and promotes the interests of crofting in Scotland
to secure the future of crofting.
Duties of a Crofter & Statutory Conditions
Duties of a Crofter - Relevant Section of the 1993 Act 5AA Crofters’ duties relating to residency, use, misuse and neglect of crofts
What are the duties of a crofter?
- A duty to be ordinarily resident on, or within 32km of, their croft
- A duty to cultivate and maintain their croft or put it to another purposeful use
- A duty not to misuse or neglect their croft
"Cultivate" includes the use of a croft for horticulture or for any purpose of husbandry, including the keeping or breeding of livestock, poultry or bees, the growing of fruit, vegetables and the like and the planting of trees and use of the land as woodlands;
Purposeful Use -If a tenant crofter would like to diversify the use of their croft and no longer cultivate it as defined above they need to seek the Landlords consent to put the croft to another "purposeful use". Purposeful use is defined at section 5C(8) the 1993 Act) as:
Any planned and managed use which does not adversely affect --
- the croft;
- the public interest;
- the interests of the landlord or (if different) the owner; or
- the use of adjacent land.
Should the Landlord refuse consent ,not respond to the request within 28 days, or impose conditions on consent unacceptable to the crofter, the crofter can apply directly to Crofting Commission for consent to put the croft to another purposeful use
As per Section 26(A) of the 1993 Act the Commission has a duty to investigate a suspected breach of duty when a report is received from:
- a) a grazings committee;
- (b) a grazings constable;
- (c) an assessor appointed under paragraph 16 of schedule 1;
- (d) a member of the crofting community within which the croft in question is situated.
“crofting community” means all the persons who (either or both) – (a) occupy crofts within a township which consists of two or more crofts registered with the Crofting Commission; (b) hold shares in a common grazing associated with that township.
Should the Commission decide that a duty is not being complied with, they must, before taking any action give the relevant person a written notice giving the person an opportunity to give an undertaking to comply with the duty before the expiry of such period as the Commission consider reasonable. A copy of this notice will be sent to the Landlord.
If ,having following the process described in Section 26A to 26Hof the 1993 Act, the Commission are satisfied that it is in the general interest of the crofting community in the locality of the croft, the Commission must make an order terminating the tenancy of the crofter unless they consider that there is a good reason not to. A copy of this order will be sent to the Landlord
Every tenancy of a croft is subject to the conditions set out in Schedule 2 of the 1993 Act, these are often called the statutory conditions.
Complaint in respect of a breach of the statutory conditions Section 5A of the 1993 Act
The landlord or any member of the crofting community in the locality of the croft may complain to the Commission that a breach of statutory has occurred.
The Commission will give written notice to the crofter of the breach complained of and give him the opportunity to remedy it. If the breach is not remedied the Commission may apply to the Land Court for an order –
(a) terminating the tenancy;
(b) declaring the croft to be vacant; and
(c) for the removal of the tenant from the croft
However, where the complaint is received from a member of the crofting community the Commission will give the landlord written notice of their intention to make the application to the Court, and if the landlord objects, the Commission shall not proceed with the application.
Croft Rent – Section 6 of the 1993 Act
The payment of croft rent is one of the statutory conditions mentioned above. The rent may be altered by agreement in writing between the landlord and the crofter.
The Land Court may, on the application of the crofter or the landlord, determine what is a fair rent to be paid by the crofter to the landlord for the croft.
A tenant crofter has the right to renounce (hand back) their croft tenancy to their landlord. To do this the croft tenant must give the landlord a year’s notice, in writing. Section 7 Renunciation of Tenancy The Landlord shall within one month of the receipt of the notice of renunciation give notice to the Crofting Commission. The renunciation will take effect at either Whitsunday (28 May) or Martinmas (28 November). This will result in the croft becoming vacant and so landlords should then apply to the Commission to let the croft. Renunciation notification forms can be accessed via our form finder.
