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08/01/08
The Tenant Farmers Association is providing tenant farmer members
with on line access to a unique resource of information to assist
with farm rent reviews.
Rent is one of the most significant overhead costs on tenanted
holdings and like every other cost in the farm budget it is important
that it is kept under control. With some improvement in commodity
prices many landlords have taken the opportunity of serving notice
on their tenants that they want rents to be reviewed.
TFA National Adviser Rebecca Marshall said “We are expecting
2008 to be a busy year for farm rent reviews after a number of
years of relative stagnation in the rental market. The last big
shift in rents took place between 1996 and 2002 when tenants were
able to achieve important rent reductions. Although landlords are
now looking for increases on the back of output price improvements,
it is also important to factor in the huge increase in input prices
not least, fuel, power, chemicals and labour. Tenants therefore
need to be well armed to defend their corner”.
Part of the formal rent review process is to use what are called “comparable
rents” – that is evidence of rents being paid on other
holdings which are then used to help set the right level of rent
for the holding under review.
“Comparable rents are sometimes hard to find. For many years
the TFA has held a databank of such information provided by and
for its members and we are now able, for the first time, to make
that information available to members in a fully searchable, on-line
database in the member’s area of the TFA
website. Although
there have been very few rent reviews in recent years, we are now
beginning to get an increasing amount of information from our members
as rents are settled which we immediately put on line being careful
not to individually identify the farms concerned,” said Rebecca
Marshall.
Alongside the rent information the TFA also provides its members
with one-to-one advice, guidance notes on the conduct of rent reviews,
a list of recommended professional agents and its unique Farm Business
Protector insurance policy which can cover the costs of arbitration
on rent when the tenant and landlord cannot agree on the correct
level, and a host of other legal and taxation disputes.
“With the online rent database and the range of other services
the TFA is able to provide all the tools necessary for our members
to achieve the best results in their rent review negotiations,” said
Rebecca Marshall.
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