Farm businesses could end up paying a high price for failing to meet key deadlines, says an agricultural specialist at the UK200Group of independent chartered accountants and lawyers.
Paul Rice, agricultural partner at Wright Hassall LLP Solicitors in Leamington Spa, says that failure to pay attention to detail in routine matters can result in significant financial consequences.
Paul, who is also a member of the UK200Group’s Agriculture Special Interest Group, which brings together accountants and lawyers offering specific experience and services for the agricultural sector, cites the example of strict time limits concerning the service of notices or counter-notices under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986.
In one case, a client could lose a tenanted farm that has been in his family since the 1920s through failure to observe time limits. After paying his rent a week late, he then ignored a notice to quit and subsequently missed the opportunity to refer the matter to arbitration, which must be done within a month of service of a notice to quit.
Paul has also become involved in another case where an RLE1 form submitted to the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), to advise the RPA of a transfer of payment entitlement, failed to arrive by the due date of 2 April after it had been sent via normal post on 31 March. Because it did not arrive, the farmer was not aware of the problem until the following autumn, by which time it was too late to rectify a loss of more than £50,000.
He said: "It is the responsibility of the farmer to make sure that any form is received by the RPA – mere posting is insufficient. Unless you have plenty of time to check with the RPA that a document has been received, you might want to consider personal delivery or some other system by which you can prove that an item has been received.
"Each of these cases started out as a routine matter. However, in each case, the wheels came off, with significant financial consequences. These examples hammer home the point that spending a few minutes on making sure essential deadlines are met in a timely matter can help to save a great deal of unnecessary difficulty, distress and expense at a later date."