and promotes the interests of crofting in Scotland
to secure the future of crofting.
Letting a Grazing Share(s)
‘Letting’ is the term used to describe the Let of a croft, or part of a croft, or a grazings share, with the consent of the Commission, by a landlord or owner-occupier crofter, to a tenant, referred to as the ‘proposed new tenant’.
Who can apply?
If you want to let the tenancy of a grazings share on a permanent basis, this is the correct application for you.
If the grazings shares are held in tenancy and/or your Title Deeds do not specifically mention that you own the grazings rights pertaining to the croft, an application to Assign the share should be used.
- A landlord of a vacant grazings share or an owner-occupier crofter can apply to let a vacant grazings share as a separate unit or as an enlargement to another tenanted croft. If you want to let as an enlargement to a tenanted croft, you should notify the landlord(s) of that croft of your letting application.
- An owner-occupier crofter who lets their grazings share to a tenant on a permanent basis, with the Commission’s consent, will become the landlord of that grazings share.
- If a grazings share is held in joint ownership, the tenancy cannot be let to one of the joint owners.
- Where the grazings share to be let has more than one owner, all owners must collectively apply .
- If parts of the common grazings are held in separate ownership, you must notify each of the owners of your letting application in writing.
- Every tenancy will be subject to the conditions set out in Schedule 2 to the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993, unless you notify the Crofting Commission that the conditions of let have been varied, and provide them with a copy of the contract or lease agreement. Crofting legislation specifies which rights you can agree with the proposed new tenant that they can be deprived of as part of their tenancy agreement. You can also agree with the proposed new tenant that they can be deprived of other statutory rights, but this will first need to be agreed by the Scottish Land Court, if the statutory conditions of let are varied, the Crofting Commission will record this in the Register of Crofts.
- If your application to let a grazings share is approved, you will need to confirm that you have entered into a tenancy agreement with the proposed new tenant. A rent, however nominal, must be charged to the tenant.
The Crofting Commission uses a set of criteria for ‘Letting a Grazing Share' applications, which are referred to as ‘parameters.’ The parameters determine how the decision on the application is taken. If the application meets the parameters, and no objections have been received, the decision to approve the application is made as a straightforward approval (known as Tier 1 approval). These types of decisions are reached the most quickly.
Here are some examples of parameters for Letting a Grazing Share applications:
- The proposed new tenant will be ordinarily resident within 32 kilometres of the common grazings or will be within 18 months of obtaining the tenancy of the grazings share
- The proposed new tenant has provided evidence that they will cultivate the croft share
- The proposed tenant has the skills to carry out their proposals for the grazings shar.
- The proposed new tenant occupies 5 or less crofts (including deemed crofts comprising of apportionments and/or grazings rights)
- There have been no objections from any member of the crofting community.
- Demand has not been expressed for the tenancy of the grazings share, or the person expressing demand already had grazings share(s), or there are vacant grazings shares in the township.
If an application does not meet all the parameters, it is considered to be a more complex application. Complex applications are considered and decided by more senior staff within the Crofting Commission and may take longer to process and for a decision to be taken. For further information on our tiered decision-making process please visit How decisions are made on applications.
What you need to apply:
- A completed ‘Let Grazing Share’ application form
- You must advertise your application to ‘Let the Grazing Share’ in a local newspaper, allowing 28 days for comments to be sent to the Crofting Commission. A sample application advert is provided in the application form guidance notes. The advert should appear no earlier than 1 month before the submission of the application, and no later than 2 months after the submission of the application. To find an approved local paper in your area, please visit our advertsing factsheet.
- A completed Registers of Scotland Crofting Register application form (more info below on the steps to do this depending on whether the common grazings is already registered with Registers of Scotland, or not)
- Evidence of notification of the application to the owner (s) of the common grazings.
Application form
It is important to read the guidance notes fully before and as you complete the application form. These notes will tell you what information you need to include in your application and what other documents you need to submit.
It is also important to consider the decision parameters when preparing your application.
If the application doesn’t meet the parameters, if objections are received, if there is any inconsistencies between the application and the Register of Crofts, or if the application is not completed correctly it will take longer to decide your application.
To access the application forms and associated guidance, please use our form finder.
Here is a summary of the key points:
- Read the guidance notes before you fill out your letting of a grazing share application.
- Consider the parameters when preparing your application.
- You can submit your application online or by post
Notification
You are legally required to notify all owners of the common grazings of this application. In order to confirm you have done this, please provide one of the following:
1. A letter confirming receipt of notification from the owners of the common grazings OR
2. Evidence of notification having been sent by registered post or recorded delivery to any owners of the common grazings.
Registers of Scotland Application
The Registers of Scotland (RoS) holds the Crofting Register, which is a map-based register of croft and common grazings land. If you are applying to Let a Grazing Share and the common grazings is not already registered, you may need to register your croft with Registers of Scotland for the first time as explained below:
- 1. If you are the landlord or the owner-occupier crofter and the grazings share you want to let forms part of a croft, if the croft is not yet registered you will need to submit a ‘First Registration’ (FORM A) application. In this application you will need to provide a map of your croft boundary
- 2. If you are the landlord and there is an entry in the Commission’s Register of Crofts solely for the vacant grazings share you are applying to let, unless the common grazings is already registered on the Crofting Register, you will need to apply to register the grazings share (which in these circumstances is often referred to as a ’deemed croft’) by completing a ‘First Registration’ (FORM A) application. In this application you will need to submit a map showing the whole or part of the common grazings to show the general location of the grazings share.
Please refer to the Registers of Scotland website for more information.
Your First Registration (FORM A) should ideally be submitted at the same time as your letting application and it must be submitted within 6 months of the Crofting Commission receiving your ‘Let a Grazings Share’ application, otherwise we cannot process your letting application.
If you are applying to let the grazings share as an enlargement to another croft, you will also need to check if that croft is registered on the Registers of Scotland Crofting Register. If the croft to be enlarged is not yet registered, the tenant will need to apply to register it for the first time by submitting a ‘First Registration’ (FORM A) application.
For details of how to prepare a map of your croft and the correct form, please refer to the Registers of Scotland website. The Commission is unable to decide your letting application until the croft(s) is registered.
If your croft, the grazings share you are applying to let, or the common grazings is already registered, a ‘Subsequent Event’ (FORM B) application will need to be submitted within a specified timescale, if your letting application is approved. Information about who it is that needs to submit the ‘Subsequent Event’ (FORM B) application, and the timescale, will be provided in the letters sent to you, and the proposed new tenant, by the Crofting Commission informing you that your letting application is approved.
The ‘First Registration’ (FORM A) or ‘Subsequent Event’ (FORM B) application should be submitted to the Crofting Commission by post. There is a processing fee of £90 for a registration application. This can be paid by a cheque made out to the Crofting Commission, or by bank transfer. The Crofting Commission will check, and process your application, and forward it to Registers of Scotland.
Here is a summary of the key points
• You may need to submit a ‘First Registration’ (FORM A) application to register your croft or the ’deemed croft’ comprising of the grazings share/grazings rights with the Registers of Scotland, if you are applying to ‘Let a Grazing Share’ and the common grazings is not already registered.Please check the Registers of Scotland website to see if this is required. If required, the ‘First Registration’ (FORM A) application should ideally be submitted at the same time as your ‘Let a Grazings Share’ application.• If you are applying to let a grazings share as an enlargement to another tenanted croft, if that croft is not already registered, then the tenant of the croft that is to be enlarged will need to register the whole of their croft. The existing tenant will need to submit a ‘First Registration’ (FORM A) application and ideally this should be submitted at the same time as your ‘Let a Grazings Share’ application.
• If you do require to submit a ‘First Registration’ (FORM A) and this is not received by the Crofting Commission within 6 months of your ‘Let a Grazings Share’ application, your letting application cannot be processed by the Crofting Commission, and you will need to re-apply.
• If your letting application is approved by the Crofting Commission, and the common grazings, the croft(s), or the grazings share is already registered? you will be told in the approval decision letter who needs to submit a ‘Subsequent Event’ (FORM B) application and the timescale for sending this the Crofting Commission.
• Each registration application has a fee of £90, payable to the Crofting Commission by cheque or bank transfer.
• The Crofting Commission will process and forward the registration application and the fee to Registers of Scotland.
Once the Crofting Commission has received your completed ‘Let Grazings Share’ application, we will check to make sure that you have filled out the correct form and submitted all the required information. If you have not submitted everything correctly, you will be made aware and will have a specified amount of time to submit the information requested.
After the 28-day public consultation period has passed, the Crofting Commission will consider any correspondence it has received about your letting application. This is to establish if the person is entitled to object or otherwise has a relevant interest in your application. Any rejected submissions will be returned or destroyed. We will let you know if there are any valid objections or submissions supporting your letting application and both you and the proposed new tenant will be able to reply to the Crofting Commission about these.
The Crofting Commission will also consider whether it is necessary to undertake any further investigation before making a decision on your application. This may include a report being prepared by the ‘Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate’ (SGRPID) office situated in the locality of the croft or common grazings.
If the croft(s)or the common grazings is registered with the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, and the application meets the decision parameters, the Crofting Commission will be able to decide your application more quickly. We would aim to take a decision within 16 weeks for straightforward applications where there are no objections, and no further investigation is required.
If the application does not meet the decision parameters, it may take longer to be processed and decided. Please refer to ‘How decisions are made on applications' for more information.
Here is a summary of the key points:
- The Crofting Commission will check your application to make sure that it is complete and correct.
- If no one objects to your application, the Crofting Commission will try to make a decision within 16 weeks.
- The Crofting Commission cannot make a decision on your application if your croft is not registered with the Registers of Scotland.
The Crofting Commission must decide the application by:
(i) granting it
(ii) granting it subject to conditions or
(iii) refusing it.
The Crofting Commission will notify the applicant, the proposed new tenant, and any other involved parties (eg objectors, owner(s) of the common grazings and the Grazings Committee where appropriate) of its decision, by recorded delivery post, within 21 days of the decision being taken, specifying the reasons for its decision.
If the letting application is granted, and relates to a first registered croft, the landlord or the owner-occupier crofter must, within 3 months of the granting of the application, notify the Crofting Commission that the ‘Let of the Grazing Share’ has taken effect and the date on which the tenancy began. The Crofting Commission will in turn notify the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland of the change, so it can be recorded on the Crofting register. The Let takes effect on the date provided by the landlord or the owner-occupier crofter on the notification form.
If the croft, or the ’deemed croft’ or the common grazings, is already registered, you and the proposed new tenant will be told in the decision letter if you need to submit a ‘Subsequent Event’ (FORM B) application if the letting application is approved, and the timescale for sending the ‘FORM B’ to the Crofting Commission. The Crofting Commission will process the ‘Subsequent Event’ (FORM B) application and will forward this to the Keeper.
The let will take effect on the date it is registered on the Registers of Scotland’s Crofting Register.
It is important to note the time limits for completing and returning the notification form or the Registers of Scotland ‘Subsequent Event’ (FORM B) application are set by law and the Crofting Commission cannot extend them. Failure to submit the forms within the relevant timescales means the ‘Let of Grazings Share’ will not take effect and you will need to re-apply.
You (and any other involved party to the application) will have the option to appeal the Crofting Commission’s decision or determination of the application to the Scottish Land Court within 42 days from the date of the decision letter. Please refer to the Appeals page for more information.
