Lord Gill, former Lord President and Lord Justice General, has called on the Scottish Government to launch a major inquiry into the system for letting farmland. Using his speech at the Scottish Agricultural Arbiters & Valuers Association (SAAVA) AGM, the former chair of the Scottish Law Commission said the recent Land reform act has made landlords even more reluctant to let land, entirely the opposite of its intention.

“There should now be a major inquiry into the system of tenure of agricultural land, including a study of alternatives to tenancy,” said Lord Gill.

“The effect of the 2016 act is to reinforce the position of secure tenants and to make the landowners even more reluctant to let their land.”

The former advocate went on to call into question the effectiveness of the Agricultural Holdings Legislation Review Group which was led by Richard Lochhead, former Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment.

He said the review was too narrow in scope and did not have enough time to do the task fully.

Further, Lord Gill believed that “absolute right to buy” legislation had not gone away and was damaging confidence to let.

He highlighted the damage done to interference in settled contracts between landlords and tenants, saying that the Land Reform (Scotland) act 2016 is making it worse.

He pointed out that limited duration tenancies (LDT) were not a success and that they were terminated before the first duration of term came to an end.

He pointed out loopholes in some of the current assignation recommendations, such as an inability to dispute agreements if tenants fail to gain a required qualification. Lord Gill also believed that it was unjust that newly assigned tenancies to distant relatives could be swiftly relinquished, forcing landlords to buy them back or sell them on the open market. He believed these sold tenancies would be worth halfway between the value of fully tenanted land and vacant property.