Renewal of agricultural lease

The lease of a field granted for agricultural purposes is due to expire. Its owner wishes to change certain conditions regulating the lease before renewing it.

What is the position at law?

According to the Agricultural Leases (Reletting) Act, a tenant of an agricultural tenement shall have the right to continue renewing the lease on the same terms and conditions as the original one.

However, if the landlord intends to change the conditions of the lease upon its renewal, he should, on the expiration of the original term, apply to the Rural Leases Control Board by means of an application containing details of the proposed changes.

This application must be filed at least three months before the term of the lease expires. The Rural Leases Control Board may either dismiss the application or modify the propositions set forth by the owner and approve them to the extent justified by law. In no case, however, shall the conditions be less favourable to the owner than those of the preceding lease.

On a separate note, if the landlord intends to renew possession of the field at the expiration of the lease, he must apply to the Board by means of an application which must contain (a) details of the grounds for such termination and (b) a demand for the liquidation of any compensation due. The application must be filed not later than three months before the date on which the current lease terminates.

The Rural Leases Control Board will dismiss the application if the owner fails to prove that there subsists at least one of the grounds established under the Agricultural Leases (Reletting) Act which grants the lessor the right to resume possession of the agricultural tenement in question.

All applications made before the Board must be filed against and served on the tenant.

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