We can assist agricultural businesses with all aspects of agricultural law, including:
- farm sales and purchases: buying and selling farms, cottages, land, woodland or sporting rights. Our expertise in this area includes negotiating easements for pipes and cables to pass through or over the property and approval for its development
- farm business tenancies: drafting agreements between landlords and tenants, and dealing with any arising issues
- farming partnerships and disputes: we can set up agreements for new partnerships or put existing arrangements on a more formal footing.
- Agricultural Land Tribunal issues: we can assist in managing succession issues, boundary disputes and rights over the land of others for specific purposes
- estate development and diversification: we can provide advice to help maximise future development potential through extra payments to the seller, as well as option and conditional sale agreements.
- rights of way: our expertise includes issues around diverting existing rights of way and preventing new ones crossing the property
- wills, trusts and planning for the future: we can ensure that existing and new wills are valid and effective tools to protect assets, businesses and family, and assist in planning succession through trusts.
We have particular expertise in the voluntary registration of land with the Land Registry, which is significant issue in Lincolnshire, where nearly 40 per cent of land is still not registered. Benefits of registration include:
- proof of ownership: important for any landowner, especially those with large portfolios
- greater security: simplified titles and computerised records make ongoing management much easier
- boundary issues: reduced risk of others encroaching over your land and avoid arguments over boundaries
- speedier sales: registered land is quicker and easier to sell as all the information is available immediately and there will be no issues over missing deeds.
If you are registering voluntarily for the first time, you could receive a discount of 25 per cent on the registration fee – which depends on the value of your property – and benefit
We can prepare the necessary documentation for voluntary registration, even when deeds are lost or there is difficulty proving ownership, and can also assist with conveyancing of unregistered land.
For more information on any of our agricultural legal services please contact us.