Schouten introduces new lease form

The contours of the new lease rules were presented by Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) on Friday 22 March. It introduces, among other things, a new, long-term lease. In particular, Schouten wants to encourage long-term leases and sustainable soil management.

Schouten registers a letter to Parliament that this long-term lease form will become the new standard. The shape should contribute to continuity and make it easier for farmers to make long-term investments. The new lease form means that the maximum term for short-term liberal leases will be deleted. The tenants and lessees must also be given more freedom to agree prices among themselves.

At the same time, short-term leases are also made less attractive. How exactly this will be discouraged is still unclear. The minister mentions various options for this, such as the option to only allow short-term leases in special cases. Maximum prices could possibly be set for this, or a kind of price test (based on the average market prices for long-term leases).

Better appointments
In addition, Schouten wants better agreements to be made between the lessor and lessee. At the moment, lessees of regular lease have few options to set requirements for a good soil policy. The minister wants to change this. The minister is considering, among other things, broadening the options for lessors to terminate the lease contract in the event of unauthorized sublease.

She sees the letter to parliament as a guideline for the new lease legislation. According to this new policy, a draft bill will also be drafted this year, which will be drawn up in collaboration with the Minister for Legal Protection.

Letter was expected
Schouten's letter to parliament had been delayed for a while. The rough lines that the minister has now presented are not surprising. The ministry has already promised several times to commit itself to long-term lease relationships. According to the minister, the introduction of the long-term lease fits in perfectly with this.

According to Schouten, the current system is not efficient, because currently often short-term lease contracts are concluded. These contracts often have high prices, in particular due to the scarcity of land and liberal pricing. The current regular (long-term) lease contracts are less interesting for lessors, because the prices for regular leases are lower due to current legislation.

Anne-Jan Doorn

Anne Jan Doorn is an arable expert at Boerenbusiness. He writes about the various arable farming markets and also focuses on the land and energy market.

aj.doorn@boerenbusiness. Nl

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