14/06/2026
It is crucial to serve end of tenancy wago notices at the right time 🚜🐂🐄🐑🌾🍀
END OF TENANCY WAYGO CLAIMS, TIME LIMITS AND NOTICES
The Summer edition of the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association newsletter has started landing on members door mats. Many thanks to Susan Leslie of Murray Beith Murray LLP Property for updating us on end of tenancy procedures and the importance of serving notices at the correct times.
INTROUCTION
The end of an agricultural tenancy remains one of the most legally and financially sensitive points in the landlord and tenant relationship. In Scotland, this process, known as “waygo”, encompasses a range of claims which landlords and tenants may make against one another upon the termination of an agricultural tenancy. In this article, we will consider claims for removal of tenant’s fixtures, compensation for tenant’s improvements and touch briefly upon landlord’s claims for dilapidations.
We will also consider the notice procedure to be followed for such claims, as well as the all-important statutory time limits, and the consequences of failing to meet those.
For the avoidance of doubt, this article addresses the law as it stands at the time of publication and does not address the forthcoming changes in relation to the Standard Claim Procedure contained in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2025.
Removal of TENANT'S FIXTURES
Unless prohibited by the lease, a tenant of a secure agricultural tenancy benefits from an express statutory removal regime under section 18 of the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991 (“the 1991 Act”). Accordingly, fixtures or buildings erected or added by the tenant may be removed at termination, provided they are tenant’s improvements, and not landlord’s fixed equipment.
In order to exercise this right, the tenant must serve a written notice on their landlord, at least one month prior to the end of the tenancy, intimating their intention to remove the fixture or building. In response, prior to the expiry of the tenant’s notice, the landlord is entitled to serve a counter-notice electing to purchase the fixture or building in question. In that event, the tenant’s right to remove is lost, and, instead, they will receive a payment equivalent to the fair value of the building or fixture in question to an incoming tenant.
If no counter-notice is issued by the landlord, the tenant then has 6 months following the end of the tenancy within which to remove the fixture or building. In doing so, the tenant must avoid any unnecessary damage to any other part of the holding, and must reinstate the land to a reasonable condition after removal.
For tenancies regulated by the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”), there is no general statutory right of removal. This means that the terms of the lease itself are paramount in determining whether such items can be removed by an outgoing tenant. Generally, under a 2003 Act lease, tenant’s improvements will remain within the holding at termination, and the tenant will seek compensation by means of a waygo claim (see below), rather than physical removal.
COMPENSATION FOR TENANT'S IMPROVEMENTS
Tenancies under both the 1991 Act and the 2003 Act benefit from similar statutory provisions entitling the tenant to compensation for any eligible improvements which have complied with any relevant prior consent and notification requirements. Additionally, any items agreed under the tenant’s amnesty procedure would be compensated as improvements at the end of the tenancy.
Schedule 5 of the 1991 Act lists the various items that are allowable as eligible improvements.
Procedurally, the making of a claim for compensation is governed by strict statutory time limits set down in section 62 of the 1991 Act, which provides for notice of any such claim to be served on the landlord within two months of the termination of the tenancy. If that deadline is missed, the tenant’s entitlement to make such a claim becomes time-barred.
For tenants and advisers, missing this deadline can be costly and may lead to loss of compensation entitlement and potential negligence and reputational claims.
A notice served under s62 should:
~Narrate that it is served under that section of the Act;
~Identify the tenancy and its date of termination; and
~Set out the nature of the improvement(s )for which compensation is claimed.
Following service of a notice claiming improvements, parties are encouraged to negotiate an agreed compensation figure and, initially, have a further 2-month period (i.e. up to 4 months after the termination of the tenancy) within which to do so.
If agreement is not reached within four months of termination, the tenant may apply to Scottish Ministers for a two-month extension. A second two-month extension may also be granted, allowing up to eight months in total before formal dispute resolution is required.
The address (and email address) for writing to Scottish Ministers for the purpose of seeking an extension is noted below1.
Good practice dictates that any extension correspondence be sent by recorded delivery post to prevent any dispute regarding the timeous making of such a request. It is our experience that extension requests are usually dealt with by Ministers’ representatives within 2-3 working days.
If the claim is not settled within the statutory time frame, it will be unenforceable unless an application is made to the Land Court within 1 month after the final extension. Parties can agree to have the matter settled using arbitration as an alternative dispute resolution procedure. In that event, the same 1-month time limit applies.
LANLORDS CLAIM FOR DILAPIDATIONS
Such claims can be made on the basis that, as the end of a 1991 Act tenancy approaches, the tenant has failed to maintain fixed equipment/buildings to the statutory or contractual standard, or has failed to leave the holding in the condition required by statute, the lease or the tenant’s obligations of good husbandry.
A landlord who wishes to pursue such a claim must comply with the notice provisions of both sections 47 and 62 of the 1991 Act, failing which their claim may become statutorily extinguished or, at least, significantly weakened.
In terms of section 47, at least 3 months prior to the end of a 1991 Act tenancy the landlord must serve on the tenant a written notice specifying the alleged failure to maintain, and the remedial works required.
A reasonable period for the tenant to carry out the works must be permitted. What is reasonable will depend on the nature and extent of the works required. If the outgoing tenant does not comply with the section 47 notice, to preserve a dilapidations claim, the landlord requires to invoke the notice (and extension) procedure under section 62 of the Act and give written notice of their intention to make a claim for dilapidations within 2 months of the end of the tenancy. Failure to give such notice timeously means that any claim for dilapidations will fall.
For a 2003 Act tenancy, the landlord has no statutory right to claim dilapidations, and, instead, their right to make such a claim will depend upon the terms of the lease.
For leases under both statutory regimes, a landlord has no statutory or contractual claim for dilapidations where the lease was entered into on or after 1 November 1948, unless there is a record of condition of the holding.
CONCLUSION
Waygo remains a moment of significant legal and financial consequence for both parties to an agricultural lease in Scotland. Under both the 1991 Act and the 2003 Act, substantive rights to compensation are inseparable from procedural compliance.
In particular, the requirement under section 62 of the 1991 Act to serve a notice of intention to claim compensation within two months of termination is a critical deadline that cannot be overlooked. Early preparation, careful record-keeping, and timely professional advice are often decisive in ensuring that legitimate value is preserved at the end of a tenancy.
As noted above, these steps remain valid pending the coming into force of the relevant sections of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2025, for which there is presently no firm timetable.
1. Scottish Ministers c/o Agricultural Holdings Team, D Spur, Scottish Ministers c/o Agricultural Holdings Team, D Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD, [email protected]
