Agricultural tie on property

I'm not quite sure what you mean.

Or what you are trying to do.

Nah.

That's rubbish. Have alook at these websites

http://www.sblaw.co.uk/agriculturaloccupancy.asp

http://www.smallholder.co.uk/smallholderforums/buyingasmallholding/view.php?threadid=1254

wecanhelpu wrote: »

Nah.

That's rubbish. Have alook at these websites

http://www.sblaw.co.uk/agriculturaloccupancy.asp

http://www.smallholder.co.uk/smallholderforums/buyingasmallholding/view.php?threadid=1254

I may have misunderstood, but both of those links give ways of "getting around" the agricultural tie - but they don't deny that they exist and that they can be enforced.

In our Parish, you can bet that if any agri-tie is breached, then someone will complain to the Enforcement Officer at the Local Planning Authority.

As indicated in both those links, if the tie has not been honoured for 10 years or more, one can apply for a Certificate of Lawful Use - essentially, the LPA acknowledges that the planning condition is no longer effective.

However, in addition to any planning condition, which would require the occupant (or spouse) to be mainly employed in agriculture/forestry in the Parish, there is also often a completely separate legal agreement (Section 52 Agreement). The removal of this is an entirely separate legal process, which might need to be completed, in addition to getting any Certificate of Lawful Use.

You should really get advice from your solicitor on this. If the current owners ARE employed mainly in agriculture, then you will be in breach of the planning condition if you buy and you are not employed in agriculture. You will then need to occupy the property for 10 years - undetected - before you can apply for the Certificate of Lawful Use. In the meantime, you face possible detection and then enforcement action.

If the current owners have not complied with the condition for the past 10 years, it really begs the question why they have not applied for the Certificate

For more information put

agriculture section 52 agreement

or

agriculture occupancy condition planning

into Google.

vansboy wrote: »

Is there a legal way you can buy a house, with this clause, on it's purchase - not sure what you need to do?

The place we'v just seen has a paddock & stable block, so not looking to change it's use, just make use of the facility, that's already there!

How strange! It sounds as though this is Equestrian use which - believe it or not - is NOT agricultural. For planning use, agricultural is not the same as equestrian.

You need to get more details from the EA and then speak to the Local Planning Authority.

If your occupation is to be from legitimate use of the land, then you should be OK.

A word of warning though .... if the current owner has converted the use from agriculture to equestrian, then they would have needed a form a planning permission to change the use of the land. Did they get this? If not, how long has the land been equestrian? If 10 years or more, they should apply for a Certificate of Lawful Use so that the land is now re-classified as equestrian and the old agricultural tie is lifted.

You need more information from the EA in the first instance.

Presumably if he lifts the tie the price will skyrocket. How could he not know?