Advice please re Moving Yards??

chickeninabun

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The yard I am at has just the two of us (me and my friend) at it. It's on a farm and man who owns the farm, with his mother, is being a right pain in the butt. Nothing specific just stupid little things. We have no arena or facilities, supply our own water, the field is full of thistles and the yard is just mud. BUT it's only 100 yards from our houses!
It costs me £215/month, for my two to be there. I have just found a yard to rent (either whole or per stable) for £25/wk/stable. It's about 3 miles from my house, it doesn't have a arena or anything but some nice hacking and nice stables with nice fields and post & rail fencing.
I'm just not sure if my friend will be willing to move, even though she's not happy where we are. And I'm not sure if I should go on my own, because we help each other out so much (one of turning out, the other bringing in, look after each others during holidays etc).
So confused :(:confused:
 
Talk to your friend, she may well like this new place you have found. I would think about sticking with your friend though especially as you help each other out like you said. But only you can make the decision.
 
£215 a month, BLIMEY!!!
I pay £170 a month for my two and have lovely indoor stables, my own paddocks (summer and winter) and a lovely menage.
Yorkshire must be alot more expensive than here!!
Id def move. Have you spoken to your friend about moving?
 
What county are you in Morrigan_Lady. That sounds like a great deal, I was under the impression I would never be able to afford my horse if moved back to the UK.
 
Have you actually got stables where you are, or are you seriously telling me you're renting a field full of thistles with no facilities, not even water, for £215/month, plus whatever your friend pays the farmer too?

Okay, so I don't know all the ins and outs of it - but that to me sounds like a right rip-off, and the new place sounds better.

If she's a good friend, I think you should discuss the options with her (don't make a decision without running it past her first) - you may well find out that she's happy to move along with you after all.
 
Oh no! I do pay loads, but I do get the horses either turned out or brought in for me each day, so I suppose if I paid for that as an additional service then it'd soon add up.
I have mentioned asking a farmer to sell us a field and she didn't jump on the idea but didn't poopoo it either.
 
What county are you in Morrigan_Lady. That sounds like a great deal, I was under the impression I would never be able to afford my horse if moved back to the UK.

Im in Bucks, near Milton Keynes. Its great at my yard, £85 per horse per month. Its abit of a treck from my house, but I cant have it all!! The the yards nearer me are very expensive.
 
Have you actually got stables where you are, or are you seriously telling me you're renting a field full of thistles with no facilities, not even water, for £215/month, plus whatever your friend pays the farmer too?

Okay, so I don't know all the ins and outs of it - but that to me sounds like a right rip-off, and the new place sounds better.

If she's a good friend, I think you should discuss the options with her (don't make a decision without running it past her first) - you may well find out that she's happy to move along with you after all.

Yes I do have stables, but they are only ones we built ourselves out of breeze blocks in a open-fronted dutch barn. Our rent is £430/month, for a 6 (ish) acre field (mainly thistles:rolleyes:) and this dutch barn, which was empty before we built the stables in it. There is also a small piece of scrub land next to the barn, at the bottom of friends garden, that friend has turned over to grass to use as garden.
Yes, am being ripped off but it soooo convenient for my house!!:(
 
Im in Bucks, near Milton Keynes. Its great at my yard, £85 per horse per month. Its abit of a treck from my house, but I cant have it all!! The the yards nearer me are very expensive.

How far do you travel?? I'm getting concerned over travelling 3 miles!:o But it is a long way compared with 100yrds I normally walk!
 
You are being seriously taken the pee out of! I pay £25 per week for my two. Thats total, not each by the way. For this I get more grazing than they can manage, access to stables (which I don't use) and field shelters. The fencing is good, water and electricity provided. Fields fertilized. Excellent hacking, no school but one across the road. Just me and the owner and we help each other out.

I would seriously talk to your friend about moving. If she doesn't want to, go and sound out the new place. The last yard I was at was a 12 box livery yard and there were two or three groups of people that would do each other favours and holiday cover. It had excellent stables, no mud!! one field (of about an acre) per stable, rubber floodlit menage etc etc and was £25 per week each.
 
Also, a friend of mine rents a 20 acre field with water for £100 per month. No kidding. It is fenced and has water. No buildings but lots and lots of natural shelter.
 
Flipping heckers!! how much!, that's a lot of money you have to folk out for what your actually getting there, no wonder you've thought about moving, that farmer shouldn't much to moan about there, he's got the best end of the deal.

Go and have a look around a few places with your friend, show her what you can get for your money, I'm sure once you've opened her eyes a bit and talk money, she'll be thinking the same as you. :)
 
i used to rent a 5 acre field, 5 stables inside a barn (opened up into the field so shelter all the time), hay storage, tack room and it was only 5 minutes walk from my house for £160pm (total).

if i was paying what you pay for basically a field then i would look to move elsewhere.

where i used to be was great for lots of things but the horses ended up suffering because the owners kids started to play silly buggers, i moved them to a great yard (alot more pm though) and travel 40 minutes each way, i don't mind though because my horses are happy and safe.
 
My friend has just text me and said she signed another year contract the other day for the yard (she rents it, I just sublet from her, so could leave with a month's notice if neccessary)! I have asked her to check if it's got a month's notice get-out clause in it. Surely no-one can expect you to sign up for a whole year with no get-out.:confused:

I've just phoned a client I know and he has a 10 acre field, fenced but no stables etc, and only 2 miles from me that he'll rent/sell to me. Don't know a price yet but he's a good guy and would give me a good price I'm sure.

What would you look at paying for 10 acres, well fenced but no buildings??
 
chickeninbun - price would depend on the quality of the land in question, the grade of the land is what drives the price so i would use farm contacts to help you price it up. its a very worth wise investment IMO as then u can build ur own stables, barn and arena too. then there is the possibility of a house too?
 
That seems an awful lot of money for what you're getting, although the convenience factor is good for you I know.

I pay £40pw for my private yard....2 acres, 3 stables, new post and rail fencing and secure lock up. Plus its 200m from my house at the most. If I were you I would seriously consider the other yard....
 
My friend thinks she can get out on contract and is seriously interested in the 10 acre field my client owns, as he'd be willing to sell. Am going to see him on thursday so might get something more definate then. :)
 
My friend thinks she can get out on contract and is seriously interested in the 10 acre field my client owns, as he'd be willing to sell. Am going to see him on thursday so might get something more definate then. :)

That sounds great - the only advice I'd give you is to make sure that one or the other of you owns the field rather than buy a percentage each.

Business/money with friends is a recipe for disaster IME:eek:
 
Yes I am wondering about the field ownership if we bought it. Although if we bought it 50/50 then surely if there was a falling out we could literally fence the field in half and have half each.:confused: But yes, husband is very keen for us to do all the dealings and buy the field or rent, in the first instance, and then charge friend for keeping horse there.
 
It ight be worth finding somewhere else to move to and then giving your current landlord the option of reducing the rent.

TBH tho, I think you would need your rent halving to be competitive/fair. I pay £400 permonth for 20 acres +, 8 stables, lots of conccrete yards, big barn, electricity & water etc.
 
Yes I am wondering about the field ownership if we bought it. Although if we bought it 50/50 then surely if there was a falling out we could literally fence the field in half and have half each.:confused: But yes, husband is very keen for us to do all the dealings and buy the field or rent, in the first instance, and then charge friend for keeping horse there.

While I'm no expert, I looked into this a few years ago when I considered buying a yard but would have needed at least one investor! This makes it different than a field for your own use but if you did fall out there might be Land Registry issues which could be expensive in fees (inc stamp duty and/or Capital Gains tax)to resolve. There is also public liability to take into account - would you be liable for any accidents a joint owner caused? What if one of you went bankrupt or divorced for instance? Would the field as a whole become an asset ?

Not saying not to do it but take good legal and financial advice from recommmended experts - they are worth the large sums of money they charge!
 
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