Read our latest news!
As a Landlord or Tenant, you need to be aware of the following:
Changing the name of Assured Shorthold Tenancies
A tenancy will no longer be called an ‘Assured Shorthold Tenancy’. Instead it will be called a ‘Assured Periodic Tenancy’
Banning Section 21 Notices (No Fault evictions)
Landlords can no longer evict tenants without a valid and compliant reason. A legal reason will be needed and these reasons are called grounds for possession.
End of Fixed Term Tenancies
All tenancies are now periodic. Your tenancy will continue on a rolling basis.
Rent increases are now limited
Landlords can only increase the rent once a year and will need to give written notice of the proposed rent increase at least 2 months before that increase would take effect.
No more bidding wars and advanced payments
Landlords and agents must not accept offers of rent higher than the advertised sum or advance payments.
Keeping a pet
Tenants have the right to request to keep a pet. A landlord cannot unreasonably refuse a request.
NOTE:
If you do not have a written tenancy agreement or any written record of the tenancy’s terms, then your landlord must provide you with certain written information on or before 31st May 2026.
Please contact the team at Bateman Hosegood if you have any queries:
01884 839980
enquiries@batemanhosegood.co.uk
What is the project?
West Country Water and Environment are proposing to build a second reservoir which will provide around 20 million litres per day of drinking water by 2035-36 during the summer months. This is enough to supply water to approximately 100,000 people daily. This will help to overcome the challenges of climate change and increased water stress in the West Country.
Timescales
We’ve detailed the timeline in the attached image and we will keep you updated on the project.
How can we help you?
In the attached pictures, we’ve detailed the pipeline maps. If the project proceeds across your land, the team at Bateman Hosegood will be pleased to assist with the relevant occupier and disturbance claims. Your professional and legal fees will be covered by the project provider.
Please contact the team at Bateman Hosegood if you have any queries:
01884 839980
enquiries@batemanhosegood.co.uk
Read our latest news!
Following the budget announcement last week, there is a detailed analysis compiled from the CLA tax and policy experts, on how the latest budget announcements affect rural families, their land and businesses below.
Following the Environment Agency introducing new charges for waste exemptions, we have summarised what a waste exemption is and the key considerations. It’s now more important than ever to ensure you are compliant.
On Friday 24th October, over 300 people attended the Western Counties Agricultural Valuers Association (WCAVA) 125 year anniversary Gala Dinner, held at Sandy Park, Exeter, organised by Kevin Bateman (Chairman and Secretary of the WCAVA). Thank you to everyone who helped make the evening a great success.
Read our latest Winter newsletter
To help secure future water supplies across the region, West Country Water and Environment are launching a flagship project: building a new earth bank reservoir alongside the existing Cheddar Reservoir. This £1 billion investment will ensure reliable water for customers in Somerset and Devon. As part of the project, drop-in events will be held across both counties to provide information, answer questions, and gather feedback.
Please see the document linked below for more information and the details of local events and dates (on page 43.
The team at Bateman Hosegood can help you if you have any queries.
Read our latest Summer newsletter
Read our latest Spring newsletter
The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 introduced automatic increases in fees. These increases in England and Wales will come into effect from 1 April 2025. The increased rates will be fixed for a year until 1 April 2026.
At present, the Planning Portal administration fee, which is currently £70 per application, will remain the same. However, the Planning Portal have yet to comment on whether this will change!
Notable increases in fees are:
1. Householder Applications
No change proposed for householder developments related to small-scale operations within the boundary of an existing dwelling house remaining at £258.
2. Prior Approvals
3. Discharge of Conditions
The following fee increases for applications for approval of details reserved by condition are proposed:
In addition, the fee for submission of a Biodiversity Gain Plan is increasing from £145 to £298.
4. Section 73
Section 73 (Minor Material Amendments) until now were a flat fee (currently £293) but a three-tier structure has been applied as follows:
Read our latest Spring newsletter
The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 introduced automatic increases in fees. These increases in England and Wales will come into effect from 1 April 2025. The increased rates will be fixed for a year until 1 April 2026.
At present, the Planning Portal administration fee, which is currently £70 per application, will remain the same. However, the Planning Portal have yet to comment on whether this will change!
Notable increases in fees are:
1. Householder Applications
No change proposed for householder developments related to small-scale operations within the boundary of an existing dwelling house remaining at £258.
2. Prior Approvals
3. Discharge of Conditions
The following fee increases for applications for approval of details reserved by condition are proposed:
In addition, the fee for submission of a Biodiversity Gain Plan is increasing from £145 to £298.
4. Section 73
Section 73 (Minor Material Amendments) until now were a flat fee (currently £293) but a three-tier structure has been applied as follows:
The Animal Health and Welfare pathway was launched in 2023 to support continual improvement in farm animal health and welfare working in partnership with the farmers, vets and the wider industry and supply chain.
Update January 2025
The service has been expanded to include:
1. Animal Health and Welfare Review (this is not an inspection or audit)
After the vet has completed a review, you can choose to have an endemic disease follow-up, you can only have a follow-up after you have done a review. The review and follow-up must be done on the same specie.
2. Endemic Disease Follow-Up
As part of the (IAHW) you can have up to 3 reviews and 3 follow-ups on the same herd or flock. This service ends on 19th June 2027. All reviews and follow-ups must be completed by this date.
Species: | Animal Health & Welfare | Endemic disease follow up |
Pigs | £557 | £923 |
Sheep | £436 | £639 |
Beef Cattle | £522 | £215 (Where BVD isn’t present) £837 (Where BVD is present) |
Dairy Cattle | £372 | £215 (Where BVD isn’t present) £1,714 (Where BVD is present) |
For more information on how to apply please contact us on 01884 839980 or 01769 302980 alternatively please email enquiries@batemanhosegood.co.uk
Overview
Payments for protecting, restoring, and enhancing the environment in sensitive sites such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and land that requires more long-term, complex management is targeted in CSHT.
Actions and Capital Items
132 actions and 145 capital grants will be on offer within the scheme. Details can be found on the GOV.UK website under ‘Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier: get ready to apply’.
Preparing for CSHT
You may need to prepare specific plans or studies such as woodland management plans or a species management plan. There can be grants to help cover the costs of these plans.
CSHT Process
CSHT will be rolled out gradually with applicants being invited into the scheme from the 6th of January 2025.
Natural England and the Forestry Commission will identify who will get invited initially. These will be as follows:
Once invited, you can prepare your application and be ready to submit, which will be open in summer 2025.
Those with existing agri-environment Higher Tier agreements ending in 2024 will be offered a mirror agreement. A new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreement will be the same as the existing agreement so you cannot add, replace or remove options and will last the same length (5 or 10 years).
From the summer, a wider range of customers will be identified and invited to prepare an application. Additionally, applications will be open all year-round.
Overview
Payments for protecting, restoring, and enhancing the environment in sensitive sites such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and land that requires more long-term, complex management is targeted in CSHT.
Actions and Capital Items
132 actions and 145 capital grants will be on offer within the scheme. Details can be found on the GOV.UK website under ‘Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier: get ready to apply’.
Preparing for CSHT
You may need to prepare specific plans or studies such as woodland management plans or a species management plan. There can be grants to help cover the costs of these plans.
CSHT Process
CSHT will be rolled out gradually with applicants being invited into the scheme from the 6th of January 2025.
Natural England and the Forestry Commission will identify who will get invited initially. These will be as follows:
Once invited, you can prepare your application and be ready to submit, which will be open in summer 2025.
Those with existing agri-environment Higher Tier agreements ending in 2024 will be offered a mirror agreement. A new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreement will be the same as the existing agreement so you cannot add, replace or remove options and will last the same length (5 or 10 years).
From the summer, a wider range of customers will be identified and invited to prepare an application. Additionally, applications will be open all year-round.
Please click the below link to read our Summer newsletter
With the loss of BPS income and a generation of farmers children pursuing their own careers outside of agriculture we are having more and more discussions with tenant farmers thinking of retiring and giving up their tenancies.
For many tenants this is their once in a lifetime opportunity to capitalise on a lifetime’s work and set themselves up for their retirement years.
Irrespective of whether you are an AHA or FBT tenant it is imperative that you plan a long way ahead of your preferred retirement date and you must make sure you get the best advice available to ensure you come out of your tenancy with the best package possible.
Anyone considering retiring should enter dialogue early with their accountant, their land agent and most importantly their landlord.
Do not underestimate the value of your tenancy as in some cases your surrender could provide significant financial advantages for the Landlord and this value can form part of the overall surrender package.
Good tax advice is extremely important with the ability for a retiring tenant to attract Business Asset Disposal Relief whereby you will only pay 10% on all gains on qualifying assets. It is also vitally important to achieve best values for your livestock and machinery, the disposal of which is something that needs to be carefully planned.
If you are considering surrendering your tenancy and would like to understand the process and implications more thoroughly, or you have made the decision and are looking for somebody to negotiate your surrender then please do not hesitate to contact the office and one of the team will be only too pleased to speak to you.
We have been anticipating the extension of permitted development rights to give farmers more flexibility for many months. We now know that from 21st May the amount of floorspace under the Class Q permitted development process will increase from 865 to 1000 square meters. In addition, up to 10 homes will be permitted superseding the previous limit of 5. However, each dwelling will be limited to 150 square meters whereas previously a large’ dwelling was permitted up to 465 square meters. This is to encourage the conversion of agricultural buildings to be more suited to rural needs.
The rights have not yet been extended to protected landscapes (National Parks) but protected landscapes will benefit from the change to the permitted floorspace of new buildings or extensions on farms over 5ha. The limit has been increased from 1000 to 1500 square meters.
Flexible commercial use has been increased from 500 to 1000 square meters. Flexible commercial use includes the processing of raw goods produced on site and to be sold on site, the provision of agricultural training and outdoor sports, recreation and fitness uses within the curtilage of a building.
Bateman Hosegood regularly advise clients on permitted development rights therefore if you are looking to progress a project on your farm do get in touch by phoning 01884 839980 or by email at enquiries@batemanhosegood.co.uk.
In early March 2024, Defra announced its intention to bring into law regulations for hedgerows on agricultural land, reinstating the requirements of the old Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) cross-compliance rules for hedgerows.
These new regulations will include:
In summer 2023, Defra consulted how hedgerow protection should be regulated, receiving over 8,800 responses, highlighting the level of interest in this area.
So, what does this mean for farmers and landowners? For those who claimed BPS, there will be no change to the management requirement of hedgerows. However, the new regulations will apply to all hedgerows, including those on land with no BPS claim, unless they come under the exemptions. Note. You are still required to obtain permission from the Local Planning Authority for the removal of hedgerows.
If you have any questions about hedgerow regulations and would like to get in touch, please contact Bateman Hosegood on 01884 839980 or enquiries@batemanhosegood.co.uk
With 34 successful projects going forward for round 2 of the Landscape Recovery Scheme it is imperative for those who have signed up as participants and those who may be approached in the future to consider what they are signing up to.
With many applications being led by NGO’s whose ultimate objectives may some what differ from the farming businesses that have been encouraged to participate it is important that you ensure you are well represented, and that the developing application/agreement is truly of a collaborative nature.
With circa £700,000 of initial funding being paid out for each project’s 2 year development phase it is vital that those farmers and farm businesses participating in the project ensure that the final scheme is developed to meet their own objectives as well as those of the wider participants.
Farm productivity formed part of the application scoring however going forward some projects appear to put very little emphasis on the agricultural activity being carried out on participants land ignoring the unique opportunities to make historically marginal farming businesses more efficient and ultimately profitable.
The landscape recovery scheme does truly offer a great opportunity for large scale landscape change and enhancement however with the majority of agreements being driven by NGO’s it is important that both DEFRA and those participating but not leading on projects ensure that the design of the final 20 year agreement benefits the environment the core farming businesses and the landscape as a whole.
If you have been asked to participate within a landscape recovery project or are considering putting one together yourselves then do not under estimate the potential of the scheme and if you would like to discuss this then please do not hesitate to contact any of the members of Bateman Hosegood who would be happy to advise on 01884 839980 or enquiries@batemanhosegood.co.uk
