TENANT farmers' leaders are calling for the sale of the Tulchan Estate – on the market for £25 million – to be halted, as it is home to a number of let farms whose tenants will not be able to take advantage of the pre-emptive right to buy enjoyed by tenants on other estates, due to a loophole in the legislation.
The Scottish Tenant Farmers Association have pointed out that, because the land is owned by a limited company, Tulchan Sporting Estate Ltd, and it is the company itself that is up for sale rather than the land, the sellers can legally avoid giving tenants’ the pre-emptive right to have first refusal over their farms.
STFA director, Angus McCall said: “Although this sale is being conducted within the letter of the law, it is deeply disappointing that the sellers seem to be ignoring the spirit of the law in Scotland which allows a tenant with a secure tenancy to have the right of make an offer for his farm if the landlord decides to sell.
"STFA has raised this issue over the years and the recent Agricultural Holdings Review group recommended that this loophole be closed. To date the Scottish Government has failed to tackle this glaring omission.
“STFA is now calling for the sale of Tulchan Estate to be halted until the plight of the five tenants on the estate has been addressed. It is an appalling state of affairs that the Tulchan tenants are being denied a right afforded to other tenants and a say in their future just because of the structure of ownership and a flawed legal technicality," said Mr McCall.
"STFA will be pressing government to take steps to close this and other legal loopholes but, in the meantime will be recommending that codes of practice be drawn up to ensure that any tenant farmer who is not able to exercise his right to buy through a technicality, either is given the opportunity to offer for his land or at the very least receives suitable recompense and fair treatment if and when his farm is being sold.”
Tulchan Estates is on the market through Savills, and their head of rural, Jonathan Henson, said: “We are in the process of preparing for the sale of Tulchan Sporting Estates Limited, a company that was established over 23 years ago to run Tulchan as a business. It currently employs around 20 full time staff and up to 40 when including seasonal staff and provides significant economic benefit to the wider local rural economy. 
"We are aware of the comments made by the STFA – we are committed to undertaking a dialogue with the tenant farmers and are already in discussion with Andrew Thin, the Independent Adviser on Tenant Farming to understand and address the concerns that have been expressed.”
Commenting on the situation, Mr Thin said: “It is still very early in what I anticipate may be quite prolonged discussions. The situation appears complex, and each party will need to fully understand the priorities of the other if a meaningful way forward is to be found. The willingness of both parties to work with me and engage in direct discussions is an encouraging start.
“The Rural Economy Secretary has already asked me to develop a Code of Practice in relation to estate sales and the pre-emptive right to buy and I will shortly start working on this,” he added.