{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/rent-agriculture-act-1976/section-20",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/rent-agriculture-act-1976/section-20.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1976/80",
  "legislation_title": "Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/rent-agriculture-act-1976",
  "path": "section/20",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "20",
  "heading": "Avoidance of requirements for advance payment of rent.",
  "text": "(1) Any requirement that rent under a protected occupancy, or under a statutory tenancy, shall be payable—\n(a) before the beginning of the rental period in respect of which it is payable, or\n(b) earlier than 6 months before the end of the rental period in respect of which it is payable (if that period is more than 6 months),\nshall be void, and any requirement avoided by this section is referred to in this section as a “prohibited requirement”.\n(2) Rent for any rental period to which a prohibited requirement relates shall be irrecoverable from the tenant.\n(3) A person who purports to impose a prohibited requirement shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale and the court by which he is convicted may order the amount of rent paid in compliance with the prohibited requirement to be repaid to the person by whom it was paid.\n(4) In this section “rental period” means a period in respect of which a payment of rent falls to be made.\n(5) For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that this section does not render any amount recoverable more than once.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words substituted by virtue of Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), ss. 38, 46"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/80/section/20",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-06T03:34:31.027789+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}