Are you planning to place beehives on other people's land? The cost and labour that goes into a beehive needs to be protected. Your assets need to be protected and your liability limited.
A bee yard with 40 beehives can cost you well over $18,000 to set up. If it is on someone else's property, you should have a Land Lease Agreement in place to protect you and the Property Owner.
See below for a Sample Beekeeper Land Lease Agreement. By all means copy or modify as needed. (I have bolded areas where you would want to add your information.)
Bee Hive Location, Land Lease Agreement
This agreement is made the__1__day of __January_____, ___2023____ between
_________Property Owner Name goes here_______________, afterward called Land Owner
and
_____________Brian Scott and Innisfil Creek Honey____________, afterward called Beekeeper.
1. TERM OF AGREEMENT
This is an annual lease agreement for the sole rights to place bees, beehives and perform beekeeping on the aforementioned property.
This lease automatically renews on the anniversary date of signing each year.
This lease agreement can be canceled at any time by either party with 120 days written notice.
2. RESPONSIBILITIES OF BEEKEEPER
- Beekeeper will place beehives at the following described location:
__________Address and GPS Coordinates_______________________ for the purpose of producing Honey, Bees, Queen Bees, Bees Wax, Pollen, Education or other products associated with the keeping of bees.
- Beekeeper will keep the bee yard neat and tidy and not place unused and unnecessary equipment or debris on the land owner's property.
- Beekeeper will be respectful of the Land Owner's property including fences, cropland and livestock.
- Beekeeper will close all gates after passing through in a timely manner.
- Beekeeper will only use designated and agreed upon roadways to travel to the bee yard.
- Beekeeper will fill out forms supplied by the Land owner for Property Tax Assessments (no guarantees made as to acceptance)
- Beekeeper will provide 12 kgs of Honey Annually on or before November 30th each year as rent for the property
3. RESPONSIBILITIES OF LAND OWNER
- Land Owner will provide a suitable place to locate hives that is accessible to Beekeeper's vehicles.
- Land Owner will provide access to the hives whenever required for the Beekeeper for the contract period.
- Land Owner will not apply toxic pesticides during the period hives are placed nor immediately before their arrival if residues will endanger the hives.
- Land Owner will not allow any other beehives to be placed on the property.
- Land Owner will allow Beekeeper to remove the hives anytime for any reason should the Beekeeper need to.
- Land Owner will notify Beekeeper of any swarms of bees noticed by the Land Owner on the Land Owner's property and allow the beekeeper access to capture and remove said bees.
- Land Owner will compensate beekeeper in full for hives destroyed or severely weakened by pesticides or other action by the Land Owner or agents at a rate of $280 per hive.
- Land Owner will notify Beekeeper of any damages caused by accident, weather, wildlife, vandals, etc. by calling 705-456-5093 as soon as possible.
4. LIABILITIES
The Land Owner understands that bees sting and that in having bees on his/her property there is a possible risk of being stung.
The Beekeeper is not responsible and, as a condition of this agreement will be held harmless for inherent risk of bee stings to people, animals, or livestock from bees from the hives.
Beekeeper is not responsible, for complaints, claims or other actions on the part of neighbors due to the presence of hives.
The Beehives, Bees and other Hive Products are the property of the Beekeeper and as such may only be used with written permission of the Beekeeper.
Agreed upon by the undersigned
Signed___________________________(Land owner) Date________________
This is by no means intended as legal advice nor a legal document. Different regions have different laws. This is just a starting point. You should always consult a lawyer in your jurisdiction to ensure your land lease complies to local laws and also protects you accordingly.