Agricultural Land Tribunals (ALTs)
(serviced by Defra)

• Introduction
• The Legislative Background
• Procedural Rules UPDATED
• What issues are dealt with by the ALTs?
• Constitution of the ALTs
• Appointments to the ALTs
• Statutory functions of the ALTs
• Costs
• Complaints
• Further information, User Guide and forms of application

Introduction

Before reading the information on this page, please note that it is intended to provide only a very brief overview. It is not in any way a substitute for the legislation governing applications to Agricultural Land Tribunals, or for professional advice given in the light of personal circumstances. It is essential for anyone applying to the Agricultural Land Tribunal or involved in Agricultural Land Tribunal proceedings to familiarise themselves with the relevant legislation, or to seek professional advice.

In England and Wales around 33% of agricultural land is rented. The relationships between landlords and tenants of agricultural holdings are governed partly by the terms of their individual tenancy agreements and partly by the agricultural tenancy legislation. There are two main pieces of legislation dealing with agricultural tenancies: the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 and the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995.

The Agricultural Land Tribunals (ALTs) play an important role in settling disputes and other issues between agricultural tenants and landlords arising from tenancy agreements held under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986. There is no recourse to the ALTs under the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995. Instead, under this legislation, general disputes are resolved by recourse to arbitration, and subject to the provisions of the Arbitration Act 1950-79. Parties may contract out of the statutory provisions and substitute their own arrangements, but cannot contract to have disputes settled by the ALTs.

The Legislative Background

ALTs were established under Section 73 of the Agriculture Act 1947 to hear appeals against decisions given by the Minister or County Agricultural Executive Committees. The Agriculture Act 1958 made them courts of first instance. The ALTs now consider issues referred to them under various provisions of the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986, and also under Sections 28 and/or 30 of the Land Drainage Act 1991, in respect of certain drainage disputes between neighbours.

Procedural Rules

Each ALT operates according to the statutory rules. These are currently the:

• Agricultural Land Tribunal (Rules) Order 1978 SI 1978/259;
• Agricultural Land Tribunals (Succession to Agricultural Tenancies) Order 1984 SI 1984/1301.

Please note: The Agricultural Land Tribunal (Rules) Order 2007 SI 2007/3105 came into force on 15 January 2008.

The new ALT 2007 Rules Order will apply:

1. to applications to the Tribunals for a direction entitling the applicant to a tenancy of an agricultural holding on the death or retirement of the tenant when the date of death or the giving of the retirement notice was on or after 15th January 2008;
2. to applications for the Tribunal’s consent to the operation of notice to quit when the date on which the tenant served a counter-notice in writing requiring that section 26(1) of the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 shall apply to the notice to quit was on or after 15th January 2008; and
3. to all other applications on issues within the jurisdiction of the Tribunals made on or after 15 January 2008.

Otherwise the 1978 and 1984 Rules Orders continue to apply as if they had not been revoked.

New Forms of Application and Reply

New forms of application and reply for use where the 2007 procedural rules apply have been prepared and are available from Tribunal offices. In cases where the 1978 and 1984 ALT Rules Orders continue to apply, the forms appended to those rules should continue to be used and can be obtained from the same offices.

What issues are dealt with by the ALTs?

The main issues dealt with by ALTs are:

• applications by close relatives of a deceased or retiring tenant to succeed to the tenancy;
• applications by landlords for consent to a notice to quit served on the tenant;
• applications for a direction to tend ditches or carry out drainage work on neighbouring land;
• applications by landlords for a certificate of bad husbandry on the ground that the tenant is not farming in accordance with the rules of good husbandry;
• applications by tenants for approval to carry out long-term improvements on the holding;
• applications for a direction to provide fixed equipment.

Constitution of the ALTs

There are eight ALTs, seven for England and one for Wales. Each of the ALTs covers a specific geographic area as laid down in the Agricultural Land Tribunals (Area) Order 1982 (SI 1982/97.)

Each ALT:

• is an independent statutory body with jurisdiction only within its own geographical area;
• is constituted afresh for hearing each case;
• consists of a Chairman and two lay members nominated by the Chairman;

The Chairman also has the discretion, rarely exercised, to nominate two Assessors from a panel of professional experts nominated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Appointments to the ALTs

As for many other Tribunals, the Department for Constitutional Affairs is responsible for the appointment and re-appointment of Chairmen, Deputy Chairmen and lay members of the ALTs. For each ALT area, the Lord Chancellor appoints:

• a Chairman;
• Deputy Chairman (as required), and
• the members of the statutory lay panels.

Appointments of Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen are made following the advertisement of vacancies and competitive interview. The Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen must be barristers or solicitors of at least seven years standing. The lay members are farmers, landowners and drainage experts, who are appointed to statutory panels, as necessary, following trawls of nominees provided by the Country Land and Business Association (the Landowners Panel), the National Farmers Union (the Farmers Panel) and the Environment Agency (the Drainage Panel)

Statutory functions of the ALTs

The statutory functions of the Tribunal are as follows:

Costs

There is currently no requirement for payment of a fee on making an application to the ALT. Defra meets the costs of the ALT itself, including the cost of the hearing. Applicants and other affected parties must meet their own costs incurred in making an application, e.g. travelling costs to attend a hearing or site inspection, the cost of professional advice/representation. Where the ALT considers that any party to the proceedings has acted frivolously, vexatiously or oppressively, the ALT has the power to order that person to pay to any other person a specified sum incurred by him or the taxed amount of those costs (i.e. where parties cannot agree on such costs, the County Court will decide). Under section 27(7) of the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986, the Tribunal may, in proceedings under that section, by order provide for the payment by any party of such sum as the Tribunal consider a reasonable contribution towards costs.

Complaints

The Tribunals are committed to providing a high quality and efficient service to its users. If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received from any part of the Tribunal, you can complain by following the procedures set out in the Tribunals' Protocol for Complaints Relating to Agricultural Land Tribunals (England and Wales) (March 2008, PDF, 151 kB).

Further information, User Guide and forms of application

For further information about the procedures of the ALTs and forms of application, please contact the relevant Tribunal secretary.

• A guide to Agricultural Land Tribunals (March 2008, PDF, 250 kB)

• A protocol covering inspections of land by the tribunal (PDF, 16 kB)