Andrew Stoddart, who is a farmer at Colstoun Mains Farm, Haddington, East Lothian, has been ordered by his landlord, the Colstoun Trust, that he and his family must leave the farm by November 28, the deadline.
Andrew Stoddart was told to quit Colstoun Mains farm, in East Lothian, at the end of the month, after investing about £500,000 in the property since 1993. He said that a remedial order issued recently by the Scottish government to address legal difficulties with existing land law had worked "entirely in the landlord's favour".
Land reform campaigners gathered outside the Scottish parliament to protest against the threatened eviction of Mr Stoddart, in a case that has galvanised activists and focused public attention on a legislative mire that affects farming families across the country.
He is one of eight farmers who have been affected by ‘defective’ legislation which was rushed through Scottish Parliament in 2003. They are victims of “legal error, lawyers and an inflexible government process” that has become “Scotland’s shame”, said Angus McCall, director of the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association.
A family friend of the Stoddarts, Michelle Wood, who was waiting outside Holyrood to deliver a petition that had gathered nearly 20,000 signatures in the space of a week, said, “This might be legal but it is morally repugnant.”
She added, "This is not only a personal story, but it has touched a nerve throughout Scotland. I can’t begin to tell you what this support has meant to him. He has been feeling so alone in the face of this.”
Andrew described offers of compensation made by the estate as derisory because he invested around £500,000 in the farm and its equipment.
Estate factor Francis Ogilvy yesterday insisted the family would not be kicked out if they hadn’t found anywhere else to go.
