Rural Payments and Services

Any customers submitting a Land Maintenance Form (LMF) to ‘add new land’ or ‘move land’ during the forthcoming Single Application Form window (15 March – 17 May) should be aware of the following:

LMF forms received after 16 April will not be processed until after 17 May.

When land changes are being processed the SAF will show a ‘land with change underway’ section and the land parcels will be listed.

When the land changes have been complete you will be notified:

• If your preferred method of notification is ‘email’ you will receive an email informing you of a new communication. To view the land change letter you will be required to login to your RP&S account
• If your preferred method of notification is ‘letter’, but you have supplied an email address for the business then you will receive that communication via email
• If there is no email address you will receive the letter and map(s) by post. Due to COVID-19 restrictions there may be a slight delay in receiving these
• If you use an advisory firm or business representative to act on behalf of your business to submit your SAF, you will have to notify them when you receive your letter

SAF not started - We encourage applicants to complete the LMF before beginning the SAF application. Having the land updates done prior to starting your SAF will provide the most up-to-date land information to help submit your claim.

SAF ‘in draft’ – If you submit the LMF after you have started your SAF, the land changes will be processed up to and including 16 April. Once the land changes have been processed further action will be required by the applicant to update the SAF. This can include; adding new child land parcels as new land, or updating the claim if an area has changed, or the exclusion of an expired land parcel.

SAF ‘submitted’ – if you submit the LMF after you submit your SAF the land changes will be processed up to and including 16 April. Once the land changes have been processed the SAF may display errors. You can amend your SAF with no penalties up to and including the 1 June - and final amendments up to 11 June. You can also reduce your claim without penalty under the notified error provisions at any point provided we have not told you about an error or informed you of our intent to inspect.

Excluding land on your SAF

You may wish to exclude land if it is no longer part of your business. To do so you will need to submit a land maintenance form to your local RPID office to get that land area removed. If you don’t do this, the land will be treated as undeclared land that you occupy when we process your claim. This will result in under-declaration penalties being applied to your SAF application where the under-declared area of land linked to your business is greater than 3% of your total declared land area on your SAF application.