Selling Farmland
An experienced team to guide you
Farmland remains much in demand across the UK. For this reason, combined with the many difficulties farmers are facing across various fronts such as labour shortages, poor weather and low prices from the supermarkets, it is no wonder that many farmers are considering selling land or indeed their farm, either to provide income, or to fund their retirement.
Selling farmland is often a very difficult decision with the emotional ties which are inextricably attached to it if it has been passed down the generations. However, if you are considering selling farmland yourself, our experienced team can help and guide you through the process to ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible.
The key stages of selling farmland
Selling farmland is often a very difficult decision with the emotional ties which are inextricably attached to it if it has been passed down the generations. However, if you are considering selling farmland yourself, our experienced team can help and guide you through the process to ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible.
Below we outline of the main stages of the process of selling farmland and what is involved:
Compiling a Contract Pack
Your solicitor will begin by putting together a contract pack ( sometimes referred to as a sales pack), which will then need to be provided to the other side’s solicitor and provides detail around the land you are selling, crucially with proof that it is actually yours to sell. This may sound obvious, but as many farms are acquired over a long period of time, there can often be parcels of land which have not been registered and so require proof of ownership to be obtained via the unregistered title deeds.
The contract pack will include the following:
- Evidence of ownership e.g. Title deeds
- Details wayleave agreements (contracts granting access to install or maintain telecommunications or electrical equipment e.g. phone masts or pylons)
- Title information
- Replies to enquiries on issues such as planning consents or restrictions, utilities and searches. Often Sellers will need the assistance of professional advisors to complete these, so the involvement of your Accountant or Land Agent may be necessary
- Rights and protections for any retained land
- Overage to protect against any future uplift in value of the land
Once the contract pack has been compiled, it can be sent out to Buyers once a sale is agreed or is sometimes used in the marketing stages of the property (particular when the property is going to sealed bids or best and final offers).
Defining rights and protection for retained land
If you are only selling part of your land or estate, you might want to stipulate what the land you are selling can be used for. For example, you may want to prevent it being sold for housing development in the future. You may also need retain a right of way over the land for access to areas of land you own and are not selling. This can be done via a covenant which your solicitor can prepare for you.
Protecting any future development value
Conversely, if you are happy for the land to be developed in the future but are worried that the value of the land currently does not truly reflect the potential value should it be sold for development, you can use something called overage. This means that should the buyer subsequently obtain planning consent for development at a later date, they will need to make payments to you to compensate for the discrepancy between what they paid you for it and what it is now worth (the uplift).
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