SIMULTANEOUS CLAIMS 1 69 



deliberately concocted in order to exceed the tenant's 

 claim for improvements, and so to deter him from pro- 

 ceeding further, will have the result of compelling land- 

 lords and agents to put in practical demands on their 

 merits. This hope is almost universally expressed by 

 the tenants examined. 



The date at which the simultaneous notices should 

 be sent in, suggested by the Central Chamber of Agri- 

 culture and by a majority of witnesses, is twenty-eight 

 days before the determination of the tenancy. Many 

 witnesses, however, would prefer other dates. Thus Mr 

 H. H. Scott prefers a date at or about the time of 

 quitting, or within a month after quitting. Several 

 witnesses assent to a date after quitting. One Scotch 

 witness suggests, in reference to the Scotch Act, that 

 the date of notice should be not as now four months, but 

 six months before quitting, while other Scotch witnesses 

 suggest that claims on either side should be submitted 

 within three months after the determination of the 

 tenancy. In his report on Roxburgh and other counties, 

 Mr Hope says : " If both claims are put into neutral 

 hands on the same day, it is thought that there would be 

 less tendency to rake up vexatious counterclaims." 

 But the compromise of one month before quitting has 

 most support, one obvious reason being that the tenant 

 still has time before quitting to make good a number of 

 dilapidations as to buildings, fences, ditches, drains, etc., 

 for which the landlord may have claimed. 



As to the frequent difficulty of different portions of 

 the holding being given up at different periods, it is 

 suggested that the date for notices should either be 

 twenty-eight days before the last portion of the holding 

 is given up, or that separate notices should be given 

 twenty-eight days before each portion is given up. 



The Committee of the Central Chamber also recom- 

 mend that " the landlord shall have power, within four- 

 teen days after the determination of the tenancy, to 

 amend his claim in respect of dilapidations to buildings 

 occurring after the notice of claim has been delivered.^ " 



' Vol. Ill, App. VI i I. 



