Owners of two more farmhouses in Herefordshire have declared that they haven’t housed farmers in over a decade – so the agricultural tenancy requirement on them can no longer be enforced.

Zoe Jones is applying for a certificate of lawfulness (number 242415) for White Friars, part of Friars Court Farm, Weston Beggard east of Hereford, saying the 1968 permission to build the two-storey house required that it be occupied solely by “persons working locally in agriculture and their dependants”.

But since March 2014 the house has been let out “on a continuous basis” to tenants who have no connection to farming, her declaration says – supported by a statement from the couple themselves and their original lease.

This would put the ongoing breach of the planning condition as having continued for over ten years, which if acknowledged by the council would mean it could not then take any enforcement action.

Likewise Ann Meredith of Lowdy Hall Farm, Ullingswick between Hereford and Bromyard is seeking a certificate of lawfulness (application 242489) regarding a house of similar age and size at the farm.

The two-storey Springfield, between the farm and the main road, was approved in 1964, again on condition it was only occupied by a local farm worker and dependants.

This too has been let to a non-farming couple since June 2014, who have also provided a declaration to this effect.

The White Friars application can be commented on until November 13, the Springfield application till November 11.