Solar on a tenanted Chatsworth estate farm: what to ask the agent

Tenants of the Devonshire estates, including Chatsworth, face the same legal questions as any farm tenant. This page makes no claim about how the estate handles solar requests: we found no published policy. It sets out what to ask and the law for a tenancy in England.

What Chatsworth publishes

Its page on property emissions and renewables describes the estate’s own buildings: biomass heating, a hydro turbine replaced in 2017, a Renewable Energy Centre, and plans to explore biomass, ground-source heating and solar in suitable locations. It does not mention tenant properties or farms, so it is not a statement of tenant policy.

Which law governs your tenancy

A request to put solar on a let building begins with the tenancy agreement. Check its date, any clause on alterations or improvements, and who repairs the roof. Whether it falls under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 (the 1986 Act) or the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 (the 1995 Act) decides how the law below treats anything you fix to the building.

Removing what you fix to the building

Under section 10 of the 1986 Act a tenant can remove fixtures and buildings they put on the holding during the tenancy or within two months after it ends, once rent is paid and on at least one month’s written notice; the landlord can counter-notice to buy at a fair value to an incoming tenant. Section 8 of the 1995 Act has no notice step in its text but lists its own exclusions.

Consent and compensation

Get consent in writing and say what it covers. Section 17 of the 1995 Act and section 67 of the 1986 Act both make written landlord consent a condition of compensation, and either can carry terms. Neither says how a roof array is classified, so ask the land agent to state whether it is treated as an improvement, a removable fixture or neither.

Who repairs the roof under the array

The roof matters as much as the paperwork. For an agricultural holding, the 1973 repairing regulations, as made, put roof repairs and replacements mainly on the landlord unless a written agreement says otherwise, and give the tenant duties such as keeping gutters and valleys clear. A farm business tenancy turns on its own agreement. For asbestos cement sheets, read solar panels on asbestos cement farm roofs and overclad or strip an asbestos cement farm roof.

What to put in the written request

A complete request names:

• the roof, its age and its sheet material;
• the system proposed, with a layout sketch;
• the structural assessment and who carried it out;
• who pays, who owns it and how tax is treated (farm solar cost guide, grants and funding);
• the consent you want recorded, and the end-of-tenancy arrangement.

Tenants of the Duchy of Cornwall, institutional landlords (NFU Mutual) and the Wellcome Trust will find the same checklist on their pages. For the building and system, see solar panels for agricultural buildings; for wider background, tenant farmer solar and landlord consent.