The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (Commencement No. 6, Transitory and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2017

These Regulations make provision in relation to bringing into force particular provisions of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (“the 2016 Act”). The Bill for the 2016 Act received Royal Assent on 22nd April 2016. Sections 125 to 127, 130 and 131 came into force on 23rd April 2016.

Regulation 2(1) and the schedule appoint 30th November 2017 for the coming into force of the provisions of the 2016 Act specified in column 1 of the table in the schedule. Regulation 2(2) provides that, where a purpose is specified in the third column of that table, the associated provision comes into force for that purpose only. The subject-matter of the provisions commenced by the schedule relate to the creation of a new type of agricultural tenancy to be known as a modern limited duration tenancy.

Section 2 of the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”) is repealed by section 90(2) of the 2016 Act (which is commenced by these Regulations). This repeal means that it will no longer be possible to convert a 1991 Act tenancy into a limited duration tenancy under section 2 of the 2003 Act. Regulation 3 makes a saving provision to the effect that such conversions will continue to be possible in certain circumstances. This is where, before 30th November 2017, a landlord and tenant reached an agreement to convert a 1991 Act tenancy into a limited duration tenancy and the date of the conversion specified in the agreement is on or after 30th November 2017. Any such agreement must be in accordance with section 2 of the 2003 Act.

Section 5 of the 2003 Act is repealed by section 85(2) of the 2016 Act (which is commenced by these Regulations). Regulation 4 makes a saving provision to the effect that section 5 will continue to apply in relation to any limited duration tenancy which was in existence before 30th November 2017. This is required for the cross-references to section 5 in the substituted definition of “limited duration tenancy” contained in section 93 of the 2003 Act to make sense.

The 2016 Act also provides for the creation of an another new type of agricultural tenancy to be known as a “repairing tenancy”. Certain of the provisions of schedule 2 of the 2016 Act, which are being commenced by these Regulations, insert references to “repairing tenancies” into various enactments. The relevant provisions of the 2016 Act, which provide for the creation of repairing tenancies, are not yet in force. Regulations 5 to 14 make transitory provisions so that the references to a “repairing tenancy” or “repairing tenancies” (as the case may be) inserted into various enactments by the provisions of schedule 2 of the 2016 Act are to be ignored until such time as section 92 of the 2016 Act comes into force for all purposes. That section provides for the creation of repairing tenancies, and it is currently only in force for the purpose of making regulations in relation to repairing tenancies.