The Scottish Tenant Farmers Association (STFA) was recently rebuked by Scottish Land & Estates (SL&E - the organisation that represents Scottish landowners) for attempting to reignite a "trees versus tenants" debate.

STFA said it was alarmed to hear reports of some of Scotland's largest estates taking steps to bring tenancies to an end to replace tenant farmers with trees. It warned that: "Limited Partnership tenancies on upland units are especially vulnerable," adding: "It would seem that these tenancies are being terminated with little consideration of the tenant farming families to be displaced."

Limited Partnerships are devices that allowed landlords to circumvent the 1949 Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act which granted security of tenure to farm tenants.

In effect the lease was granted to a partnership formed between the landlord and the tenant, where the landlord invested a token amount and the tenant put up most of the capital. To terminate the tenancy the landlord merely dissolved the partnership at the appropriate term.

Limited Partnership tenancies were either let for a set period of time, occasionally up to the retirement date of the tenant, or for an initial period which was either renewed when it came to an end for a further defined period or, more commonly the tenancy rolled on under tacit relocation on a year-to-year basis. Tenants holding their leases under tacit relocation will usually be those who will have occupied the farm for longest and invested the most, but according to STFA are also the most vulnerable.

Limited Partnerships were the most common form of tenancy available from the 1960s until the creation of Limited Duration Tenancies (LDTs) by the 2003 Act. Since then, landlords have been phasing out limited partnership leases, and there are now less than 400 of these tenancies still in existence, compared to 1200 in 2003.

Lord Johnstone, chairman of SL&E responded to STFA concerns saying: "Landowners want to make the best use of the land. That includes different forms of farming. Estates with land to let want to let land to tenants where it makes business sense to do so. It is widely acknowledged that Limited Partnerships are being phased out across the sector but that in many cases, this will lead to conversion to a modern LDT. It should also be remembered that Limited Partnerships are agreements for fixed periods of time rather in perpetuity."

Although they were perfectly legal devices, Government should have outlawed Limited Partnership leases from the very outset, as they provided an opportunity to circumvent the law that had granted all tenants security. Having said that, all those tenants who signed up to a Limited Partnership agreement did so in the certain knowledge that they were for a defined period, and should honour that agreement when called on.

I myself rented a run-down hill farm at the age of 23 from Buccleuch Estates under a Limited Partnership, where a subsidiary of Buccleuch - Granton Assets - invested £500 and I put up the rest of the capital.

Even in the early seventies there were few tenancies available on the open market and each one had a raft of hopefuls eagerly tendering for them under Limited Partnership leases. The arrangement worked well for both of us, latterly by tacit relocation, for 31 years.

Ten years ago Buccleuch enquired if I was prepared to give up my lease, and I readily agreed to enter into negotiations that led to an amicable agreement with suitable terms of compensation. It was after all Buccleuch's farm and I had entered into the Limited Partnership agreement with my eyes open - so I have little sympathy for those who can't abide by their agreements and try to cling on to their farms.

There is increased interest in planting trees, particularly on "middle-hill" land, as a consequence of promises of improved Government funding and greater prospects for the forestry industry post-Brexit.

Lord Johnstone summed up the current thinking of many landowners when he said: "Looking ahead, there is a great deal of uncertainty about the amounts of public funding that will be available to support farming, so it is legitimate, indeed necessary, to look hard at the viability of agricultural units - tenanted or owner-occupied - and how those units can be organised to secure their future or make the best use of the land."

Terminating a lease is highly stressful and disruptive for tenants so landlords must offer a fair compensation package.