A survey has been released demonstrating the "overall positive relationships" within the Scottish tenanted farming sector.
Published by the Scottish Land Commission’s Tenant Farming Commissioner, the research sought views and experiences of landlords and tenants regarding their business interactions with agents.
It found that ratings given by tenant farmers and landlords to agents with respect to politeness, professionalismand treating them fairly ranged between 98% to 100% being positive.
Ratings given by tenant farmers for the agents employed by landlords ranged between 67% and 83% rated as ‘good’.
Only 17% of tenant farmers and 17% of landlords were very or fairly dissatisfied with their interactions with agents.
82% of tenant farmers described their relationship with their landlord as either very good or fairly good and 88% of landlords described their relationship as either very good or good.
The percentages are similar to the Scottish Government’s Renting-out Agricultural Land in Scotland Survey published in 2014.
'Professionalism'
Sarah-Jane Laing, Executive Director of Scottish Land & Estates, said the results of the survey are "pleasing news" for the tenanted farming sector.
“It demonstrates that the vast majority of relationships between tenants and landlords are positive and productive for both parties,” Ms Laing said.
“The role of agents within negotiations has often been the cause of heated discussion within the industry but the survey demonstrates that the vast majority of agents are conducting their work with politeness, professionalism and integrity.
“This is good news for a sector which relies heavily on the valuable role and expertise of agents in an ever-changing regulatory landscape.
“The new findings correspond with the Scottish Government’s research released by Ipsos MORI in 2014 and whilst it is often portrayed that landlords and tenants are at loggerheads, in actual fact most people within the sector are getting along well.”
The Tenant Farming Commissioner is now beginning the process of consulting stakeholders on the findings.
