Are you a tenant or a landowner? Have you taken up the opportunity of the amnesty period? If not, then time is running out.

The three-year amnesty period granted by Scotland’s Land Reform Act (2016), which started in June 2017, is running against the clock, and any opportunity to claim for improvements from landlords will be lost come the summer of 2020.

There are growing concerns that a significant number of tenants are still not aware of the amnesty, and as yet are not in talks to create a definitive list of eligible improvements – regardless of whether the proper process of notifying and recording the improvements was carried out at the time.

With the end of the three-year amnesty now just a year away, director of YoungsRPS, Tom Oates, urged people to act: “This agricultural tenancy legislation is good news for many farmers, who can make the most of the amnesty by thoroughly reviewing and discussing improvement works carried out so far. This legislation is not simply for way-go matters, but will be highly relevant for any future rental discussions.

"This is a valuable opportunity not to be missed, so making sure that talks have begun as soon as possible means there is more chance to resolve things in good time before the legal deadline to make claims creeps up.

"A year may seem a long time, but when it comes to the procedures of law, things tend to take longer than we first imagine. Therefore, it is important for farm tenants to make sure that they are making their case for any improvement’s sooner rather than later."