Whilst not a bumper year for sales, we have achieved some good success for clients this year on agency. We have advised the majority of our clients to be sensible and cautious with their expectations and this has paid dividends with a good level of interest and viewings. We’ve worked with our vendors to ensure that a legal pack is prepared in readiness for a deal being done, so that solicitors can begin work on the transaction immediately. Being proactive with the process and working alongside a trusted solicitor has helped reduce the time taken to exchange contracts.
Purchasers are looking for good quality and productive blocks of land that can be used straight away, either as their own standalone parcel or as part of a farming larger unit. Similarly, purchasers are looking for opportunities to add value with planning or diversification opportunities. Average land values across our region are £10-£15k per acre, and in some cases well in excess of this figure. There is never a
one-size-fits-all answer to the price of land so each sale is taken individually.
We have also launched our online auction platform which you can read about within this bulletin. This has been a great success and has seen small parcels of land fetch nearly £30k per acre, which is some of the highest prices we’ve ever seen for small parcels in this region.
Land continues to be a safe investment with attractive taxation benefits. Whilst rollover and inheritance tax reliefs remain available the market for land is likely to remain stable.
• Guide £2m
•
If you would like to discuss how to make your property ready for sale, please contact one of our offices who will be happy to provide an appraisal for you.
Despite what the press would have you believe, the market for farms, land and rural property remains in a good position. Whilst it can’t be ignored that interest rates have risen significantly over the last 6 months, they are only now back to long term average levels.
transition from the Basic Payment Scheme
With the
towards its replacement known as the Environmental Land Management Scheme
2023 was the final year of BPS being linked to eligible land. Going forward, the scheme is being replaced with de-linked payments, which are based on a farmer’s average BPS payments during the 2020 to 2022 scheme years, with farmers seeing payments diminishing in value each year until they cease completely in 2027.
As part of the replacement for BPS, the first component of the new ELMS scheme to launch and be made available is the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which aims to encourage farmers and landowners to employ techniques on land to enhance the environment. SFI is a 3-year agreement, with a rolling application window, and no set deadline for applying. Successful applicants will be paid quarterly in arrears, and SFI and Countryside Stewardship options can be combined providing the land is eligible for both schemes and the options are compatible.
Whilst the scheme is in its infancy, there are currently 23 ‘actions’ available for farmers to choose from. These cover existing themes such as management of hedgerows (£10/100m for one side), integrated pest management (£45/ha), low input grassland (£151/ha) and buffer strips (£451/ha), together with a management payment of £20/ha for the first 50 hectares as a contribution to participating in the scheme.
An alternative to SFI has historically been Countryside Stewardship, which until earlier this year was a two-tier scheme coupling annual payments for management prescriptions adopted across the holding with optional payments for capital items. This link between management prescriptions and capital grants has been removed, meaning applicants can now apply for Capital Only grants. There
are over 70 capital items available, with some common selections amongst previous applications including hedge laying (£13.52/m), post & wire stock fencing (£7.47/m), livestock & machinery hardcore track (£44.63/m) and concrete yard renewal (£33.64/m2). The scheme provides a 3-year period to complete the capital works, with no limit to the values of capital items that can be applied for.
J If either SFI or a Capital Grant is something which you would like to consider and discuss for your holding, then please get in touch with your local Howkins & Harrison rural office or Tayla Harding at the Towcester office and we would be more than happy to talk you through what options might be suitable.
We have helped our clients to access over a million pounds worth of CSS funding over the last 12 months and are looking forward to working with others to access the new SFI grants that are available.
tayla.harding@howkinsandharrison.co.uk
Towcester 01327 397979
ongoing
(BPS)
(ELMS) in 2027, there are numerous opportunities for financial support for farmers and landowners to consider, and it is essential that farming and rural clients remain proactive and aware of the available opportunities.
With a horizon of reduced BPS Payments over the coming years, we were recently asked to go and see a client in Warwickshire who we have only known for the past couple of years. The client has 210 acres of arable and pasture land in a ring fence together with a farmhouse and a range of predominantly open fronted buildings, one good grain store and an enclosed barn. The farm’s sources of income are currently limited to the sale of grain, Basic Payment Scheme payment and the sale of straw, hay and silage.
The client recognised the fact that the days of receiving about £16,000 per annum from the Rural Payments Agency as a source of support are almost gone – so something needed to be done. We inspected the farm and concluded that letting one of the buildings out for storage was worth exploring. The building was relatively under-utilised for farming and could bring in about £20,000 per annum income, if let for commercial use. The client instructed us to seek a change of use via Class R permitted development, which was successfully managed by our in-house planning team. Within the next few months, once the conversion work is completed, we hope to be in a position to let the building out.
Class R allows development consisting of a change of use of a building from a use as an agricultural building to a flexible commercial use. The principal qualifying criteria is that the building was used for agriculture as part of an established agricultural business on or before the 3rd July 2012.
The conversion works in the example of this unit are minimal, being to replace a few box profile sheets, install a roller shutter door, (second hand, in good working order,) and make a small repair to the guttering. The building should then be ready to place on the open market for rent with our commercial agency team.
There are other buildings at the farm suitable for conversion and it is likely that this will be the first of a number of units on this farm.
J If you require a similar consultation, are looking at your options or would like to hear our suggestions for diversification or funding solutions, please get in touch.
We enjoy a long-standing relationship with the AMC, with James Collier & Jeremy Watson already acting as AMC agents. We are pleased to announce that Andrew Pinny has recently had training from AMC and has been appointed by them as an AMC agent.
Andrew joined the Howkins & Harrison team in 2017 and as well as being a member of the rural management team, is a part time farmer with a flock of 100 ewes, which gives Andrew a first-hand insight to the struggles and rewards of farming.
With farming facing challenging & turbulent economic times due to large fluctuations in input costs, coupled with low output gains and rising inflation, it would seem a sensible time to remind everyone of the help that AMC can offer to farmers and landowners.
AMC specialise in long-term loans for farmers and rural businesses, offering repayment terms of up to 30 years. With interest-only options also available, this can often make the long-term investment in agriculture much more affordable, so helping to ensure that the next generation can also enjoy a viable business. The AMC offer competitive interest rates, with a blend of interest-only and repayment options, as well as fixed and variable rates of interest.
We work closely with the AMC to ensure our clients can obtain the funding that they require for the development, growth, restructuring, or diversification of their business.
J
If you require help or support with business planning, would like to discuss funding options or require support to gain AMC funding for your business, please contact one of our AMC agents today:
Ashby de la Zouch 01530 877977
Demand for land for both battery storage and solar farm sites has intensified over the last 12 months. In areas where grid capacity is available the majority of landowners will have had an approach from solar or battery developers. Whilst there is an awful lot of mud being thrown at the wall by developers (a lot with no track record of success,) in the hope that some of it sticks, there are good developers in the market and good sites which do stand a genuine chance of being built. The proportion of sites which actually end up being developed is still very small compared to the number of approaches made.
The first stage of the process is that the landowner will be asked to sign a ‘Letter of Authority’ (LOA), which is confirmation that the developer has the landowner’s approval to apply to the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) for a grid connection. The LOA seems fairly innocuous at first glance and the developers are keen to point out that the permission to apply for a grid connection can be revoked at any time. The catch, however, is that if there is a lot of demand for the available grid capacity, the developer’s application can go into a queue and if the landowner subsequently wants to switch to another developer, they lose their place and go to the bottom. This can be a disincentive to negotiate hard and change to another developer who may be offering better terms. It is possible for the landowner to obtain the grid offer in their own name, but this is expensive and risky. Due to grid issues at local level, we are seeing increased interest from developers looking to connect much larger schemes at National Grid level, bypassing the LOA process.
Some developers are in it for the long term, in that they will build out and operate sites themselves. Others, however will get a planning consent and a viable grid connection offer and then seek to sell the project on. Care needs to be taken to make sure that the landowner is not left waiting for the scheme to be built, with no rent coming in.
A major issue at present is that, due to network capacity issues, grid connection dates can now be as far as 10 years in the future. This could mean having to sit on a site with a grid offer and planning permission for a long time before any rent is paid. The DNOs and National Grid are trying to bring these connection dates forward but this relies on new infrastructure.
Councils are coming under pressure from a climate change perspective to grant consent for solar schemes, but need to still balance this against the use of ‘Best and Most Versatile’ (BMV) land, which is Grade 3a and above. Although the climate change argument is becoming more powerful in local politics, recent appeal decisions have confirmed that schemes on predominantly BMV land will struggle. If sited well, battery storage schemes can be less contentious than solar schemes, using less land per MW. We are finding that these sites can sometimes go under the planning radar. Local opposition to renewable energy schemes is patchy and a lot depends on the visual impact and the nimby factor.
Currently we are seeing rents offered in the £2,000£2,500 per MW region for battery storage sites and £1,000+ per acre for solar. With a requirement of about 15MW per acre for a battery site, these are often much more attractive from a landowner’s perspective in terms of return on land value.
The key to a successful auction is the guide price - this needs to attract initial interest ahead of the deadline date. An example of this is with our most recent auction property, Land off Brinklow Road, Binley, Coventry. The guide price was set at £175,000, and we received a total
• Sensible guide price is key
• Is the title clear? Properties going under the hammer should be legally uncomplicated
• Renovation projects or properties with planning potential always create substantial interest at auction.
J If you have a property you think might be suitable for sale by online auction, please call Anna Meynell for a confidential and no-obligation discussion on 01530 877977 Option 2, or please email anna.meynell@howkinsandharrison.co.uk
of 106 bids and the sale price reached an impressive £286,000. All properties sold by auction have a reserve price to protect the vendor from selling at less than they want to sell for.
• Clean and quick property transaction - contracts are exchanged on the fall of the hammer
• Purchasers are contractually bound to buy (10% deposit is paid on exchange with completion 28 days later)
• No further negotiating when the auction period ends
• Reserve price protects the vendor from selling too cheaply
• Best possible price for ‘niche’ properties - unique selling points attract competitive bidders
J We are looking to keep building upon our online auction success and have a number of properties in the pipeline over the coming months. If you would like to be added to our database for new auction properties, please email your requirements.
J For further information about our property auctions, please contact Anna Meynell on 01530 877977 ANNA MEYNELL BSc (Hons) FAAV
Brinklow Road, Binley, Coventry
• Guide Price £175,000
• Sold for £286,000
• 106 bids
Land at Maxstoke Reservoir, Fillongley
• Guide Price £150,000
• Sold for £181,000
• 86 bids
5.2 acres at Barby Lane, Rugby
• Guide Price £65,000
• Sold for £155,900
• 68 bids
We have had a great deal of success with our online auctions this year, with most properties selling for well in excess of expectations.
This season of shows has come to an end, and what a fabulous season it has been. Although this summer may not have met many of our weather hopes and expectations, all three shows which we attended proved to great days had by all, rain or shine.
Throughout the shows we have attended this summer, fundraising has been carried out to support Breast Cancer Now. We have raised funds for this important cause, which will undoubtedly have a positive impact. From quizzes and raffles, to guess the price of the sheep, our fundraising this year has certainly got everyone involved. Congratulations to our raffle winners, who walked away from our stand with a hefty hamper, as well as to those who correctly guessed the prices of the sheep and were presented with a stash of goodies. Thank you to everyone who donated at the shows, it was a team effort, and we could not have done it without your support.
Kenilworth Show was the first show of the season, which proved to be a great success in all areas. The weather was kind to us, keeping spirits high. A highlight of the day for many was the FMX bike show taking place in front of us – what a good source of entertainment! This was certainly an excellent start for the season of shows, and it was great to see all of you there.
Ashby Show on the 9th July turned out to be a very busy day on our stand. With continued success in fundraising and an opportunity to watch the Red Arrows, despite the rain as we were packing up, a fabulous day was had. Thank you to everyone who came to say
SATURDAY 7TH OCTOBER, 10.30AM –Oak Farm, Upper Boddington, Nr Daventry, Northamptonshire, NN11 6DW. On behalf of Andrew Baughan and others, a collective machinery sale.
SATURDAY 21ST OCTOBER, 10.30AM. Reserved for a farm dispersal sale in Leicestershire.
hello throughout the day, it was lovely to see so many friendly faces.
Our final show of the summer, Blakesley Show, turned out to be the wettest of all, but also the busiest for us. The Pimms was flowing, despite the weather, although this year’s roaring trade in Guinness may, in some way, be explained by the drop in temperature. The very rainy day was concluded by many of our cars being towed out of the mud, for which we were eternally grateful. Here’s hoping for a return to shows in the sunshine in 2024.
We also supported the Ashbourne and Fillongley shows as well
as a number of Young Farmers Rallies over the summer months which provided great fun and entertainment and led to national success for one of our surveyors in jump rope and street dance. Who knew we were surrounded by such talent?!
Thank you so much to all those who visited our stand at any of the shows this summer, it was great to see you all. See you next summer!
If you would like to donate to Breast Cancer Now, please find our Just Giving page by scanning this QR code. We thank you in advance – every penny counts.
PRODUCE AUCTIONS
Lutterworth Rugby Club, Ashby Lane, Bitteswell, Lutterworth, Leicestershire, LE17 4LW.
Tuesday 28th November 2023, 2.30pm
Tuesday 2nd January 2024, 2.30pm
Tuesday 6th February 2024, 2.30pm
Tuesday 5th March 2024, 2.30pm
Ashby de la Zouch
Old Cottage Hospital, Leicester Road, Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire LE16 1DB
01530 877977 / ashby@howkinsandharrison.co.uk
Atherstone
15 Market Street, Atherstone, Warwickshire CV9 1ET 01827 721380 / athrural@howkinsandharrison.co.uk
Rugby 7-11 Albert Street, Rugby, Warwickshire CV21 2RX 01788 564680 / rugrural@howkinsandharrison.co.uk
Towcester 98A Watling Street, Towcester, Northamptonshire NN12 6BT 01327 353575 / towrural@howkinsandharrison.co.uk
