Case Studies
Through years of experience Poole Alcock have developed the experience to deal with a wide range of legal issues that can arise when dealing with agricultural land. Below are some examples or the types of problems, be they relate to paddocks, farms, drains or beyond, we are able to assist you with.
Pony Paddock
The owners of a Pony Paddock in South Cheshire approached Poole Alcock LLP to deal with the sale. An appointment was made with Mike Bracegirdle who was instructed to act on behalf of the owners in relation to the same.
Mike’s knowledge and agricultural expertise meant that he immediately advised that an auction sale was preferable to a sale by private treaty.
Although many pre-auction offers were made (and the owners tempted), Mike continued to advise that the sale should proceed to auction.
The auction was a great success and a sale price of over £25,000 per acre was achieved much to the owners’ satisfaction.
Farm Sale
A family dispute had arisen on the death of the surviving parent and owners of the farm.
Poole Alcock LLP were approached by certain family members and an appointment made for them to see Mike.
Various options were considered and Mike approached the remaining (estranged family members) and structured a settlement which allowed the sale of the farm to be progressed.
The sale of the farm was completed with the help of the firm’s Commercial Department and the assets divided in accordance with the structured settlement.
Mike worked closely with both the firm’s Commercial Department and the Agricultural Agents and Valuers instructed.
The sale was successful and substantial litigation costs were avoided for all family members.
Possessory Title
Although the majority of land throughout England and Wales has become registered at HM Land Registry (following the Land Registration Act of 1925), in certain areas land only became the subject of first registration as recently as the late 1970’s and thus remains unregistered if there has been no subsequent sale.
A client approached the firm as she had occupied an area of land adjacent to her property for a substantial period of time, however, property developers approached her indicating that there were difficulties with regard to her title to the property.
The client approached Poole Alcock LLP and was referred to Mike.
Mike advised that in view of the length of time which she had had occupation of the land she could contest any application / proceedings to remove her from the land.
Mike attended site meetings with the developers and a satisfactory new boundary line was agreed and negotiated without recourse to litigation.
Drainage Dispute
Drainage disputes are a common neighbour dispute. The owner responsible for the shared drains is usually in the legal documents.
Issues can arise between owners on the issue of the adjoining land in relation to the ownership and the cleaning out of the ditch. If there is no legal documentation that outlines ownership or use, then very often the owners will refer to the long-standing unchallenged use or who has been involved in the upkeep of the drain.
Drainage disputes can become very expensive if litigation Solicitors were involved as disputes can take a while to resolve if no parties are in agreement.
In this particular case the owners wanted to keep costs low and as a result the client took Mike’s advice on board. Mike advised them in order to keep the as reasonable as possible they would need to come to an agreement sooner, rather than later any ongoing dispute would only cause delay and expense to all the parties involved.
Therefore Mike advised that it would be in both parties interest if the ditch was piped and the long-standing flood problems eradicated. The effect of this would be a significant reduction in legal costs and our client was very satisfied that this brought the matter to a timely conclusion.
