6 replies to this topic

[meekle]

Hiya all,

landlady dropped a bombshell this morning. she is trying the field to farm route and has lost her planning appeal. she has placed two caravans and 14 stables full of horses and dogs and claimed they were an "agricultural activity"and the LPA have denied her developments as non agricultural. therefore she wants to move back to this farm - thus making us homeless.

Therefore, if anyone has or knows of anyone willing to rent out a smallholding / farm or a few acres for the livestock (sheep, pigs, goats and poultry) in or around the Mid Wales area (Rhayader, Newtown, Llanidloes etc) can they drop me a message please as we now have the clock ticking.

[admin]

Sounds like your landlady was using the Field to Farm anti-pattern i.e. doing everything the book tells you not to do

[maisy123]

Hi there,
Just to say, feel so sorry when i read this, you must be gutted after getting set up with stock and then being told this news, it must be heartbreaking. Hope you find something else soon.
maisy123

[Cornish Gems]

Hi Meekle - what sort of tenancy agreement did you have? We were of the opinion that such agreements were supposed to provide security for the tenants so long as they did not contravene anything stated in the agreement. We feel for your landlady but really she should have read the book properly and as Steve says, not use the Field to Farm anti-pattern. The courts are littered with planning appeals which quite obviously do not have a chance of success. Is the landlady a relative?

[meekle]

she had us on a standards assured shorthold tenancy. did "verbally agree" to a 5 year tnancy but nothing in writing. She is not a relative so it doesnt get too complicated there! we are going to drop the letter into the council and if nothign else maybe they can house us, and we rent a field nearby for the livestock. maybe we will save enough to get a deposit together and buy the field and start ourselves.

[Cornish Gems]

Remind me how big is the holding are the fields separated from the house, reason I ask is that I was under the impression that a shorthold tenancy could not apply to agricultural land, and should be under a standard farm tenancy. You may find if you have been renting sufficient acrerage your landlady may be in the wrong. Do you have any crops or animals tlhat are due to have young at any time soon?

How many acres are you looking for and does it have to be local?

CG

[meekle]

hiya,

the farm house is what we rent, and out of the 400 or so acres attached to it, we rent around 20 acres with the house, outbuilding etc. however, i will say at this point that a bone of contention is that althoguh we have rented 20 acres, we never seem to get sole use of them as somehow her and her family manage to drop in a couple of lambs or a donkey or similar with a cursory "you dont mind if..... " statement. what she doesnt realise is that we have put the fields we rent under a separate CPH from hers so we can move on and off without affecting her so everytime she does that we are put on movement restrictions!

So i would be pleased to get out of here and settled to somewhere where we can rent either a farm or a smallholding where we are left to do as we need to do, or alternativly a house with suitable land nearby. Dont really mind the condition of the house as i am happy to do maintenance or similar to it. In fact i would be happy to live in a mobile home for all i care, as long as the animals are safe and sound.

We ahve many many rare breed poultry - some 250 birds in all, ranging from Dorkings and Light Sussex, through to the ultra hard to come by Russian Orloff and Marsh Daisy. Ultimately we want to go the F2F route and set up our own rare breeds centre, and to that end we have already started collecting saddleback pigs, sheep and goats etc to bolster our farm.

Nothing is due to give birth yet, but the goats are starting to come into season (or at least the billy is getting his blood up) so it shouldnt be too long before they are in kid.