Farm and estate management

The legal issues facing farmers and landowners are complex and diverse. You need lawyers with in-depth, specialist experience and an understanding of rural life. That's where we excel.

Owners and occupiers of agricultural land face endless, ever-changeable challenges. Identifying and dealing with these complicated issues can be hard, so it's vital to work with legal advisers who have worked extensively in the rural sector.
 
With our decades of experience, our team is top rated by Chambers UK and Legal 500. We have even written books, on Farm Tenancies, ​Divorce and the Farm and Farming Together for Profit

We act for a variety of landowners and land managers, from farmers and historical landed estates to investors, and others who own rural land as a by-product of their main business.

Our lawyers

Our specialists lawyers regularly work as part of a team of wider professional advisers, including accountants and surveyors, ensuring you are being offered aligned and commercial advice. 

Our experience

We are proud of our long history of advising farmers, landed estates and Oxbridge colleges. We also act for pension companies and other institutions who buy land as an investment, and some of the country's largest agribusinesses.

We help this broad range of landowners and land managers with any legal issue, including:

  • ​Manorial and lordship rights and common land
  • Mineral rights and projects
  • Agricultural ties and restrictions
  • Farm water, irrigation and reservoirs
  • Shooting, fishing and sporting rights
  • Succession planning, trust arrangements and schemes and tax efficiencies

Our experience includes:

  • Restructuring Farmcare's trading operation to exit direct farming on 25,000 acres, involving setting up seven contract farming arrangements with six large independent farming businesses.
  • Helping clients to protect assets for future generations through the use of trusts, partnerships, companies and pre/post nuptial agreements.
  • Restructuring farm tenancies to secure 100% agricultural property relief.
  • Advising on the use of decisions in IRC v Farmer and Balfour to secure business property relief on cottages and other investment assets.
  • Assisting a food producer with the sale of business assets and the restructuring of contract farming agreements, involving the negotiation of over 20 documents, including transfers, leases and surrenders, and specialist corporate and employment advice.

Our clients

We act for over 50 landed estates and numerous other farmers and major landowners across the UK. Those that can be named include:

  • Farmcare
  • Sir Richard Sutton Estates
  • Evesham Properties
  • Albanwise
  • Christ Church College, Oxford University

Legal resources you may find useful

Updated regularly, our food law blog covers all legal aspects of the food and agribusiness sector.

We have recently published the 4th Edition of Farm Tenancies - a guide to the law relating to the tenancies of agricultural land and cottages.

Further reading

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