Ag tie properties

ANCB

Hi

I have seen threads on here before about ag tie properties but I have a few more questions

I see that the ag tied occupant no longer needs to be the main earner, does this mean that the main occupant just needs to be employed for a certain amount of time per week in agriculture? I would like a market garden, 2 - 3 acres to start with, would this count as being employed in agriculture? My other half would be the main earner in a non-ag job.

I would also be looking at converting a couple of buildings into self-catering holiday lets, which many farms seem to be doing. Would this income count as agricultural income? I see that the ag tie relates directly to agriculture, but with many farms diversifying, is any additional farm based income able to be classed as agricultural?

I'm not employed in agriculture at the moment, and I'm not so much as looking for a way round the tie, but what I need to do to comply with it. My intention is to farm the land, but I don't expect to make much money at all from it, and I would also like to have a second non-ag job myself to top up our income. So we would all be employed in the local area which is surely what is needed in rural economies?

Thanks

lincroft1710

Income from holiday lets is not "agricultural"

Davesnave

ANCB wrote: »

Hi
I'm not employed in agriculture at the moment, and I'm not so much as looking for a way round the tie.....and I would also like to have a second non-ag job myself to top up our income. So we would all be employed in the local area which is surely what is needed in rural economies?

You're correct that either partner may be the one who's fulfilling the conditions of the tie, but so far as the regulations are concerned, they'd be expected to spend the great majority of their working time in agriculture.

I would suggest that with a market garden of 2 to 3 acres that wouldn't be hard, but it depends on what is grown. A field of turnips doesn't take a lot of looking after, but then it wouldn't be seen as a genuine business either!

To be sure of compliance, you'd have to develop a viable business that couldn't be viewed as just a hobby.

As lincroft says, holiday letting wouldn't be counted as agriculture, because it isn't. Farmers may diversify in many ways, but they are farmers first, and most of them don't have to comply with ag-tie regs anyway.

The difficulties of rural economies are already recognised in the context of ag-ties, with the allowance for one person in a partnership to work outwith agriculture and bring in money from elsewhere. The 'locality,' as the term is used in the wording of ties, is now generally accepted as anything within a radius of at least 20 miles, which could well take in a town or two.

In the final analysis, what happens when someone buys an ag-tied property is a postcode lottery. Some local authorities take the existence of a tie seriously, while others, hard pressed with all the cuts, and with non-compliance alrady rife, probably don't want to look very hard, if they look at all!