Renting small field to a farmer for first time

I believe that as long as he is paying you rent he cannot claim squatters rights.

Issue receipts and keep records, declare for tax.

(1) consider following approach re annual rent amount. Inform him that in your opinion the going rate per acre s , say , €250 per acre so the €62 is a ‘bit wide of the mark’. So could he make an offer to ‘improve’ on that figure. Remember the 62 figure was ‘fives’ X years ago and inflation and all of that has happened since.

(2) you do’nt know how much the renter may have ‘helped’ the previous house owner in return for a very low rent eg provided wood, cleaned his chimney, collected children from school , provided a bit of child minding , provided and erected the mentioned fencing, etc.

(3) nothing on the land is his , including the fencing, unless it is mentioned in the documentation someplace. Or if it was verbally mentioned during the sales process.

(4) be wary of ‘the sob story/ pulling at your emotional strings’ in order to get you to agree to a low rent.

(5) when insuring your property I assume that you would be including the 4 acres andthe RENTING of it. That then covers you in the case of any accident.

(6) If you sign a 5 year least - special forms for this are available- the rent is tax free . I am not sure if one has to rent out a minimum acreage to avail of this. The lease wording covers all eventualities. This 5 year least suggestion could be ‘floated to the renter as a carrot as whatever rent is agreed it will be the rent for the next 5 yrs. A 7 year lease is also allowed re the tax free rent

(7) keeping good relations is highly desirable but avoid being taken advantage of . There will be other opportunities to work on such relationships besides renting land cheaply.

(8) re the value of the land - if the locality is ‘populated’ with a number of smallish/ medium size farms the 4 acres could be easily managed by taking two to three cuts silage off it, so no cattle or sheep involved. Or take a cut of hay and graze after grass with cattle. So it could be quiet attractive to such farmers.is

In summary, use the no 1 approach while injecting no 6 as a ‘carrot. ‘ -making sure to mention that the old rate was ‘Zfixed ‘ YEARS ago

Op, most of this post above is Rubbish apart from point 3.

4 acres rent for you or the use of 4 acres for the man that had it rented is not going to make either of you wealthy.

Ask him for 400 per year. Both of you will have something out of it then. Asking him 1000 for it won't pay him to have it and you could end up with some trouble maker.

now you are talking as we might say in Ireland

I would still have the land captured in your house insurance and stating that it is rented. If someone is just walking across it, slips , falls off the gate getting into it or whatever they might sue all around, eg the owner ;, the renter,; the slurry spreader; , the hay baler ;, the silage contractor,, the neighbour to advise them where to get holly,/take a short cut, the fertiliser spreader or whoever. There are such individuals out there.
So , check with your solicitor anyway

try and find out if it’s always been €250, if it has then go with that.

You could ask more but really is few hundred worth it. Having a farmer friendly when you’re new to the area is a very handy thing. Move something with a tractor or level stone with transport box.