A croft is a small agricultural unit. The person who lives on the croft is called a crofter. A croft is the land, not the house the crofter lives in. Crofts are usually rented. They are often part of large estates where the landowner is the crofter's landlord.
A croft is a traditional Scottish term for a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer, especially in rural areas.
A crofter has a duty to be resident on or within 32km of their croft, to cultivate and maintain the croft, put the croft to another purposeful use and not to misuse or neglect the croft.
And depending on the location, these grants can be up to a maximum of £38,000. Most mortgage lenders will not typically offer mortgages for properties which are in crofting tenure.
If you're a tenant of a croft, you can buy it. This means you become the landlord of the croft rather than a crofter. You must rent it to another crofter or live there yourself. If you want to buy your croft you'll need a solicitor.
That tenant has the right to buy the croft for 15 times the annual rent. While croft rent is typically a token amount per annum (often not much more than £50) it's worth noting that even after paying a large sum for a crofting tenancy, you are still required to pay the annual rent to the landlord.
Agricultural production is generally limited by both climate and land type, and most crofters earn much of their livelihood off the croft. Most crofting activity revolves around livestock production in low-intensity systems.
The Crofting Register is a public list of crofts, common grazings and land held runrig. Runrig is land that's divided into strips, with each strip belonging to a different person. The register shows each area of land on a map and gives information on the tenant and owner of the land.
The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 gives crofting communities the right to acquire and control the croft land where they live and work, and to acquire the interest of the tenant in tenanted land (interposed lease). Crofting community right to buy is a right that can be exercised at any time.
The Crofting Register is also open to voluntary registrations from individuals and communities. You should submit your application for the registration of a croft to the Crofting Commission in the first instance. The fee for the first registration of a croft is £90. Find out more about the croft registration process.
A family member can leave you their crofting tenancy in their will. Inheriting a tenancy is sometimes called succession. You must tell the landlord and the Crofting Commission that you have inherited the tenancy. If you do not do this within 12 months of the person's death, you might not be able to inherit the croft.
According to the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 1993 "cultivate" includes the use of a croft for horticulture or for any purpose of husbandry, including the keeping or breeding of livestock, poultry or bees, the growing of fruit, vegetables and the like and the planting of trees and use of the land as woodlands.
The Crofting Register is a public list of crofts, common grazings and land held runrig. The register shows each area of land on a map and gives information on the tenant and owner of the land. Visit The Registers of Scotland to search the Crofting Register.
Crofting is a system of landholding, which is unique to Scotland, and is an integral part of life in the Highlands & Islands. Crofting can deliver a wealth of benefits to crofters and the crofting communities.
While the number of crofters receiving an income of £10,000 or less from crofting-based activities has remained the same as 2018 (53%), the number earning more than £10,000 has decreased. The average income was £4,538. Over the last 12 months, 43% of crofters received an income from grants or support schemes.
For example, crofters do not require a site license for use of land as a caravan site provided such use falls within the period 1 April to 30 September in any year and in that period there are not more than 3 caravans on the land at any one time (Crofters Commission, 2007).
What is the difference between a croft and a smallholding?
Historically crofts have been rented by crofters from landlords whose estates may contain many crofts. Whilst the majority of smallholdings are owner-occupied, the majority of crofts are still tenanted.
What is the difference between a farmer and a crofter?
“farm", as a noun, can refer to anything agricultural land up to a huge corporate agribusiness enterprise. “croft" implies a small single-family farm; connotes that animal husbandry occurs in the acreage.
Rent is paid for the land only as any house, agricultural building, fence etc is provided by, and owned by the crofter. A crofter may own their own croft, which remains in crofting tenure. Crofting tenure gives wide-ranging rights to crofting tenants, such as: security of tenure.
That may have been the case at some point in history, strictly speaking (given that horses are not agricultural), but no longer, and the short answer currently is that you can keep horses on a croft. In fact, there is a common grazing in Shetland grazed entirely by Shetland ponies rather than sheep or cattle.
How long will the application process take? Providing your croft is registered with the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, we aim to take a decision on the application within 16 weeks. If your croft is not registered, we cannot take a decision on your application until this has happened.
Division is the term used when a croft is separated to create two or more units. If an owner-occupier crofter wishes to sell or otherwise transfer ownership of part of their croft, they must first obtain the Commission's consent to divide the croft in to the respective parts they wish to transfer and to keep.
