Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991

5 Fixed equipment and insurance premiums. S

(1) When a lease of an agricultural holding to which this section applies is entered into, a record of the condition of the fixed equipment on the holding shall be made forthwith, and on being so made shall be deemed to form part of the lease; and section 8 of this Act shall apply to the making of such a record and to the cost thereof as it applies to a record made under that section.

(2) There shall be deemed to be incorporated in every lease of an agricultural holding to which this section applies—

(a) an undertaking by the landlord that, at the commencement of the tenancy or as soon as is reasonably practicable thereafter, he will put the fixed equipment on the holding into a thorough state of repair, and will provide such buildings and other fixed equipment as will enable an occupier reasonably skilled in husbandry to maintain efficient production as respects both—

(i) the kind of produce specified in the lease, or (failing such specification) in use to be produced on the holding, and

(ii) the quality and quantity thereof,

and that he will during the tenancy effect such replacement or renewal of the buildings or other fixed equipment as may be rendered necessary by natural decay or by fair wear and tear; and

(b) a provision that the liability of the tenant in relation to the maintenance of fixed equipment shall extend only to a liability to maintain the fixed equipment on the holding in as good a state of repair (natural decay and fair wear and tear excepted) as it was in—

(i) immediately after it was put in repair as aforesaid, or

(ii) in the case of equipment provided, improved, replaced or renewed during the tenancy, immediately after it was so provided, improved, replaced or renewed.

(3) Nothing in subsection (2) above shall prohibit any agreement made between the landlord and the tenant after the lease has been entered into whereby one party undertakes to execute on behalf of the other, whether wholly at his own expense or wholly or partly at the expense of the other, any work which the other party is required to execute in order to fulfil his obligations under the lease.

(4) Any provision in a lease to which this section applies requiring the tenant to pay the whole or any part of the premium due under a fire insurance policy over any fixed equipment on the holding shall be null and void.

(5) Any question arising as to the liability of a landlord or tenant under this section shall be determined by arbitration.

(6) This section applies to any lease of an agricultural holding entered into on or after 1st November 1948.