[Garmoran]

This croft house and tenancy recently appeared on the market:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60463823.html

I was astonished by the asking price for the tenancy. It seems a phenomenal amount for land that is so limited in use through being subject to crofting law.

[CarolineJ]

Well, I suppose it depends what the purchaser wants to do with the land.  If the buyer wants to farm it, then I think £225,000 for 210 acres and a house (or £100,000 for 210 acres if the tenancy is bought separately) isn't bad at all, especially since the house has been de-crofted and will therefore be mortgageable.

[Garmoran]

It's just the asking price of the tenancy that surprises me. No doubt the estate agent has advised that this is a realistic figure to ask, but I just don't understand why anyone would be willing to pay so much just to be able to rent the land, even at £12 a year. Measuring it on Google Maps, there is about 10 acres of in-bye and the rest is (very) rough hill. It seems a lot to ask even if you were getting ownership of the land.

I can't see anyone local buying the tenancy at that price or anything near it.

[Creagan]

A croft tenancy is far more valuable than owning the croft itself. All of the rights, including an absolute right of tenure that can only be reassigned by the Crofters Commission, reside with the tenant. So for all practical purposes you are actually buying the land.

[Hamish Crofter]

Creagan is absolutely right. I'm an owner occupier of my croft but feel that if I were the tenant I'd be better off!   
You have to start to understand the very complex world of crofting law to understand the tenancy issues but I guess to most folk outwith the crofting world it seems odd and maybe viewed as paying tens of thousands just to rent a property or in this case a croft.

[Garmoran]

Oh, I have a lifetime of experience with the complexities of crofting law. It caught my attention because, while I am used to crofts that have been bought coming on the market at prices that make them impossible for local people to buy, I naively believed that rented crofts were more accessible, although seldom available. I am aware of a number of cases in my area where family members who would carry on the crofting tradition have been deprived of the opportunity by the family croft having become a financial asset, but all, until now, have been owner-occupied crofts.

[CarolineJ]

Afraid not - I bought two tenancies earlier this year, which was 12 acres split over 5 fields, 3 shares in the common grazings (souming of 50 sheep) and a 3-bedroom house in need of an overhaul (just finished replacing the roof and it's being completely rewired as well) - house site not decrofted.  They went on the market at offers over £100k for the two.