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Agricultural tenancies are almost always non-assignable. On the other hand an agricultural tenancy granted before 1 September 1995 usually involves a regulated rent and lifetime security of tenure, and thus can be argued to be of value to the tenant even though he cannot sell it. The valuation issues are different and perhaps simpler with respect to agricultural tenancies in England and Wales granted after 31 August 1995 which do not have security of tenure (which was abolished for most agricultural tenancies granted after that date¹).

Where the landlord is able to terminate the tenancy, even though it might take up to 24 months for a notice to quit to expire, the tenancy's value in terms of what the landlord would pay to obtain vacant possession will be much less than in the case of a tenancy with security of tenure.

The fact that a tenancy cannot be assigned does not prevent it from having a taxable value. The principle of IRC v Crossman² (see I8.203) means that it is valued