17 



III.— Fixtures and Buildings. 



Fixtures include anything annexed to the 

 freehold in a permanent manner, and the law 

 formerly was that the tenant could not 

 remove anything fixed to the freehold with- 

 out committing waste, for which he would be 

 liable to his landlord. 



The tenant was, however, allowed to remove 

 fixtures put up for the ornament of the pre- 

 mises or convenience of his occupation ; such 

 fixtures are calh d " tenant's fixtures " and 

 include such articles as stoves, grate.«, hang- 

 ings, cupboards, etc. They must, however, be 

 but slightly fixed and be capable of being 

 moved entire. Fixtures erected for the pur- 

 poses of trade have also been excepted from 

 the general rule, but the exception was not 

 extended to fixtures put up for agricultural 

 purposes. See the case of Elwes v. Maw 

 [1802] (3 East, 38) ; in that case the fixtures 

 Wfre a beast house, a carpenter's shop, a fuel- 

 house, a cart- house, a pump house and fold- 

 yard. Machinery, however, and even buildings 

 may be so erected as not to be let into the 

 soil or annexed to it or to any building in 

 such a manner as to become part of the 

 freehold or to lofie their chattel character. 

 See Woodfall's " L-^ndlord and Tenant " (19th 

 edition), p. 740. In Mears v. Callender (70 

 L. J. Ch. 621 ; [1901] 2 tb. 388) it was held 

 that glass houses erected for the purpose of 

 his trade by a tenant carrying on the business 

 of a market gardener do not come under the 

 rule laid down in Elwea v. Maw as to agri- 

 cultural fixtures and may be removed by the 

 tei ant during his tenancy apart from the 

 provisions of Section 21 of the Agricultural 

 Holdings Act, 1908, hereinafter mentioned. 



An agricultural tenant's right to fixtures 

 has now btren improved by Section 21 of that 

 Act. That section provides that any engine, 

 mncbinery, fencing or other fixtures affixed to 

 an agricultural holding (which includes a 

 holding cultivated in whole or in part as a 

 market garden) by a tenant and any building 

 erected by him thereon for which he is not 

 under the Act or otherwise entitled to com- 

 pensation and which is . not so affixed or 

 erected in pursuance of some fixture or build- 

 ing belonging to the landlord shall be the 

 property of and removable by the tenant 

 before or within a reasonable lime after the 

 determination of the tenancy. But the tenant 

 right is subject to the following provisions : — 



(1) Before the removal of the fixture or 

 building he must pay all rent owing by 

 him and perform or satisfy all other his 

 obligations to the landlord in respect of 

 the holding; 



(2) In the removal of the fixture or build- 

 ing he must not do any avoidable damage 

 to any other building or other part of 

 the holding ; 



(3) Immediately after the removal he must 

 make good all damage occasioned to any 

 other building or other part of the hold- 

 ing by the removal ; 



(4) He must give one month's previous 

 notice in writing to the landlord of his 

 intention to remove the fixture or build- 

 ing; 



(5) At any time before the expiration of 

 the notice of removal the landlord, by 

 notice in writing, may elect to purchase 

 any fixture or building comprised in the 

 notice of removal, and any fixture or 

 building thus elected to be purchased 

 must be left by the tenant and will 

 become the property of the landlord, who 

 must pay to the tenant the fair value 

 thereof to an incoming tenant, sixch 

 value in case of difference to be settled 

 by arbitration. 



The provisions of this section apply to a 

 fixt ure or building acquired since 1st December, 

 1900, by a tenant in like manner as they apply 

 to a fixture or building affixed or erected by a 

 tenant, but do not apply to any fixture or 

 building erected before the 1st January, 1884. 



This section applies to all agricultural and 

 market garden holdings unless the tenant is 

 expressly deprived of the benefits of it by his 

 lease or tenancy agreement. 



IV.— Rates. 

 The Agricultural Rates Act, 1896, provides 

 that the occupier of agricultural land shall be 

 liable in the case of every rate to which the 

 Act applies to pay one-half only of the rate 

 in the pound payable in respect of build- 

 ings and other hereditaments. The expression 

 " rate " means a rate the proceeds of which 

 are applicable for public local purposes and 

 "agricultural Imd" means any land used 

 as arable, meadow or pasture ground only, 

 cottage gardens exceeding one quarter of an 

 acre, market gardens, nursery grounds, or- 

 chtrds or allotments, bur does not include 



