Agriculture & rural affairs

English agriculture is in the middle of a major transition, with some of the biggest changes to farming practices and farm payments seen in over half a century. Our experts […]

An option agreement can be utilised when a developer is considering purchasing land for development. It grants them the ‘option’ to purchase land for an agreed-upon price (or price mechanism) […]

With the current housing shortage, farmers and other landowners are finding that their fields, agricultural buildings and even small parcels of unused scrub land are increasingly being considered for development. […]

Grazing licences and Farm Business Tenancies (FBTs) are both occupational arrangements available to landowners – but which is right for you? This will largely depend on the activities to be […]

If not in writing or drafted carefully, a grazing agreement may inadvertently create a tenancy rather than a licence, giving the grazier far greater rights than the parties intended. A […]

What are the benefits of land promotion agreements and when should landowners be wary? One of our experienced agriculture & estates lawyers shares their insight. Promotion agreements are joint venture […]

For prescriptive rights to arise over land, they have to have been exercised without force, secrecy or permission of the landowner. Winterburn v Bennet In the case of Winterburn v Bennett, the […]

A farmer has won a legal battle against his brothers for sole ownership of a farm, even though his father’s will stated that it should be shared equally between them. […]

Business property relief (BPR) is valuable for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes as it has the ability to reduce the value of assets to nil. Therefore, BPR should be considered when […]

Local authorities have been slow to come to terms with the new Class MB permitted development right which allows agricultural buildings under certain circumstances to be converted into residential dwellings. […]