A court has ruled that tenant farmers will not be evicted from the land they farm in the south of the island.

The Land Court has rejected an application by landlords Sam and Helen Alder for consent to be given to a notice to quit they had served on tenants Robert and Louise Corkish of Ballacross Farm in Ballabeg.

In a judgment, the court said it was not satisfied that a genuine reason had been given by the Alders for wanting to take possession of the farm.

The court concluded that the Alders’ proposed farming operation had been ‘engineered’ as a way for them to obtain accommodation ‘in light of the difficult circumstances they have found themselves’.

Mr Alder said he had issued the notice to quit in November 2022 when it became apparent, as a result of other proceedings, that he would lose his home at The Grange on Clypse Moar Road in Onchan.

The couple had been embroiled in long-running battle to stop their family home being repossessed.

Mr Corkish had farmed at Ballacross since 1993, and his father before him.

He told the court that he owned a number of structures on the farm which he would take with him and sell if he was forced to vacate the site. These included accommodation for 90 dairy and beef cattle and a large barn for storing hay, straw and machinery.

The tenants argued the notice to quit was defective as the reasons given by the landlord were not genuine and they would suffer greater hardship.

But Mr Alder, who had owned Ballacross for 45 years, told the court that it was his genuine intention to farm there - although it would be his son not himself that would do so.

He also owned 100 acres at Clypse Mooar which he said he couldn’t farm himself as it was already let and there was no farmhouse.

It was imperative that he had accommodation, he told the court.

Mr Alder said he believed it would cost £25,000 to set up a farming operation at Ballacross.

But the court questioned the credibility of the figures and suggested start-up costs would be more like £90,000 as there would be a need to construct buildings for storage, purchase a second-hand tractor and install new fencing. This didn’t even consider the cost of buying livestock.

It said it found it ‘very surprising’ that Mr Alder had made no attempt to view the land at Ballacross to come up with a realistic figure for the likely cost of setting up and operating a farm there.

The court also queried the proposed involvement of Mr Alder’s son, who is currently living and working in Bermuda and had not undertaken any courses in agriculture, and it expressed doubt that the son’s return to the island is ‘in any way imminent’.

Land Court chairman James Brooks concluded that the landlords’ stated intent was not genuine and it was ‘not in the least bit probable’ that their proposed farming operation would come about.