Agricultural conveyancing?

ellectrastar

Hi,


I am prospectively purchasing a bungalow which also has an amount of land, approximately 15 acres. Half is pasture and half is woodland.



It is a registered smallholding as the current owner has a few old sheep running around.


My solicitor was aware that the property also had land.


The solicitor has received the pack from the vendor's solicitor and has contacted me saying they can see this is an agricultural purchase, not a purchase of a domestic property with land, and that as our intentions are to use the land for business purposes that it would need to be dealt with by an agricultural conveyancer.


At no point did I say the land would be used for business purposes as we have no such intention at all. Neither is it currently used for business purposes. Our plans are only to have a few pet animals (such as a couple of goats and ponies). I thought maybe the solicitor was confused due to it being a registered smallholding, but obviously everyone has to register if you keep animals, no matter for what reason.



When I explained this the solicitor now says even if we aren't using it for business, the land has an agricultural use, and it should be dealt with by someone with knowledge of this.



I have looked up what agricultural conveyancing is for and it covers sale and purchase of farmland and agricultural buildings, agricultural ties, shooting and fishing rights, forestry etc. This is not what we are looking at.


Our purchase is for a residential property; a home. The land is additional to this. If I was just buying some land and an agricultural barn that was on it I could understand. In those cases it states even if you don't intend to farm the land you need an agricultural conveyancer, which makes sense, as there's no residence. But this isn't the case for us - we're buying a home!



Has anyone any experience of this agricultural conveyancing that can shed any light at all?

Thanks.

SmashedAvacado

the solicitor is telling you that they do not feel competent to deal with this. They are concerned that if they treat your purchase like a regular house purchase that they might miss something. I would suggest finding someone else who feels more comfortable. Perhaps a firm that does both - or regularly deals with properties such as the one you are buying.

Robin9

Was the bungalow originally given planning permission such that is was required for the purpose or running the smallholding ?

If so there will be conditions associated with its future sale.

davidmcn

It may not be the most complicated or valuable agricultural property, but it's still likely to have enough complications to make it unsuitable for the standard residential conveyancing production line. You might think something like smallholding registration is "obvious", but it isn't something domestic conveyancers normally come across.

AdrianC

Are you absolutely sure there's no agricultural tie, or similar restriction, on the property?
Is it all under a single title?

captain_scott

If there is an agricultural tie on the property you will need to comply with it so check it does not have one. I bought a registered smallholding with no ties and I can do what I want with it. I used an ordinary solicitor.
An agricultural tie is a planning condition or obligation placed, by the Council, upon the planning permission for a house built in the open countryside where development would not normally be permitted. The tie seeks to restrict occupancy of the dwelling to those employed in certain jobs.
I hope this helps.

Davesnave

captain_scott wrote: »

If there is an agricultural tie on the property you will need to comply with it.... .

OP hasn't said there is a tie yet, but it would be very well worth checking to be absolutely sure, especially if she intends to have a mortgage.

For the record, our property has a tie and we've been very careful not to comply with it. There can be advantages, long term, but this is not the place for that discussion. The situation with the local council's enforcement record is always key in this regard.

ellectrastar

AdrianC wrote: »

Are you absolutely sure there's no agricultural tie, or similar restriction, on the property?
Is it all under a single title?

Double-checked this with the vendor as it wasn't mentioned on the advert and I assumed there wasn't one (but then the ad didn't mention public footpaths either) and there isn't. I would've hoped they'd at least disclose this on viewing if there was!



Finally got to speak to the conveyancer that was dealing with the case. They advised in the pack received from the vendor's solicitor there are responses to agricultural enquiries (or some such). So I said I haven't made any enquiries, I don't need to know anything about the land as we're not intending to farm it etc etc. I said agri-conveyancing appeared to relate to farm land/buildings, sport and recreation, forestry etc, none of which is applicable. And the conveyancer said there could be information relating to that side of things that we aren't necessarily aware of.



So basically they're telling me that they only really deal with bog standard transactions, and they won't look into anything further as they want to pass it to their agri-conveyancing colleague and it wouldn't be "right" to "poke around" any more if they're not the one that is going to be doing the work. They said it did appear we were somewhere between the two types, but that due to the agricultural mentions it would need to go to someone else.



It is a pain in the rear as time seems to drift by and getting nowhere. Now we have to get quote from their colleague at who knows what extra cost.

Davesnave

15 acres is a good size and around the crucial amount for potential rural payments, so having a solicitor with good agricultural knowledge is worthwhile. Besides the RoWs I know you have, there may well be things like wayleave payments and easements to look into too.


Just as one example, we had a clause in our title docs that tied us to a neighbour for drainage purposes. Our solicitor wan't happy with that, and she could see no advantage for the neighbour either, so she did the liaison and work to have both titles altered.

AdrianC

ellectrastar wrote: »

So basically they're telling me that they only really deal with bog standard transactions, and they won't look into anything further as they want to pass it to their agri-conveyancing colleague and it wouldn't be "right" to "poke around" any more if they're not the one that is going to be doing the work. They said it did appear we were somewhere between the two types, but that due to the agricultural mentions it would need to go to someone else.

It is a pain in the rear as time seems to drift by and getting nowhere. Now we have to get quote from their colleague at who knows what extra cost.

Sorry, but if your solicitor is saying "This isn't for me", and is passing you to a specialist, I think I'd be definitely listening to that, rather than trying to force them out of their comfort zone.

As for cost - remember that they'll be used to getting instructions from farmers, and we all know the relative lengths of their arms and depths of their pockets...

This is definitely into "stitch in time" territory.

ellectrastar

AdrianC wrote: »

Sorry, but if your solicitor is saying "This isn't for me", and is passing you to a specialist, I think I'd be definitely listening to that, rather than trying to force them out of their comfort zone.

As for cost - remember that they'll be used to getting instructions from farmers, and we all know the relative lengths of their arms and depths of their pockets...

This is definitely into "stitch in time" territory.

I do agree, it just seems like people are constantly trying to scram more money out of you! I know the farmers in our area our usually loaded, with nice big houses, lots of land, and the most recent 4x4s. If what I am inferring is correct though, yes, they don't like paying out for bills and are usually tighter than a duck's you-know-what.