Single Payment Scheme

Those farmers who have also sold land over the past year or so will have watched with interest (and possibly amazement) as their lawyers have grappled with the effects of the Mid-Term Review and its effect on these transactions. It has been a period of huge uncertainty as it has been far from clear how the future entitlement to the Single Farm Payment can be transferred from one farmer to another on the sale of land or the granting or surrender of a tenancy in advance of the scheme "going live" in 2005. The schemes that have been used have been both complicated and convoluted, and because the regulations have only been in draft form, without any guarantee of success. However, draft regulations have followed draft regulations until now when the final version appears to be in place. Article 17 of the regulations which provide for the implementation of the Single Payment Scheme, set out the scenario whereby the entitlement can be transferred by one farmer to another as part of the sale contract of the land where the contract is "concluded or modified" prior to the introduction of the scheme. This appears to be good news for all those who adopted a relatively straightforward route in their approach to the problem however, it also opens up the intriguing possibility that contracts already concluded can be re-visited and "modified" to provide for the transfer of the entitlement after the event. Thus a second chance to transfer the entitlement may be afforded to those who didn't get it quite right first time round. A saving grace indeed!

 

It is no coincidence that the pages advertising farms for sale in the trade press have trebled or quadrupled in the past 3 or 4 weeks. Suddenly it is clear that the entitlement to the Single Farm Payment can be transferred and those vendors who have been sitting on farms for upwards of 18 months can begin to make progress with some degree of confidence.