Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016

Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016

2016 asp 18

Commentary on Sections

Part 2 – the Scottish Land Commission

Chapter 3 – the Tenant Farming Commissioner

Tenant Farming Commissioner: codes of practice

Section 27 – Tenant Farming Commissioner: codes of practice

68. Section 27 places a duty on the Commissioner to prepare and publish codes of practice for the purpose of providing guidance to landlords and tenants of agricultural holdings and their agents.

69. Subsection (2) provides an indicative list of the issues relating to agricultural holdings that the codes of practice may cover.

70. Subsection (3) requires the Commissioner to review the codes of practice and revise the codes if appropriate. There is no set period within which a review must be carried out.

71. Subsection (4) provides that the Commissioner must consult with persons appearing to the Commissioner to have an interest in the draft code before publishing any code of practice.

72. Subsection (5) requires the Commissioner to lay a copy of the code before the Scottish Parliament when the code is published. There is no prescribed form for a code and a code can be published in any form the Commissioner considers appropriate.

73. Subsection (7) provides that any published code of practice can be admitted as evidence in any proceedings before the Scottish Land Court.

74. Subsection (8) requires the Scottish Land Court to take into account any part of a code of practice that it considers may be relevant to any proceedings before it.

75. Subsection (9) provides that a published code of practice can also be admitted, and should also (where relevant) be taken into account, as part of any arbitration proceedings under the 1991 and 2003 Agricultural Holdings Acts.