Document downloads - Agricultural and rural property
Available downloads
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Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995, RICS guidance (ARCHIVED)
The guidance note was published in June 1995. It offers an interpretation of the Act and prompts consideration of other important, related matters. It also provides commentary on the practical application of the Act in relation to RICS Farm Business Tenancy Agreements.
The supplementary guidance note, which published in 1998, complements and updates the Guidance note on the 1995 Agricultural Tenancies Act and should be read in conjunction with it. It deals with subsequent developments following the introduction of the Act and responds to the wealth of useful information and practical advice received by RICS in response to the original guidance.
RICS Farm Business Tenancy Agreements have continued to evolve. The latest editions can be accessed on isurv at http://isurv.com/site/scripts/documents.aspx?categoryID=104
This document is no longer current and is available on isurv for information only. -
Valuation of rural property
Published July 2019
Effective from 1 July 2019
Reissued October 2022
This professional standard applies to rural property in the UK only. For the purposes of this guidance, rural property means commercial farms and farmland, all forms of rural landed estates and residential property in the countryside with land attached.
This professional standard is primarily intended to remind registered valuers of matters that should be considered when completing a valuation of rural property. It is not intended as a substitute for training and experience or a short cut to meeting the requirements of the various applicable RICS professional standards. It may also be of use to clients in understanding the work and role of the rural property valuer and assist in arriving at properly agreed instructions.
The client base for rural property valuations can include:
• farmers
• landowners (private and public)
• estates
• lenders and other institutional clients
• developers
• investors
Some will have intimate knowledge of the industry and others less so. While the requirements of RICS Valuation – Global Standards (RICS Red Book Global Standards) will need to be met in every case, valuers will need to consider the individual requirements of each client carefully, both in terms of settling instructions and the level of detail and advice they include in their reports.
This document was reissued in October 2022 as a professional standard. It had previously been published in July 2019 as a guidance note. The regulatory requirements remain the same and no material changes have been made to the document. -
Rural valuation checklist
The same valuation principles apply to agricultural land and buildings as to any other property asset. Valuation requires an analysis of the subject and in particular the qualities of the subject property. Agricultural and rural properties have a wide divergence, of type, character and overlap into other markets such as residential housing, commercial business, etc.
This checklist provides a list of things to consider when valuing such assets.
This checklist is provided as a sample only. It is the user’s responsibility to check and adapt this as necessary to suit the particular instruction and prevailing circumstances. -
Comparable evidence in property valuation (ARCHIVED)
This document has been archived and is available on isurv for information purposes only.
Covering most types of real estate asset, this information paper discusses the use of comparable evidence in property valuation and aims to outline the principles of comparable evidence use, encourage consistency in its application worldwide, address issues of availability and the use of comparable evidence under challenging market conditions and consider the potential sources of comparable evidence.
This information paper also discusses the use of comparable evidence in different circumstances and markets, whether volatile or inactive, as well as in developing markets, where comparable evidence is often more difficult to obtain and less familiar to valuers.
Although applicable to land and buildings used for commercial, industrial, residential, agricultural and associated purposes, this publication does not cover the use of comparable evidence in the valuation of plant and equipment. Business assets or personal property are also outside the scope of this information paper, however, many of the principles described may be relevant to these types of asset. -
Farm stocktaking valuations
Published December 2016
Effective from December 2016
Reissued January 2023
Farm stocktaking valuations are required to assess the closing stock value, and thereby the proper profits or losses of a farming business, for inclusion in financial statements.
The aim of this professional standard is to assist professionals providing farm stocktaking valuations to correctly confirm instructions and prepare reports to clients that are Red Book-compliant, so as to ensure the highest standards of professionalism and clarity.
This document was reissued in January 2023 as a professional standard. It had previously been published in December 2016 as a guidance note. No material changes have been made to the document. -
Conacre Licence Agreement
Conacre is a system of letting agricultural land that is unique to Ireland. The current use of 'conacre' originated with the Land Acts of the mid-nineteenth century.
Today the term is used to reflect the system where landowners who wish to retain their land but not farm it can licence the land to another farmer, usually for a period of eleven months.
Under the latest reform to the EU Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) entitlements to be issued under the new support regime must be allocated to the person ‘enjoying the decision making power, the benefits and the financial risks in relation to agricultural activity being carried out on the land for which an allocation is requested’. This will have a significant impact on land let in conacre.
This fifth edition of the RICS Model Conacre Licence Agreement has been updated in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (DARD) to reflect changes to entitlements and eligible land in 2015 under CAP reform. The agreement can be used to support the introduction of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and Areas of Natural Constraint payments. It is intended that it can be used freely as a framework for a practitioner’s own agreement or used as it is. -
RICS Valuation – Global Standards 2017 (ARCHIVED)
This document has been archived and is available on isurv for information purposes only.
The RICS Valuation – Global Standards 2017 took effect from 1 July 2017, the same date as the IVS 2017.
The accompanying Basis for Conclusions explains the rationale behind the more significant changes made in the final version of the Red Book 2017. Specifically, it addresses the main refinements made in consequence of the responses received to the public consultation. It has been produced purely to assist the reader and does not form part of the standards.
Following the publication of the new edition of IVS, an updated Red Book takes effect from 31 January 2020 in line with the IVS. -
Drones: applications and compliance for surveyors
Published May 2019
Reissued September 2024
This practice information discusses the opportunities, rapidly developing applications and compliance challenges of using drones in a surveying environment, particularly in light of recent high-profile cases of misuse.
The practice information also highlights the fast-moving national and international regulatory issues impacting the technology's integration into widespread use in the land, property and construction sectors.
This document was reissued in September 2024 as practice information. It had previously been published in May 2019 as an insight paper. No material changes have been made to the document. -
Farm Business Tenancy Agreements 2024
Since the introduction of the original suite of Farm Business Tenancy Agreements (FBTA), there have been a number of updates, with the most recent in 2020, 2021 and 2024.
The February 2020 updates were primarily to take account of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.
The 2021 review was primarily to incorporate some specific Welsh legislative/regulatory references where relevant.
For the 2024 update, a new set of user notes has been created to accompany the FBTA suite. These user notes supersede all previous accompanying guidance and notes, and are intended for use by all users of the FBT suite, who are strongly advised to access them before using any of the agreements.