VICTORIA - Amendments to the Land Title Act will make it easier for farmers to enter into long-term leases with landowners for unused portions of agricultural lands, Agriculture and Lands Minister Pat Bell announced today.

"Until now, it has been both difficult and expensive for farmers to access unused portions of agricultural lands," said Bell. "They had to either go through the expense of subdivision or draft complicated legal arrangements. These amendments will create new opportunities for farmers by ensuring they are able to enter into long-term leases without going through subdivision requirements unnecessarily."

The amendments will ensure that long-term agreements to lease unsubdivided land are enforceable between the parties even if the leases do not comply with the subdivision and registration requirements set out in the act.

"These problems have been most pronounced in the Fraser Valley and Okanagan region, where land prices make leasing an affordable option for many farm operators to access land," said Steve Thomson, executive director of the B.C. Agriculture Council. "Leases offer an opportunity for persons who do not farm or retired farmers to make their land available to farmers for production, rather than leaving it unused."

"I have been working closely with the minister, Parliamentary Secretary Val Roddick and ministry staff on this issue, and believe most farmers will benefit a great deal from the assurance that their long-term leases are valid," added Delta farmer and agriculture lawyer Ralph May. "The amendments will allow farmers leasing land to make better use of that land while making long-range plans to cultivate it in an economically and environmentally sustainable way."

The changes will address a number of undesirable side effects that arose out of a 1996 judicial case that involved such leases, which have resulted in confusion, extra costs for farmers and an unintended burden on local governments. Industry has been asking for these amendments for some time.
The amendments will:

* Remove an impediment to common, longstanding practice.
* Enhance the ability of farmers to affordably access unused farmland.
* Prevent injustice of parties having no agreement and no remedies, even though they thought they did and acted accordingly. * Promote certainty of agreements and reduce litigation.

The requirements were originally enacted in the 1920s, in order to help local governments regulate the use of land within their boundaries. For many years, the requirements were believed to be permissive, and only needed to be complied with if the parties wanted to register the lease in the land title registry. In 1996, the British Columbia Court of Appeal decided that the subdivision requirements were mandatory, and that leases of unsubdivided land for terms in excess of three years which did not satisfy the requirements were void and of no effect.

The amendments, part of Bill 35, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2007, received Royal Assent May 31, 2007.