposed changes for the let residential sector in Scotland. Although the ‘New Deal for Tenants’ consultation (see link) considered a broader range of proposals, including a pan-tenure approach to rent control and evictions that could include agricultural lettings, the Bill has a narrower focus largely on private residential tenancies. This note offers an initial review of the Bill as it relates to...
The Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Code of Practice for England has been published today. This voluntary Code has been endorsed by the CAAV as well as ACES, ALA, CLA, ILG, NFU, NFYFC, RICS and TFA and is published under the mantle of the Farm Tenancy Forum with blessing from DEFRA as a support for good practice in the let sector. The CAAV has also updated its model FBTs for England to refer to it. These revised versions are also being issued today....
The CAAV has updated its two model FBTs for England: A larger one more suitable for longer term and equipped holdings A shorter one drafted for agreements of two years and less, likely to be bare land holdings These are offered as templates that can be adapted using professional judgment to best record the business agreement between the parties. Having been updated last year to take account of England’s de-linking, they have now been revised to: refer to the Agricultural Landlord...
The CAAV has updated its two model FBTs for England: A larger one more suitable for longer term and equipped holdings A shorter one drafted for agreements of two years and less, likely to be bare land holdings These are offered as templates that can be adapted using professional judgment to best record the business agreement between the parties. Having been updated last year to take account of England’s de-linking, they have now been revised to: refer to the Agricultural Landlord...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 4th April 2024 Keir Starmer’s Labour Party (like the Conservatives in Canada) clearly feels it is working a rich electoral vein in positioning itself as the advocate for more housing, while other parties carve up the opponents between them. Following his references in the autumn to “bulldozing” the planning system for England, the document issued for the launch of its local election campaign suggest that...
Although not binding as a County Court decision, this decision provides a warning to landlords who do not comply with s.21A of the Housing Act 1988, which sets out legal requirements for a landlord who is seeking to regain possession using s.21, the “no fault” ground. One such requirement is for the tenant to have been provided with a valid gas safety certificate at the start of the tenancy. The note below provides a summary of the decision....
The Scottish Government has advised that with effect from Monday 1st April councils have the power to charge up to double the full rate of Council Tax on second homes. It goes on to state that 29 of the 32 Scottish local authorities have confirmed their intention to use the power. A second home is classed as any home that is not used as someone’s primary residence but that is occupied for at least 25 days in a year....
Dear CAAV Member, The CAAV is now repeating its Survey to produce a new Schedule of Building Costs for farm and estate buildings to support members who undertake reinstatement cost assessments, as for insurance purposes. This was last done in 2018. While the next Survey was intended to be 2021, pandemic-related supply chain disruption made this pointless and so we resorted to providing updates with indexes for key building materials as the best fall back. Feeling markets to be more stable now,...
From 2nd April small sites are required to demonstrate biodiversity net gain as a condition of planning consent (unless exempt). Small sites are defined as: residential development where the number of dwellings is between 1 and 9 on a site of an area 1 hectare or less, or if the number of dwellings is unknown, the site area is less than 0.5 hectarescommercial development where floor space created is less than 1,000 square metres or total site area is less than 1 hectaredevelopment that is not...
This First Tier Tribunal decision concerns the assessment to SDLT of the purchase of a house with a grazing paddock. Should it be assessed at the higher rates for residential property or at the lower rates for mixed property? The taxpayers had submitted a return declaring tax of £124,500 due. HMRC contended that the tax should be £237,750.
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 28th March 2024 Today’s developing agricultural policies have a twin-track character, embracing both farming and nature, albeit in different ways across the UK. As they develop, so the interactions become more complex. There are clear synergies with farming’s dependence on nature but, even with the well-advanced evolution of England’s new schemes, the tensions here saw this week’s swift decision limiting the use of...
Schedule 3 of the Agriculture Act 2020 made a number of amendments to tenancy law, changing the tests for succession by repealing the Commercial Unit Test and revising the Suitability test. This note sets out the changes in more detail.
DEFRA has confirmed the requirement to update land use codes when submitting a Countryside Stewardship or Environmental Stewardship revenue claim. This note has more detail.
With the title Agricultural Valuation in a Changing World, the CAAV and the Portuguese ASAVAL brought together 130 valuers in a European conference in Lisbon’s Museu do Oriente on 22nd March. The day reviewed valuation principles and practice across Europe with the new challenges of already evident climate change, developing technologies, evolving markets and geo-political instability. The note below reports on the topics from the conference.
The Scottish Government has published an updated version of its Agricultural Reform Route Map. This includes additional cross compliance requirements for 2025. This note has more detail.
DEFRA has announced today (25th March) that there will be a cap of 25% of a holding able to be entered into 6 actions under the Sustainable Farming Incentive that take land out of direct food production. The actions are: IPM2: Flower-rich grass margins, blocks, or in-field stripsAHL1: Pollen and nectar flower mixAHL2: Winter bird food on arable and horticultural landAHL3: Grassy field corners or blocksIGL1: Take improved grassland field corners or blocks out of managementIGL2: Winter bird food...
The British Standards Institute has published a 1st draft of a set of principles for high integrity nature markets for consultation. The document is called BSI Flex 701 v1.0 Nature markets – Overarching principles and framework – Specification. This note provides an introduction.
The new Welsh First Minister. Vaughan Gething, has moved Lesley Griffiths to Culture, replacing her with Huw Irranca Griffiths in a new post for Climate Change and Rural Affairs. When an MP he had been a junior minister at DEFRA.