Getting Your Rural Land Ready for a Sale – Part 5: practical issues
By Victoria Sandberg, Partner specialising in Commercial Property and Head of Rural
This is the fifth in a series of blogs about preparing your rural land ready for a possible future sale.
On a practical level, it is not just about finding and checking the documentation, but also about actually being aware of what is going on your land. For example, if you see anyone encroaching on your land by starting to build on part of it, or slightly going over a boundary, or if you see someone regularly using it as a shortcut or for dog walking, then talk to your solicitor about the steps that you can take to prevent that becoming a bigger problem.
You might be quite relaxed about it at the moment and happy for local people to walk their dog there, but actually if you are thinking of selling, then that could become a problem. For example, developers will want to make sure that there are no rights of way being acquired.
We might be able to advise you about ways of preventing a right of way being acquired, or at least how to deal with any that have been. It is also worth speaking to your land agent, because they can advise you about putting in a statement to the local authority to establish the exact rights of way across your land.
As I said in my previous blogs, if issues can be dealt with before a buyer is found, they are likely to result in a quicker and smoother sale, at the agreed purchase price.
My next blog will consider unregistered land.
Contact Victoria Sandberg, Partner and Head of Rural, if you would like to discuss how to prepare your rural land for sale.
This blog was originally intended to form part of Victoria’s talk at Longmores’ annual rural seminar at Knebworth House in March which was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. If you would like to be added to the invitation list for future seminars, please email our Marketing Manager Charlotte.Hastings@longmores.law.
Please note the contents of this blog are given for information only and must not be relied upon. Legal advice should always be sought in relation to specific circumstances.
