Are Farm Business Tenancies (FBT) almost a thing of the past?

[7610 super q]

Well, what's the alternative ? I can't see a headlong rush back to AHA tenancies ?

 

[hally]

Demand is only high due to tenants being willing to pay higher rents etc.
So it must be viable for somebody.

If your business can’t justify the market level, then get get out.

I know I get a lot of stick in here for saying it, but nobody has a god given right to farm - it’s a business choice. Those who think otherwise are unfortunately often the ones who make terrible business decisions, then look to blame others for their own actions.

Demand is not created by tenants giving higher rents, the higher rents are a product of that demand. Basic supply/ demand ratios create the shortage of tenancies in certain areas, for example Cumbria with a large number of smaller acreage businesses will always have a higher demand for land than other areas with less farmers needing to expand. A 50 acre block of average grazing in Cumbria will have a long line of prospective tenants fighting for it and therefore a high rent result from this yet the same block in some other counties such as the south east will have a whole different value.

 

[Brisel]

Exactly. I don’t see today’s landowners rushing to tie up their asset for 3 generations because there is no financial incentive to do so. George and his crew at the TFA would like to see tax breaks to encourage landlords to let land again.

Edit: Hally posted before I did - this is a reply to @7610 super q

 

[ARW]

Same around here, it’s great fun to meet some fat arsed horsey woman riding down the middle of the road and pointing her whip at the local peasants as we drive past, just because she lives (rents) the big farm house

If they are like any of them round here they will be gone in 6 months, only paid 2 months rent, leave 4ft of horse muck in each stable, horse tape in every hedge and fence, old barrels scattered all over that used to horse jumps, the house has been used as a small zoo and hasn’t seen a hoover since they moved in, they leave a stack of door jamming post full of letters with red stamps on, this is to give the agent a clue that they arnt going to pay the outstanding rent or damages, and they can have the scrap horse box left in yard for free!

 

[glasshouse]

That would never be legal.

Well it worked.

 

[glasshouse]

The tfa campaigns for longer terms and tenant rights are a threat, especially when landowners and estates are already nervous of a labour government that will be sympathetic to the tfa.

Landowners will be more inclined to go down the contract farming route until the uncertainty has gone. Cfa don’t give the contractor the flexibility to try new things or encourage investment in infrastructure. They also add to costs and management for the landowners, although does help to keep the gamekeeper in check!

Agreed, its a different ballgame when the landowners crop has to graze his own pheasants .