Subletting v Rural Payments

If you currently have a sublet and it is nearing its end date, or has ended, then it is important to review the croft status if claiming sub-tenanted land on your Single Application Form (SAF). What better time to do this than in the dark winter months? 

If you have been declaring sub-tenanted land on your SAF and the sub-tenancy has ended, then on your Rural Payments account the location should be removed from its tenanted land status. The consequence of this is that you will require to have a seasonal land agreement in place, and if claiming the common grazing share of that croft then you will also require a PF27 – Seasonal Common Grazing form. If this is not uploaded by the SAF deadline, then this land will be deducted with penalty. 

An important point to note is that subtenancies are not put in place overnight following submission of an application. It may take several months to generate a new sub tenancy following submission of an application to the crofting commission and approval. The best approach is to review the tenancy status on the Crofting Commission website. As the current or lapsed sub tenant you should have a letter indicating the period of subtenancy, three, five, seven or ten years and this will provide the approval date. The Crofting Commission now notify sub tenants of the end of the tenancy weeks prior to the date. 

An application can be prepared and submitted in advance of a tenancy ‘end date’ and the preferred tenancy start date can be entered on the application form. It is now possible to submit a sublet application for the whole or part croft online on the Crofting Commission website. A plan of the croft and the proposed sublet area must be shown.  

Finally, it is also important to ensure that the locations listed on Rural Payments as tenanted and sub-tenanted are accurate. RPID can now check the Crofting Commission website site to review a crofter’s croft tenancy, both tenanted and sub-tenanted. 

Iain MacMillan, Senior Consultant and Area Manager, IanMacMillan@sac.co.uk 

Unearthed is the exclusive SAC Consulting members' monthly newsletter. Unearthed offers insights and tips from our experts on what we think is in store for farming and crofting in the coming months in order to protect and enhance your business.

Posted by Unearthed News on 13/12/2024