Agricultural Property

Our dedicated Rural team have a wealth of experience dealing with agricultural property for farming businesses and those with land and other rural interests.

From the buying and selling of large estates and family farms, to dealing with voluntary first registrations, our specialist team have the experience you need.

Sale & Purchase Land & Farms 

Our experience in acting on behalf of those selling and purchasing agricultural land and talking with you about your business means that we can identify potential issues before they arise, and enable the transaction to be as smooth as possible.

There is a significant difference between buying land and buying a semi-detached house and our Rural team can take you through that process step by step.

Sale & Purchase Large Estates

We recognise that conveying large estates can be a complicated transaction involving a number of people and interests.

We are familiar with the issues that will be encountered having acted for several large estates for a number of years and can provide you with the reassurance and assistance you require.

Voluntary Registration of Land

Historically, landowners have shown legal title to their land by producing their title deeds. These deeds effectively show the legal history of the property, sometimes going back many hundreds of years. Any rights affecting or benefiting the property are also recorded on these documents.

The main problem with this way of proving title is that inevitably deeds are not stored correctly and become damaged, destroyed or lost. This means that the title to the property has to be reconstructed from the recollections of the landowner and their solicitor as far as possible. This can be a very long and costly exercise. Registration of your ownership gives you greater protection against losing your land to squatters, you will be indemnified against any loss and it adds certainty and simplicity to the conveyancing process, speeding up any future land transactions. It also makes large holdings of land and portfolios of charges readily marketable. Protection is also offered through the recording of the majority of the rights that benefit and affect the land.

The Land Registration Act 1925 was passed in order to provide the first step toward compulsory registration and to overcome the problems of lost or destroyed title deeds. The Act has been amended over the years, specifying certain “trigger” events when registration is compulsory, as there is still around 40% of land in England and Wales which is unregistered. The aim of the legislation is that eventually all title to land will be registered on a central register held by H M Land Registry, providing a paper-less system of land ownership in England & Wales.

S106 Agreements

Section 106 (S106) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows a local planning authority (LPA) to enter into a legally-binding agreement or planning obligation with a landowner in association with the granting of planning permission known as Section 106 Agreements.

They provide conditions in relation to the development that can be carried out and are often required as part of any rural housing planning permission. We can advise on your legal position in relation to the agreement that is required by the local planning authority and negotiate its contents.

Option Agreements

Option agreements, especially those in relation to wind farms, are a speciality of our Rural team.

We can draft option agreements or advise the landowner who is granting the option agreement on the rights afforded by the agreement and their legal position prior to signature.

Basic Payment Scheme

We not only advise on the Basic Payment Scheme and other schemes available to farmers, but we also assist in any transfer that is required of those agreements.

We have regularly dealt with the transfer of Basic Payment Scheme entitlements which can occur at any time of year but must be completed by the beginning of April of any scheme year if it is to take effect that year due to the 6 week notification requirement to the Rural Payments Agency.

The transfer of other scheme agreements is potentially more difficult and specific advice should be sought in each individual circumstance.