The pre-emptive and first refusal rights in the Law on Rural and Agricultural Leases

Abstract

This paper analyses the pre-emptive and first refusal rights enshrined in the Spanish Law 49/2003, on Rural and Agricultural Leases. The Law confers to tenants who are professional farmers the right to the preferential acquisition of the rural property where he is a tenant, when the owner has transferred the property inter-vivos. The paper examines the legal capacity of right-holders, the legal transactions which can be subject to pre-emptive and first refusal rights, the cases in which these rights do not apply and the legal guarantees and safeguards granted to leaseholders. A leaseholder who exercises the first refusal rights takes the place of the first purchaser; he/she is not affected by further actions carried out by the later after the first transfer, and would finally acquire the full ownership of the entire farmland or part thereof. The agricultural lease contract shall conclude in parallel. We also address the issue of better rights between potential right holders and the conflicting interest altogether.