Minister on the move for new lease policy

The Leases Act came into effect in 1958, which is 60 years ago this year. With the Lease Act, the position of the tenant was legally protected. The Association of Land Tenants and Own Land Users (BLHB) has been committed to this for decades.

One-off lease was introduced in 1995 and was replaced by liberalized lease in 2007 (when the legislation was incorporated into the Civil Code). Ordinary lease becomes since called regular lease.

Ambiguity in the system
Because regular and liberalized leases next to each other exist, an ambiguity has arisen in the system. The protected regular lease is in this way supplanted by the free, liberalized lease. Landlords experience regular leases as too protective and (when choosing to put land into use) prefer to issue them in liberalized leases or long leases.

For tenant farmers, the advantages of regular lease are great. However, tenants may also need liberalized leases, for example on a farm with a large portion of their own land or on a business with regular lease. In these situations, this form of lease can be effective for extra land. It then supplements the existing acreage. It also means that the existing costs can be spread over a larger area.

Systems should not crowd each other
It is in the interest of the tenants and lessors if the systems could coexist without crowding each other out. Existing contracts must be respected. There will be no support for changes if this precondition is missing. 

The basic principle is that the lease with the most rights generates the highest lease price. For all leases, the price must be related to the yielding capacity of the land. When issuing new regular leases, the lessee will be aware of this. After all, he concludes a long-term contract.

The BLHB has also previously agreed to free lease prices for new regular leases, to promote the conclusion of new contracts. Liberalized leases (also called flexible leases) must be limited in some way, otherwise no new regular leases will be established. The BLHB has provided the minister with a helping hand with which it can meet lessees of short-term flexible leases.

Tenancy policy and agricultural vision
New regular lease, career lease and long lease are available for long-term issuance. Long-term flexible leases should be discouraged to avoid over-dependence. An adjustment of the lease policy also fits in well with the agricultural vision. It means it's the minister's turn.

Peter van der Eijk

Piet van der Eijk was the chairman of the Association of Land Tenants and Own Land Users (BLHB) from 2012 to the beginning of 2019. He also has an arable farm in the Biesbosch polder in the outskirts of the Eiland van Dordrecht.

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