FARM tenants – particularly those whose Farm Business Tenancies end this year – have been urged to check their agreements.

The Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) says they should look for clauses which might affect their ability to hold onto entitlements for CAP support payments.

George Dunn, chief executive, said Defra was right to allow existing Single Payment Scheme entitlements to form the basis for new Basic Payment Scheme entitlements at the beginning of next year. However, he said some landlords have tried to use contracts of tenancy to snatch entitlements away from tenants, for little or no compensation, at the end of those agreements.

The TFA had checked a large number of agreements which claimed to allow the landlord to take entitlements, but in many the clauses simply did not work and tenants were able to keep their entitlements.

“However, sadly we have also seen clauses which do provide landlords with the ability to remove entitlements from tenants,” said Mr Dunn. “Each tenancy agreement must be looked at individually.”

In 2004 the Tenancy Reform Industry Group – made up of farming, land owning and professional bodies – drew up best practice guidance for drafting tenancy contracts. It said there were good reasons for parties to a current or prospective contract to be fair in their dealings, and added: “In this respect, it would be unfair if the individual to whom entitlement had been allocated were required by a clause in the agreement to give it up for little or no consideration in comparison to its value.”

It also said that ,at the end of the tenancy, the tenant should be able to either retain control of the entitlement allocated to him for use against other land or pass it to his landlord or a nominee for fair compensation.

“Even in cases where contractual clauses allow a landlord to acquire the entitlements we would ask all landlords to abide by this best practice,” said Mr Dunn. “However, tenants should be aware that this is not legally binding.”