Solicitor recommendations for buying a farm in Scotland please

[holwellcourtfarm]

We hope to buy a farm in Scotland in the next 6 to 9 months. Please can anyone recommend a good Scottish law practice to act on our behalf?

Thanks.

 

[Zebbedee]

Which area roughly

 

[KennyO]

In Angus / East coast friend and family have used Blackadders and Thorntons.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Which area roughly

We are currently watching farms in Dumfries and Galloway, Argyll, Aberdeenshire and the Western Isles. It'll depend what's on the market when our planning comes through really.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Thanks for the suggestions.

We've had:
Hastings
Lyndseys
Dales
Blackadders
Thorntons
John Leyston


That'll probably do now as I'm sure one of them will suit us.

Our first job is to understand the differences between the legal process in England and Scotland.

 

[startinghandle]

My experience of lawyers is better the devil you know

 

[Turnip]

Currently doing the same with help of Hilary Macandrew from Grant Smith in Turriff. She is great in explaining the differences in the two systems and recommendations for mortgage advisor etc.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Currently doing the same with help of Hilary Macandrew from Grant Smith in Turriff. She is great in explaining the differences in the two systems and recommendations for mortgage advisor etc.

We aim not to need finance which should make it much easier.

All the agent's listings include a comment like "all offers to be made in the Scottish legal form". What does that mean?

We are already aware of the binding nature of an offer once accepted unlike the English system (a good thing in our opinion).

 

[Turnip]

Only when the missives are concluded is it binding, basically when you have a signed contract it's binding even though you haven't completed the sale yet. Acceptance of the offer has no meaning. Even though it seems to be a worrying trend that people still pull out of sales as someone with a higher offer comes along who will also pay the penalty for pulling out of the sale.

 

[Turnip]

the offers made in Scottish legal form just refers to standard ways of working, if you submit using that format/template it is much quicker for the solicitors to figure out.

 

[roscoe erf]

We hope to buy a farm in Scotland in the next 6 to 9 months. Please can anyone recommend a good Scottish law practice to act on our behalf?

Thanks.

what happened to New Zealand

 

[roscoe erf]

We aim not to need finance which should make it much easier.

All the agent's listings include a comment like "all offers to be made in the Scottish legal form". What does that mean?

We are already aware of the binding nature of an offer once accepted unlike the English system (a good thing in our opinion).

your notes have to be deep fried

 

[Highland Mule]

We are currently watching farms in Dumfries and Galloway, Argyll, Aberdeenshire and the Western Isles. It'll depend what's on the market when our planning comes through really.

What a diverse range of places. Curious to your criteria and how you could possibly have them all as credible options - I could live in some of those places but not all and the climate and culture is incredibly different between them too. Are you sure you have done your research?

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Even though it seems to be a worrying trend that people still pull out of sales as someone with a higher offer comes along who will also pay the penalty for pulling out of the sale.

Hard to avoid that really if the new offer is that much higher. Its a consequence of a very distorted value assessment.

Most Scottish listings look cheap to us here in Greater Londonshire even allowing for the reality of the description "offers over". Part of that is the land shortage down here making it primarily an investment asset, not a productive one.

Coming from this mindset I can understand the willingness to pay what seems well "over the odds" in the Scottish market for the advantages on offer.

We place high value on gaining peace and quiet. If we lose some of our "investment" in the long run as a result it'll be worth it for the quality of life gain in the meantime.

The "value" of a piece of land is a very personal thing. Everyone will see it differently.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

What a diverse range of places. Curious to your criteria and how you could possibly have them all as credible options - I could live in some of those places but not all and the climate and culture is incredibly different between them too. Are you sure you have done your research?

We are looking for:
Tranquility
Reasonable (mixed, not just pines) tree cover in the landscape
Some contour (ie: not dead flat)
Water (lake or river both work for us)
At least some good grazing land
Reasonable access to livestock support services
Reasonable access to health services (getting older. Heart attack last year)
A decent house (or one that can be made decent within our budget)
A rural community we can become part of
Size flexible, probably between 50 and 500 acres (we will create our business plan to suit. It's about quality of life, not maximum earnings)

This one had us excited but we weren't ready in time:

Property Unavailable | Strutt & Parker

www.struttandparker.com

 

[Highland Mule]

We are looking for:
Tranquility
Reasonable (mixed, not just pines) tree cover in the landscape
Some contour (ie: not dead flat)
Water (lake or river both work for us)
At least some good grazing land
Reasonable access to livestock support services
Reasonable access to health services (getting older. Heart attack last year)
A decent house (or one that can be made decent within our budget)
A rural community we can become part of

You need to be a bit cautious then, because you won’t get all of those with all the places you’ve mentioned. I won’t detail specifics for want of insulting any locals on here, but I’d say you should be spending a bit more time in the chosen area before you make any offers.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

You need to be a bit cautious then, because you won’t get all of those with all the places you’ve mentioned. I won’t detail specifics for want of insulting any locals on here, but I’d say you should be spending a bit more time in the chosen area before you make any offers.

Understood. It'll be about the specific farm rather than the general area though. That's why the search is so wide.

Hertfordshire, where we are now, is a fantastic place to be on most of those counts except that it's now utterly overrun by London and the London mindset. Oh, and the things that most folk value highly about it (thriving economy, rapid access to central London "culture" etc) are of no value to us.

 

[Campbell]

We are looking for:
Tranquility
Reasonable (mixed, not just pines) tree cover in the landscape
Some contour (ie: not dead flat)
Water (lake or river both work for us)
At least some good grazing land
Reasonable access to livestock support services
Reasonable access to health services (getting older. Heart attack last year)
A decent house (or one that can be made decent within our budget)
A rural community we can become part of
Size flexible, probably between 50 and 500 acres (we will create our business plan to suit. It's about quality of life, not maximum earnings)

This one had us excited but we weren't ready in time:

Property Unavailable | Strutt & Parker

www.struttandparker.com

That sounds like Herefordshire, but..... please don't tell everyone....

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

That sounds like Herefordshire, but..... please don't tell everyone....

Funny you say that....

Our search has included a few in Herefordshire.

And in Devon or Somerset but both are being ruined by the tourists now for our purposes.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

what happened to New Zealand

Exactly!

If you think it's bad here.....

Brother just been on phone to his mate in NZ. Sounds like cinders is in the process of destroying there whole ag industry. Lamb price could be up here for a while.....

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