Potential changes to the institutions of land ownership policy

Orlovits, Zsolt

Keywords: farm regulation, subsidy hunting, land administration

The introduction of farm regulation in Hungary would result in the adoption of new models whereby regulation would focus on land management and land use rather than the ownership of agricultural land. This would also allow the setting up of a regulatory regime whereby Hungary could maintain the national character of its land ownership policy without infringing the basic principles set forth in the Treaty of Rome (non-discrimination on the basis of nationality, free flow of capital and freedom of settlement).
The new regime could also reduce the fragmentation of land, as farms would be inherited as a whole, a sum of all the relevant assets, without restricting the right of the devisor to free disposal of the farm.
Decision-making by the co-owners of the jointly owned land concerning the disposal or use of the land would need to be given an institutionalised form – instead of using the rules of the Civil Code on jointly owned assets.
If the lease agreements for agricultural land came under preliminary scrutiny by the authorities and if the minimum term of lease would be set at 7-9 years, granting the lessee the right to extend the contract on one occasion (allowing for an annual lease option with restricted accessibility), the current system of pre-lease rights could be eliminated and so would the tax-free rent revenue of land owners.
Legislation should be passed to set up special forms of agricultural business entities which would be suitable to resolve – after a suitable transitory period – the mandatory transformation of business partnerships engaged in agricultural activities in line with the farm regulation.

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