Oct 23 2013
TENANT’S 10 YEAR RENT NIGHTMARE FINALLY ENDS
TENANT’S 10 YEAR RENT NIGHTMARE FINALLY ENDS
Tenant farmer Andrew Stoddart has revealed that his 10 year battle to have his rent reduced in what must be Scotland’s longest running rent dispute was only concluded this July. The decade long rent wrangle with the Colstoun Trust over the 900 acre East Lothian farm involved two Land Court cases, two appeals to the Court of Session and years of legal debate before ending last November following an agreement with the landlords to reduce his rent brokered virtually on the steps of the Land Court.
The rent review notice served by tenant Andrew Stoddart in November 2003 in sparked off a series of legal challenges from his landlord including an argument that his lease contractually prohibited the tenant having his rent reviewed under Section 13 of the 1991 Act. The right to have the rent reviewed in the Land Court was finally granted by a Court of Session ruling in 2010. However, just before the case was to be heard the landlord agreed to a 20% reduction in rent. This agreement was finally signed off in July 2013.
Expressing his relief that his rent had finally been settled, tenant Andrew Stoddart said; “This rent dispute has dominated my life for the last ten years. I came into this farm as a new entrant paying a premium rent; when the 2003 Act was passed I seized the chance to get my rent reduced to a more realistic level because I was led to believe that economic conditions would play a more important role in rents. How wrong I was!
“What I thought was going to be a simple process to revalue my rent has turned into a nightmare, seriously hampering my business and causing incredible stress to my family life. I wouldn’t have got through it all without the support of my wife, family and advisers and help from the STFA.
“I am delighted this battle is now over but it shows the urgent need for reform to our tenanted system. I hope that the agricultural holdings review promised by Richard Lochhead can bring forward changes so no other tenant has to go through a similar experience”