The CAAV Podcast

The Renters Rights Act became law in October 2025, provingto be the biggest shake-up to residential tenancy law in England for almost 40 years, reforming the Housing Act 1988. In this episode, Flossy Freeman-Inglis, technical and policy adviser to the CAAV, discusses the headline provisions, the key dates and the practical implications for those practising in this area.Show NotesCAAV Briefing Notes: CAAV Website Note of 11th December 2025 on the Implementation of the Renters Rights ActSee the CAAV Website Note of 2nd April 2026 for the s.8Grounds for Possession and for more information on the transitional provisions for s.21 notices.See the CAAV Website Note of 18th November 2025 on the Conversion of tenancies subject to the Renters Rights Act and Excluded Tenancies. MHCLG Guidance:"Implementing the Renters’ Rights Act 2025: Our roadmap for reforming the private rented sector" Government-published “Information Sheet” to be provided to tenants by 31st May 2026

As the UK pushes toward Clean Power 2030 and net zero by 2050, the electricity system is set for rapid expansion. In this episode, Rebecca Collins and Richard Spencer explore what that growth means in practice - from new generation and grid infrastructure to consenting, land rights and the role of rural advisers in delivering it.

Artificial intelligence is becoming part of everyday professional life - from drafting emails to analysing data and even shaping valuation reports. But alongside the opportunities, there are important questions about responsibility and regulation. In today’s episode Richard Sanders, technical and policyadviser to the CAAV, discusses the new RICS Standard on the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in Surveying Practice and what it means for CAAV members.Show notes:CAAV Podcast #53: ArtificialIntelligence: Opportunity or Threat?  CAAV Note 260210: AI Standards, Regulation and Responsible Use RICS Standard: Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in Surveying PracticeRICS Example Risk Register

The first two weeks of January see two farming conferences,taking place at the same time, in the same place – The Oxford Farming Conference and the Oxford Real Farming Conference. In today’s episode, Richard Sanders, technical and policy adviser to the CAAV, unpacks the key announcements, like a renewed Sustainable Farming Incentive offer, clarity around future schemes, and a bigger focus on partnership working and business growth.Show Notes:CAAV Briefing Note: Review of OFC AnnouncementsDEFRA Announcements:Press Release: Backing farmers with a new era of partnership to boost farm profitabilitySecretary of State's address to 2026 Oxford Farming ConferenceDEFRA Blog: The new SFI offer for 2026

In this episode we explore the Government’s recent climbdown on the family farm tax, and what the new proposals actually mean for family-owned businesses. Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the CAAV, unravels the full implications of these inheritance tax changes.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has unveiled the 2025 Budget,after months of hints, leaks and about-turns. So, now it’s finally happened, what does it mean for the rural economy and farm businesses? Jeremy Moody picks out the finerdetail.

With Parliament’s summer recess coming to an end, now is a good opportunity to take stock of various policy developments, and to look ahead to what is coming down the line. Richard Sanders, technical and policy adviser at the CAAV, takes us through some of the detail.

Artificial intelligence – a threat to rural professionals or a tool we can’t do without? Richard Sanders chats to Simon Haley, who has undertaken significant research into the importance of technology to agricultural valuers, to get his top tips and potential pitfalls.Links mentioned in the podcast are pasted below:-       Simon Haley’s Scholarship Report, TheValue of New Technologies for the Profession-        CAAV Paper, Productivity:A Manifesto for Improvement-        CAAV Podcast #53 – Artificialintelligence: Opportunity or threat?-     CAAV Webnotes: o   CAAVNote 230314: ChatGPT for Rural Valuers - Early Commentso   CAAVNote 230314: AI Chat for Rural Valuers - Testing Updated Knowledgeo   CAAVNote 241119: AI Chat - CAAV Exams 2024o   CAAVNote 250519: AI and AVMs - Recent Case Studieso   CAAVNote 250625: AI Tools - Professional Lessons from the Courts-        The Farmers Club Charitable Trust YouTube Page

In January the Government published its Land Use Framework consultation, looking at the many conflicting demands on land use in our small island. So what are the implications for landowners and managers? Richard Sanders finds out.

Money laundering is something few people encounter outside of gangster movies. But it’s an important area to get right – firstly, to ensure your clients are operating on the right side of the law, and secondly, to ensure your own compliance. Many CAAV members will come under the legislation, but it’s a complicated area, so Rebecca Collins navigates the maze.

The country is three months on from a Budget which, on the face of it, talked about economic growth and investment, but has turned into a battleground for the rural sector and the broader economy, sparking mass redundancies and huge protests. Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the CAAV, joins Olivia Cooper to talk about the fallout of Rachel Reeves’ proposed Inheritance Tax changes on the rural economy.

The Government recently unveiled its new national planning policy framework for England, which is set to substantially change the planning system with a view to speeding up housing and infrastructure development. Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the CAAV, unpicks its far-reaching implications.  

Wednesday 30 October saw Chancellor Rachel Reeves announce her first budget, with some significant changes to Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief, as well as National Insurance and the minimum wage. In this podcast, Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the CAAV, breaks down the headlines which will directly impact many family farms and landowners. 

The CAAV is launching a major new campaign; Route to Rural. Despite having more qualified Fellows and members in training than ever before, demand for agricultural valuers is still outstripping supply. In a bid to attract more people into the sector, the CAAV has built this comprehensive campaign, as secretary and adviser Jeremy Moody explains.

Following Labour’s landslide election win, England is now facing what could be the biggest changes to its planning system in decades. The new Government has rolled out ambitious policies to reshape how and where homes, energy and other infrastructure are built, with a target of 1.5 million new houses for England by 2029. So how might this play out? Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the CAAV, explains.

In this episode, we are discussing the valuation of telecom mast sites. Since the introduction of the 'new' Electronic Communications Code in late 2017, there has been an increase in the volume of litigation, with Tribunal cases providing determinations on a range of issues associated with the legislation.    One such area of dispute relates to the amount of consideration or ‘rent’ for a mast site. Rebecca Collins at the CAAV explains more.

From September 1 this year there are going to be some significant changes to the eligibility tests for farm tenancy succession. The aim is to make it easier for productive land to get into the most suitable hands. But how will it work? Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the CAAV, explains.

There has been an update to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for 2024 with new actions and some changes in rules and guidance. So what does it all mean? Join Richard Sanders, technical and policy adviser to the CAAV, as he unpicks the expanded offer. Links mentioned in the podcast are below: Scheme Guidance: SFI scheme information: expanded offer for 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Collected Actions PDF: SFI-2024-actions-print-version.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk) Sector Leaflets: EXPANDED SFI - SECTOR LEAFLETS - The Central Association for Agricultural Valuers (caav.org.uk) Find Funding Tool: Find funding for land or farms - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) CS & HLS to SFI Transfer Guidance: Countryside Stewardship and Higher Level Stewardship agreement holders: ending your existing agreement to apply for a new scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Agricultural Transition Update: Agricultural Transition Plan update January 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Technical Annex to Transition Plan Update: The Combined Environmental Land Management Offer: Technical annex: The combined environmental land management offer - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Last week, Labour won a landslide victory in the general election, despite the second lowest voter turnout since 1918. So what is that going to mean for the rural sector? Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the CAAV, has been unpicking the Party’s manifesto promises and following the subsequent activity in Westminster.

This week, we heard Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s final Budget of this Parliament – and likely the final Tory budget for a few years. Much was touted ahead of the Budget, but what has it really delivered? Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the CAAV, has been trawling through the depths of the details to see what lies behind the headline figures.

The Levelling-Up and Regeneration Act, which gained Royal Assent last year, has made amendments to compulsory purchase legislation in England. Rebecca Collins from the CAAV offers a practical guide on some of the most pertinent details. 

Following the Defra secretary’s headline speech at the Oxford Farming Conference in early January – after which an update to the agricultural transition plan was published – Richard Sanders takes a timely look at the latest information on these schemes.  

Richard Sanders, technical and policy adviser to the CAAV, offers a quick refresher and update on the delinking scheme. As many listeners will be aware, as part of the post-Brexit agricultural transition, England is moving to a farming support system of public money for public goods. Basic payment has been gradually declining, to be phased out by 2027. So what does the future hold?

The Government recently announced that the delayed Sustainable Farming Incentive will open for applications on September 18. As Basic Payments are phased out, it will be important for farmers to access funding through this scheme, which offers public payment for public goods – namely environmental services. So what type of land management is eligible for funding, and how can farmers access the scheme? Richard Sanders, technical and policy adviser at the CAAV, joins the podcast to explain. The links for further information, mentioned in the podcast, are available below: SFI Handbook for the SFI 2023 offer - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) SFI actions you can do on different eligible land types and features - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Sustainable Farming Incentive guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Sector Leaflets: Funding for Farmers: DEFRA Sector Leaflets - The Central Association for Agricultural Valuers (caav.org.uk)

Three years ago, the Agriculture Act gave the CAAV statutory recognition as a professional authority to appoint arbitrators to manage disputes between tenants and landlords. Since then, the council and executive have established the CAAV facilitiating dispute resolution service, and published a range of professional support papers to help in this area. Now, the association has produced a new and comprehensive publication which pulls together many of those threads, to help people avoid disputes with good negotiation, and to manage any unavoidable disputes effectively. We talk with Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the CAAV about what this means for the industry.

In this episode, we talk about increasing demand for designated areas of landscape protection and nature recovery. The Government is committed to protecting 30% of UK land for nature by 2030 and we’re currently some way off that. There has been a raft of new announcements recently relating to increasing the number of protected areas like national parks and SSSIs – so what does this all mean for landowners and farmers? Richard Sanders, technical and policy adviser at the CAAV, joins host Olivia Cooper to find out more.

After several years of development and a 2019 manifesto commitment for England’s residential let sector, the Government has finally introduced the Renters (Reform) Bill into Parliament, saying it could be law by the end of the year. Even so, it has held over several items for later legislation, and full implementation might take some time. So what changes are ahead, and what do they mean for landlords and tenants in future? Rebecca Collins, technical and policy adviser at the CAAV, takes us through the detail.

The Government has just issued its response to the Rock Review, the report of the Tenancy Working Group which was established in January 2022 to consider farm tenants’ access to environmental schemes and markets in England. The group made 74 recommendations to Defra, and the Government’s 95-page response has now been issued. Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the CAAV, sets out the key points, and considers what they mean for the tenanted sector and natural capital markets in the coming years.

In this episode, we take a detailed look at nature markets – a topic that has dominated farming and environmental headlines in recent years. This developing area has the potential to both generate an income for land managers, to mitigate the impact of climate change, and improve our natural environment. But as with any embryonic market, it’s a complex area, so Richard Sanders, technical and policy adviser at the CAAV, joins us to offer a bit of clarity.  

Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used in daily life, and when it comes to work, generative technologies – those which create images and text – could be incredibly useful. There’s been a lot in the news recently about ChatGPT, and it tends to divide opinion – there are those who are worried it will take their jobs and ultimately threaten humanity, and there are others who merrily use it in their day-to-day work to save time on mundane jobs. So who’s right? Richard Sanders, technical and policy adviser at the CAAV, helps unravel this emotive topic.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has delivered his first Budget – and while there was not a huge amount in there for the farming industry, there are potentially significant changes afoot. That’s because he announced a review of how environmental land management will be treated from a taxation perspective, the potential to limit agricultural property relief on let land, and a big push on encouraging investment. Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the CAAV, picks out the detail and explores the longer-term implications on the rural sector.

The Government has at last revealed its long-awaited response to the mandatory biodiversity net gain consultation from January last year. While the concept has been in the pipeline since the 2019 Spring Statement, voluntary trading has been going on for some time. But now, the requirements will be laid down in law – from November 2023, all developers will have to deliver a 10% net gain in biodiversity, to offset the environmental damage they cause. As with any new legislation, there’s a lot of detail to unpick, so Richard Saunders, technical and policy adviser at the CAAV, explains what it all means.

Defra has finally announced further details about the future environmental schemes in England, including the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Countryside Stewardship and Landscape Recovery. These include a plethora of new land management options to mix and match, as well as higher payment rates to encourage farmers to apply. Jeremy Moody explores what these enhanced initiatives and payments mean for farmers, while also considering the decision-making process for optimal financial success. Given that these environmental payments will not replace the loss of Basic Payments for most producers, what is the most profitable way forward?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused enormous upheaval in global energy markets. We are now facing conflicting demands – on the one hand, the nation is seeking to bolster security of supply, while also capping energy costs. On the other, the Government has committed to increasing renewable energy in a bid to reach net zero, all while demand continues to soar. Given the ageing state of the National Grid, Rebecca Collins examines what this all means for rural residents and landowners.

After four months of political uncertainty and an equal number of cabinet reshuffles, the Government wheels are again starting to turn. The backlog of policy is beginning to come through, with Defra secretary Therese Coffey unveiling plans for the new environmental schemes at the CLA conference. Against a background of the fourth financial statement in as many months, Jeremy Moody discusses the economic outlook for farmers and rural businesses.

Devolution has come to fore in recent years, particularly following the Covid-19 pandemic and the level of control each part of the United Kingdom has over agricultural and environmental policy. As such, Jeremy Moody takes this opportunity to provide a practical overview of devolution and the different policies being developed in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In this podcast, with the figures from the latest CAAV Agricultural Land Occupation Surveys, Jeremy Moody provides an overview of the state of the tenanted sector.  In particular, he reviews the variety of lengths of FBTs and the reasons for them before considering the opportunities for and threats to the let sector from new policies.

The past fortnight has been one of tremendous turmoil in the UK. As the dust settles, we have a new King, a new Prime Minister, a new Government Cabinet and a hugely uncertain economic outlook. As the Chancellor Kwasi Karteng unveils his mini-budget and the Bank of England attempts to tackle inflation, Jeremy Moody examines the key fiscal changes ahead. He considers the likely outlook for the rural economy, given these changes, as well as the impact of the new emergency energy package.

Energy prices have reached record levels, driven by gas markets, with risks to supplies this winter. This has major implications in terms of cost and availability for rural businesses, with consequences for viability and the economy. Jeremy Moody explores the causes and impact of the current crisis – including the knock-on effect on fertiliser and CO2 production. He considers how European countries are responding, and what steps both government and individuals should be taking to avoid or manage potential power outages this winter.

The Scottish Government is consulting on proposals for its Agriculture Bill intended for 2023, substantially driven by climate change, biodiversity and other environmental objectives.  Jeremy Moody reviews how a new framework of conditional payments would replace the present regime as well as suggested changes to tenancy law.

As Europe sustained a long hot drought of a magnitude not seen since the megadrought of 1540, this podcast reviews some observations and lessons from France, from river flows to fodder crops, effects on the vineyards and crop management, drought stress as bigger threat to trees than forest fires, solar panels competing with woodland as a land use and more.

Following the publication of the Welsh Government’s initial outline for the new Sustainable Farming Scheme, Jeremy Moody talks through the proposals, scheme design and timeframe for change.

Since the Agriculture Act 2020, a tenant or landlord can ask the CAAV President to appoint an arbitrator to resolve many agricultural tenancy disputes. In this podcast, Jeremy Moody outlines the process of application and appointment and what an arbitration involves, including controlling cost.

Following the Queen’s Speech, Jeremy Moody outlines the UK Government’s legislative programme for the coming year and what impact it may have on the professional work of members.

The long-awaited Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 will be implemented on 15th July 2022. The Act will introduce new forms of contracts, replacing Assured Shorthold Tenancies, together with new notice provisions and enhanced safety requirements. In this episode, Rebecca Collins, Policy and Technical Adviser to the CAAV explains the key provisions of the Act and what managing agents need to be aware of.

Jeremy Moody outlines the market consequences of Russia’s war on Ukraine and highlights its impact on the professional work of Valuers.

As Valuers, one of our most important skills is our ability to negotiate. In this episode, Lynne Thomas (also known professionally as Lynne Robson) from True Potential Training shares her insights on how to become effective negotiators and influencers and offers some tips on how to handle difficult conversations. For information, Lynne’s LinkedIn Profile can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnerobson1/ and her email is [email protected] .

Following DEFRA’s announcements this week, Jeremy Moody reviews the proposals for the de-linking of Basic Payment and the Lump Sum Exit Scheme in England.

In this episode, Jeremy Moody brings us up to date with the latest agricultural policy developments across the UK.  With England’s implementation of change now starting the key moral is for farmers to look to their businesses as much of the environmental money will be focused on a small fraction of the land area.

While there is no marketplace for agricultural tenancies, they can still have a significant value to be assessed for compulsory purchase, taxation, and other instances. In this episode, Jeremy Moody reviews the principles of valuing an agricultural tenancy and outlines the two main approaches to valuation – the Profit Rent method and the Special Purchaser basis. He also refers to the statutory framework in Scotland for Relinquishment and Assignation.