TENANT farmers, bankers, and agricultural consultants are at odds with land agents over increased rents.
There are signs some land agents are still attempting to secure increased rents at the three-year break in traditional leases.
Their view is that rents lag farm profitability and, therefore, tenants should pass on some of the profits recorded before farm incomes
collapsed last year.
Donald Rennie, an Edinburgh solicitor with wide experience of agricultural law, discounts that notion.
''Rents should be fixed on what the farmer can reasonably expect to make over a period, and not on any historic basis.''
The criteria for setting a rent under review are relatively complex but revolve around what is being paid for comparable land in the locality.
To secure a variation of rent a landlord is obliged to serve a notice of review on his tenant at least one year in advance of the date when the new agreement will commence.
With leases running from Whit Sunday - May 28 - any notices served this month will relate to rents operable from May 1999. But since most are paid six months in arrears the first payment on a new agreement will not be due until November next year.
However, it is quite possible, according to Andrew Macfarlane, who combines farming in Aberdeenshire with partnership in a consultancy, that some landlords will not service notices at any break in the lease this year.
He bases this view on the fact that rents now due for review were set two years ago at high levels when farming was prospering. That means there will be no review and the high levels will continue.
Macfarlane added: ''What tenants should do is to serve a notice on their landlords stating that they themselves wish a review. It is a great opportunity for tenants to get rents down.''
For those faced with a review notice from their landlord, Rennie advised: ''Do not settle at once. Wait for 10 months before entering into negotiations. The longer it is left the greater the chance there will be of getting a reduction.''
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