Agricultural Tie on a bungalow ADVICE NEEDED PLEASE!!!

cheekyblade

My husband and I are thinking of purchasing a bungalow with an agricultural tie. Neither me or my husband are in agriculture. My husband use to work on a farm many years ago in Scotland. Now I am a teacher and he is in management.

The bungalow use to have several fields attached to it but these were sold off many years ago. So the bungalow stands by itself now with 2 acres of land. On this 2 acres there is a huge lake - 1 1/2 acres which the current owner had man made for him to relax and look at. So this property cannot be used for agriculture and a main source of income can never be gained from this land.

Firstly, how can I get around the ag tie so that my husband and I canm actually live in the property and secondly, why on earth does the property even have the agricultural tie seeing as thought nothing can be done with the land now as it's a lake - does this mean it will be easier for us to lift it if we managed to move into it.

The current owner is very old and has been in a home for a few years - the property is being sold to cover his nursing home fees.

If anyone has any advice I'd greatly appreciate it - even if that advice is 'stay well away from any Agricultural restriction property'

Thanks

Wee_Willy_Harris

Agricultural ties, unless your primary occupation is farming, can be a nightmare. It is very difficult to get the tie lifted and, if you are not primarily employed in agriculture, you may be prosecuted by the local authority if you take up residence. My gut reaction would be to avoid it.

CloudCuckooLand

The tie is probably not only related to the property and its immediate land being used for agriculture.

It may also be tied to try and keep sufficient affordable housing in the area, for farmworkers etc to work nearby.

neverdespairgirl

The tie's not related to working land attached to the house. It's about occupation.

tbs624

NDG's right but you may want to check out the full terms o f the condition as they can vary. The value of such a property may be up to a third less than a similar property without the tie. IIRC its the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 that you might also need to have a look at


Edit, yes to Act and it's s336 for the definition of agriculture:

agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming, the breeding and keeping of livestock (including any creature kept for the production of food, wool, skins or fur, or for the purpose of its use in the farming of land), the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the farming of land for other agricultural purposes, and “agricultural” shall be construed accordingly;

Wee_Willy_Harris

And no, before you ask, keeping a few chickens will not get round the tie. Agriculture has to be the primary occupation, not a hobby used to get round planning legislation. If it was that easy, the asking price would be much more realistic.

PasturesNew

A local landworker might be well miffed if the only affordable place in his area is snapped up by people not on farming wages. That's partly what they're for: to be able to keep property affordable for those who live/work locally in agriculture.

They need to be near their little sheepies ....

Wee_Willy_Harris

And, without the tie, it is usually doubtful that PP would have been granted in teh first place.

Waterlily24

Our last home used to have an agricultural tie on it but the owners before us had it removed. Don't know how though.

I think it's much harder to do now, and they are also strickter? on who is able to live there. ie The person we bought our last home from was an agricultural engineer, I don't think he would be allowed to buy it now.

Richard_Webster

When the owner sold the fields he should have thought about how he was going to sell the bungalow. Council won't be too sympathetic because had the fields been retained the agricultural holding might have been more viable.

These properties are often marketed as part of an exercise in trying to get permission to remove the tie. if they can show they have advertised it with the tie for long enough to meet the Council's critieria (generally at least a year) and nobody is interested then they may be able to get the tie lifted. So probably the sellers are hoping that nobody will actually proceed to buy with the ag-tie so they can prove their case to the Council in due course.

If you buy it and then try to get the tie lifted the Council will let you stew in your own juice and insist it is occupied by someone who meets the criteria - (you would have to let it to a farmworker if there are any in the area who doesn't already have somewhere to live).

Raggs_2

Stock the pond with fish. Either use it to sell fishing rights, or sell the fish. It may not be a full wage agricultural job, but it's more than a few chickens, and if you talk to the council, may be sufficient.

Stock with some posh fish, sell it to restaurants .