IHTM24308 - Environmental Management Agreements: Investigation
As it states in IHTA84/S124C(6) (IHTM24301) the land must be subject to a qualifying Environmental Management (EM) agreement, or had been, for Agricultural Relief (AR) to apply to its qualifying value under IHTA84/S124C(4) (IHTM24305).
Some agreements still allow for farming or agricultural activities to continue, albeit in an environmentally sensitive way. If the land subject to the agreement continues to be used for agricultural purposes and those purposes represent the predominant use of the land, you will not need to consider whether the provisions of S124C apply. The land will still be agricultural land occupied for agricultural purposes in accordance with IHTA84/S115(2) and S117 and should be valued in the usual way under IHTA84/S115(3).
However, where the agreement prohibits the land from being used for agriculture, or any remaining agricultural use is modest, irregular and incidental to the main environmental use of the land you should ask for a copy of the EM agreement to confirm it meets the requirements of IHTA84/S124C(6). You should also ask for a copy if it is claimed the scheme has ended but the land continues to be managed in accordance with the terms of the previous agreement. As stated at IHTM24307 you should also ask for full details of how the terms of the previous agreement continue to be adhered to.
You should also ask the taxpayers to confirm that there have been no breaches of the agreement which may lead to the agreement being terminated by the appropriate authority. Minor breaches which are remedied and do not cause the agreement to be terminated would not result in AR being lost but the provisions in S124C will no longer be met if there has been a serious breach resulting in the agreement being ended prematurely.