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Crofting and Smallholdings |
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Crofting is a traditional farming method preserved today in the seven crofting counties of Inverness, Argyll, Caithness, Sutherland, Ross and Cromarty, Orkney and Shetland. Similar regimes outwith the crofting counties are not crofts, but may be smallholdings or agricultural tenancies, to which different rules apply. |
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Crofters have basic statutory rights which include security of tenure, fair rent, compensation for permanent improvements, purchase and succession. The transfer of the tenancy may in some cases only require landlords' consent but in others the consent of the Crofters Commission is essential. |
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Calculation of the price when the crofter is purchasing the croft land and/or croft house site is governed by statutory controls. Landlords are not always able to recover their legal expenses from the crofter but can preserve their interest in the sporting rights over the croft land and participate in its development value, if sold within five years.
Croft land (including common grazings) can be taken out of crofting tenure. Landlords can achieve this by way of a resumption application to the Land Court. De-crofting may be appropriate where the landlord/tenant relationship has ended, often when the crofter becomes the owner-occupier. This is done by way of application to the Crofters Commission.
The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 has introduced a crofting community right to buy croft land, certain land adjoining croft land, salmon fishings and minerals.
For more information contact Fiona Gibb |
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