Government proposes a commissioner to oversee rights and rules for tenant farmers

In particular the inquiry, by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is wanting to hear about lack of communication between landlords, tenants and their advisors on key business issues such as tenancy renewal and rent reviews - and how to encourage more collaborative tenant-landlord and advisor relationships.

It will also gather evidence on whether existing ways to register complaints in the industry are effective in addressing poor practice and examine the potential role of an independent Tenant Farming Commissioner who would provide more scrutiny of conduct in the sector and promote codes of good practice.

Farming Minister Mark Spencer said: "Tenant farmers are at the heart of our rural economy. We’ve made significant progress in delivering our response to the Rock Review, including making our Environment Land Management schemes more accessible to tenant farmers, and will continue to work closely with tenants, landlords and the wider industry to drive further positive change.

“The Call for Evidence is a further important step forward in achieving this and I encourage farmers, landlords and advisors to express their views to their relevant trade body to make sure experiences from all parts of the sector are heard.”

Following the key recommendations from the Rock Review, a report published in October 2022 into how tenant farmers could be better supported, a Farm Tenancy Forum was set up in July 2023.

It is made up of industry representatives of tenant farmers, landlords and professional advisors and is working to consider the unique challenges facing the sector, facilitate more collaborative relationships between landlords and tenants, and help shape farming policy.

Environmental Land Management schemes are also being made more accessible to tenant farmers, with thousands of farmers on tenanted and mixed land having expressed an interest in the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and over half of applications in the first round of the Landscape Recovery scheme involved tenanted land.

The announcement for a Call for Evidence builds further on the Rock Review recommendations and will run for 12 weeks until 8 February 2024.

Industry trade organisations and professional bodies representing the views and interests of tenant farmers, landlords and professional advisors, as well as from sector experts and forums who have insights and experience within the industry, are invited to respond.

The NFU says there are still more challenges ahead and work to do in supporting tenant farmers but they “have a a vital role in delivering this government’s food production and environmental ambitions, and in growing our rural economies”.

The government is also: developing a new Code of Practice setting standards of responsible conduct for all parties to tenancy agreements; offering more actions on three-year agreements SFI without requiring landlord consent; exploring support for new entrants from a non-farming family background to increase opportunities to access land and finance and tracking data on the amount of land in the tenanted sector to pick up any emerging trends on land resumption and looking for ways to identify drivers of change.