Help please! Am renting an Ag Tied house-want to buy it!

is_it_fair

Hello all.
This is the situation ( sorry it's a bit of a long story)
Myself, husband and son live in a cottage that belongs to a Trust, along with several neighbouring properties. They all used to have Agricultural ties on as the place was a working farm. Now it is all just business units and some of the properties have had ties removed. We used to live next door but one for 13 years in a property also owned by the trust,but 2 years ago downsized to this property. After we had been in here for 2 months, paying full market rent (£900), one of the trustees stormed into the house demanding to know if it was me who had brought to the councils attention the fact that there was still a Tie on the place....errr, "whats a Tie"? was my reply. No it wasn't us, didnt know what he was talking about. Anyway, cut a long story short(ish) he was adamant that he had rented it to us without knowing that the tie was still in place, and subsequently after doing some research I asked for a rent reduction but he said he had no intention of lowering the rent or indeed applying to remove the tie. (At this point I should point out that my son does work in agriculture, he is a tractor driver for the farm up the road. )Checking with the council it seems we do comply with the tie. We would NEVER have rented this place if we'd known about the tie.
Now, we are not happy with the way we have been treated really, being good tenants for 15 years and all that, and now my son aged 23 wants to move out and be independent. So, of course, if he moves out, so must we....unless he buys it! We have asked the trustees what they think about selling, and they have today sent an estate agent to value it.
How easy would it be to sell it to my son? How much would the tie de-value the house?
Also, if we moved out and they rented it to my son on his own, would they HAVE to rent it at a reduced rent to him?
I hope someone can advise on any of this, it's all abit confusing!
Thank you.

adouglasmhor

If they sell it to you the tie is gone.

Richard_Webster

If they sell it to you the tie is gone.

Where on earth did that come from?

An ag-tie is a planning condition as to the persons who can occupy the house. Selling it doesn't remove it.

In broad terms a house with an ag-tie is almost unmortgageable and would be worth about 30% less than a similar house without the tie.

Not really worth buying unless tie is removed. That isn't always easy to do as Councils don't like farm owners profiting from ag-tie removal. The ties were usually imposed in the first place because planning permission would not have been given for an ordinary non ag-tied house in that location. Most councils have a policy requiring the house to be advertised for a year or two at a price reflecting the ag-tie and it is only if the owners can prove no interest after that long period the council might consider it.

adouglasmhor

Richard_Webster wrote: »

Where on earth did that come from?

An ag-tie is a planning condition as to the persons who can occupy the house. Selling it doesn't remove it.

My mum and dad bought theirs when they retired and the tie was removed. Maybe the law is different in Scotland

is_it_fair

Thank you for that info.
I have learned such a lot from this forum! I see there are few posts with a similar content.
I don't know how they got the other ties removed but the council has said they wouldn't be happy to lift this one. Regarding a mortgage, why would it be so difficult? My son would have a large deposit, and if the price was low enough the mortgage would be quite small.
How about the re-renting it to him at a reduced rate? We are running out of options fast, as I say he wants to move into a place of his own but we can't then stay here

niklam

Have you talked to your son about this. No offence but he may not wish to live with you. He may feel its time for him to stand on his own 2 feet, so buying the house so you could all live there together might not be what he had in mind.

is_it_fair

Well the original plan was that we would stay in this cottage ( he has a learning difficulty and doesn't do anything other than work- which happens to be his biggest passion, drive tractors!) and then when he was ready, find a little place local to his work and near to us. Then this Tie business threw a spanner in the works- ie we can only stay here as long as he does. So now we need to make a decision. If the rent was reduced he could take over this tenancy himself and we could move out to another property locally, or he could buy this house -again if it was cheap enough, and thus stay here himself, renting a room out perhaps. Or maybe rent it to us and he rent somewhere else? Don't know about the law regarding that!!

Richard_Webster

Or maybe rent it to us and he rent somewhere else? Don't know about the law regarding that!!

Ag-tie planning conditions are usually about who occupies the property so if your son bought it and rented it to you there would be a breach.

If you buy it and rent it to him that's probably OK because he would be working in agriculture etc. I say "probably" because I haven't seen the precise condition and sometimes they are limited to working in agriculture within a certain radius of the property etc.

Were you thinking of buying it cash or with a mortgage?

GDB2222

I assume that rents on ag-tied cottages are usually lower because there are few eligible tenants. I don't suppose that you can force the trustees to reduce the rent. On the other hand, if you move out, they might have a major issue re-letting the property. I would point this out and continue to negotiate, whilst looking around for other ag-tied cottages.