Former tank commander turned lawyer takes on leading role in Scottish agriculture
The new appointment comes at a time ‘with new land reform legislation on the way and changes to taxation and regulation impacting many livelihoods’.
A former British Army tank commander has taken charge of Scotland’s leading agricultural valuation body just as tax changes are poised to transform the economics of family farming.
Andrew Linehan, a partner at Edinburgh law firm Murray Beith Murray, was elected president of the Scottish Agricultural Arbiters and Valuers Association (SAAVA) this week, the first lawyer to hold the post since the organisation’s founding in 1925. SAAVA provides advice on rural land values to governments, valuers, solicitors and accountants among others.
Mr Linehan, who served five years as a tank commander with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in Germany and Bosnia, said the most immediate upheaval for farmers would come from inheritance tax (IHT) and business property relief (BPR) reforms, taking effect from April 6. Full relief will now be capped at £2.5 million per person, with any value above that potentially taxable.
Mr Linehan said: “This is the single biggest thing on the horizon for the farming community,.
“Value now becomes bad in the sense that it’s taxable. Scale drives efficiency in modern farming — but scale now seems to be punished. Do you buy a new combine and increase your balance sheet, or hire a contractor instead? Do you want to increase the value on your balance sheet if it’s now taxable?”
Last year, the sector experienced a sharp slowdown in land sales but a surge in restructuring work as families sought to prepare for the changes.
“It was hugely detrimental to the land market, but on the land agency and legal side, none of us had ever been so busy,” he said.
“There were huge numbers of people reviewing business structures.”
Read more: Why stopping super-rich buying land as tax dodge can lead to ‘family farm tax’ compromise
Mr Linehan warned that the upcoming changes disproportionately affect privately owned family farms, while foreign landowners, who are tied to their respective tax domiciles, charities and some stock-market-listed companies that own land “aren’t remotely bothered by the changes” — a distinction he described as “unfair”.
Since the mid-1990s, many agriculture businesses operated under 100 per cent relief, but Mr Linehan said that era is ending, meaning detailed assessments of crops, stock and machinery will now be necessary.
“There’s a huge job for valuers, land agents, accountants and lawyers,” he added.
The lawyer said in his legal career, regulatory change — rather than market forces — has long been the true driver of structural shifts in agriculture.
“What amazes me is how much of what what we do is actually driven by the shifting sands of government policy rather than necessarily the price of corn at the market so to speak,” he said.
“The IHT changes are probably just the latest manifestation of that.”
Meanwhile, the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill is expected to have a slower, more gradual effect, he said. Provisions around lotting large estates, for example, could reduce the number of acres traded, particularly in upland areas.
“The devil will be in the detail. Land reform is a journey, not a sudden transformation.”
Mr Linehan said his military experience taught him about human relations and shaped his pragmatic approach — skills he said join up neatly with his work at SAAVA.
“My time in the Army taught me life experiences and how to look at things practically, which is so much of what SAVAA is about,” he said.
“We focus on understanding the rules, how they work on the ground, and how to we make a pragmatic submission on proposed legislation. The two roles have really felt like a nice joining up of the dots.”
Mr Linehan will remain as a Partner at Murray Beith Murray, which he joined in 2019 to strengthen the firm’s offering to rural clients. Last year, the leading Scottish private client law firm marked the 175th anniversary of its establishment and confirmed its transition to a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).
Murray Beith Murray chairman Andrew Paterson said: “Andrew Linehan has a wealth of knowledge and expertise in rural law and his appointment as the new President of SAAVA underlines his growing status in the sector.
“Everyone at Murray Beith Murray is delighted for Andrew and we wish him well during his presidency.”
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