Tenant Farming Commissioner invites landlords & tenants to take part in survey of views on agents’ conduct

Scotland’s Tenant Farming Commissioner, Bob McIntosh, is encouraging landlords and tenants to take part in a survey of views and experiences of the conduct of agents engaged to act on their behalf in matters relating to agricultural holdings.

The survey is part of the review of agents which the Tenant Farming Commissioner is tasked to complete under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016.  The Tenant Farming Commissioner must complete the review and make recommendations to Ministers to improve the operation of agents of landlords and tenants by March 2018.

The Scottish Land Commission has commissioned Research Resource, a social and economic research agency based in Glasgow, to carry out telephone interviews with a representative sample of tenant farmers and landlords to find out about their views and experiences with regard to the operation of agents.

Bob McIntosh said: “In order for the researchers to deliver a robust factual report it is important that we have a representative sample of both landlords and tenant farmers.

“Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, but I would encourage both landlords and tenants to take part so that we can get a true understanding of the current situation with regard to the operation of agents and the impact it has on relations in the sector.

“Information provided will be completely confidential.  Research Resource will only report back results of the survey from tenant farmers and landlords overall and individual responses will not be traceable.

”The information will be collected and collated in an independent, open and fair manner and the findings will be discussed with key representative bodies before I make recommendations to Scottish Ministers.”

A representative sample of tenant farmers will also be interviewed and these will be selected from the Scottish Government’s agricultural census database.

If you are a landlord, who would like to be considered to take part in the survey, please note your interest here www.researchresource.co.uk/surveyofagents.html  or contact Lorna Shaw at Research Resource on 0141 641 6410  lorna.shaw@researchresource.co.uk.  The telephone interviews will take place from the end of October and throughout November and will take approximately 15 minutes.