Any legal experts out there? Question about lease of land

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Faro

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Sorry, a long one.

I have leased my land for the last 2 years from a farmer, without any problems/issues.

About 3 weeks ago now, he began (or at least his men began) to work on a barn property in an adjacent field (also belonging to the farmer). The barn is currently rented out to various companies and is used for workshops/storage.

Anyway, the farmer decided to put phone lines into this barn. The phone lines are to be laid underneath what was a grassy bank between the paddock I rent and the land immediately around the barn. There is a fence at the bottom of the bank on my land's side of the bank.

So, without giving me any prior warning whatsoever, the farmer got a JCB to dig out the bank and to dump all of the soil, rubble etc. onto my side of the fence.

There is now a huge heap of rubble and soil, approx 40 foot long, 15 foot wide and 12 foot high inside my paddock. The dividing fence, now it is no longer supported by the bank, is now unsafe.

Anyway, I broke my leg 3 weeks ago and was in hospital for a few days, and only found out this had been done when I got home from hospital. My OH spoke to the farmer, who says the rubble pile is staying permanently where he's put it and if we're unhappy about the fencing, it's up to me to fence around it. (Oh, and not a mention of any decrease in rent from him)!. When OH asked him why we hadn't received any notice, he said he had tried to phone my mobile once but got no answer (I was in a bloody hospital!). Of course, the farmer does also have OH's number, but no attempt was made to contact OH in advance when he couldn't get hold of me, - no, the farmer just went and did the dirty on us.

Since coming home from hospital, I am struggling on my own, with my leg in a cast. (Unfortunately, OH's mother has been taken ill at the same time, and OH has had to go up north to look after her).

I am getting lifts to my horses to check and feed them, but I am not in a position to be able to re-fence the area to make it horse safe (neither do I want to fence it, because that means I am accepting that the farmer can do what he likes and simply put my horses in a dangerous position AND take areas of land away from me whenever he wants.) I have literally had to hop into the field, balance on my crutches and remove the few bits of twisted iron that I could reach from the spoil heap so that there is no longer any obvious dangerous rubbish on the heap, but I don't know what's under the top layer - and I have seen one of my horses climbing up the heap twice already.

So, does anyone out there in the world of HHO have any idea where I stand legally (by the way, I can't find anything in the terms of my lease which says the farmer can do this)? Or any ideas of what action I should take next? (Local council not interested as it's on private land, Environmental Agency not interested either).

The obvious thing is to write to the farmer explaining that the horses are unsafe, I am not physically able to re-fence the area myself, and also that I will NOT accept what he's done unless he agrees to a rent decrease. But before I do so, I was wondering if you lovely lot could provide me with any superior ideas/ammunition to help me fight my case.

Any ideas/thoughts would be appreciated.
 
has the farmer actually seen you struggle on your crutches in the field? i was thinking maybe it would make him realise that you are not able to refence right now and maybe he could do it? i imagine he would have the right tools etc being a farmer! Then maybe you could talk rent reductions?

The only other thing is could you get some electric fencing up and running to fence it off? might be easier for you to do whilst on crutches etc?
 
Livery's not an option I'm afraid for many reasons.

1. I love the place I'm at. It's perfect for me (apart from this recent problem).

2. To go to even the cheapest livery round here I would need to sell 2 of the horses straight away, as I could not afford livery for all 5 (if I could even find livery for that many at once!)

3. Having been on yards in the past, I don't want to go back. I love the independence of my own place (except when my leg's in a pot!)

What I was really hoping for is some advice as to how I should proceed legally/any public bodies/organisations I could approach for advice - and not so much advice as to what to do immediately with the horses.
 
if the land is rented to you via a land agent you could ask them where you stand, or maby you could ask for a solicitors advice, and go through the rental contract with them, a simple letter written on your behalf by a solicitor, outlining your worries and any duties that the farmer may have, may look official enough to get the farmer to do somthing. Have a look in your contract for the part that says whos responsibility it is to maintain the fences and ground, and to what level and any consequences. It does seem truley unfair that he has just dumped it on your land, as what you are renting doesnt include paying for a big earth pile!! maby you could argue that you are paying to rent 'X acres' but since you can only use 'Y acres' then you deserve a rent decrease.
Personally i would give him 3 options : move it, decrease you rent, or pay to fence it himself or you threaten to give your notice on stopping the rent of the land.
We have been arguing with the company that rent our land over whos reponsible for the fencing for years, its a nightmare, but if you contract says the rental includes a secure fencing, or any spec. about the fencing then you maby could atleast get somthing done about the fence thats broken, and you may have something about who holds the responsibility for maintinace.
Talking with a solicitor is really worthwhile, we had months of trouble with a person renting a stable of us and not paying rent, and they really helped us on where we stand legally.
 
Do you have a formal written lease from the farmer and if so (hope you have?! ) what does it say? Is there mention of the acerage and/or the fencing and whose responsibility to maintain?
If so, you could then seek legal advice (BHS Gold member?) as clearly he's breached the terms of your lease.
 
What sort of lease do you have on the land? Is it a full 365 day or a summer lease and do you pay in full or by the month? Who is responsible for the fencing, the hedgecutting and so on, does he normally do this for you?
I know myself from having work done like this that the actual footage taken out is pretty small, in your case, 600 sq feet so certainly much less than an acre so in the big scheme of things, you're likely to be talking about pence off your rent as compensation if you go down that way and it's quite possible to bring unpleasantness into it if you insist which might mean he'd want you off the land and have someone else more accommodating; I'm not saying that is or will be the case but I have known it happen before.
I appreciate the danger to your horses and he must be made aware of that but if you can hobble around on crutches I would be electric fencing the area off now to be on the safe side while at the same time, asking the farmer if he would either contribute to it or have it permanently fenced at a later date - to recompense you for the land lost.
TBH, it's his land so he's probably not even thought about what he has done affecting you, it's just not in a farmer's mindset when he knows he owns the land anyway; they don't think like that! I'm not saying that's right, after all, he's taking your money and providing a service to you but you have to look at it from both sides. The best way to do this is talk to him face to face, you'll know what you're dealing with then but remember at the end of the day, it is his land.
 
If you can get some electric fencing up (well get someone do it for you as I can't imagine it's possible to do on crutches - poor you!), that is a good short term position.

Long-term I think you need to talk this through with the farmer because if you put too much pressure on him (via your lease or legally) he can always ask you to leave. Since you like the place so much it does sound like he is in the strongest negotiating position, but if you can maybe meet him face to face (and hop around a bit on the crutches) he might re-think his position.
 
Thanks everyone.

Dubsie in the post above reminded me of something I haven't thought of - my BHS membership and the legal helpline.

I have just spoken to a lovely lady on the BHS legal helpline who is going to help me to draft a polite letter to the farmer (we're not looking at solicitors, litigation or anything more at this stage) which hopefully, as the letter will be politely but professionally worded, will mean that the farmer and I can come to an agreement without any fallings out etc.

From our initial conversation with the BHS legal team it appears that the farmer is definitely in breach of contract and there are also the obvious issues of health and safety.

Normally the fencing is my responsibility - but the lease states maintenance of EXISTING fencing. I don't believe I should be help responsible for the erection of new fencing (I mean permanent, not electric, fencing here) , especially when I didn't ask for it and it's not to my benefit.

As MFH09 rightly says, I know it's only a tiny amount of land in the way of things, and therefore any negotiated rent reduction would be minimal - but it's really not so much the money, but the principal of this. With the help of the BHS legal team's letter, I hope we can resolve this amicably. If not, and the farmer asks me to leave - well it's not the end of the world - yes, I'll lose the perfect place, but fortunately I do have another option of land to rent (just not nearly as convenient, not as near to home, and lacking facilities), so at least I wouldn't be stuck with 5 homeless horses!

We'll wait and see how the farmer responds to my forthcoming letter.
 
Your landlord the farmer is probably in breach of the terms of the lease.

This means you are going to need a specialist equine solicitor to sort this out for you. If you are a BHS Gold Member then you get free legal advice from their legal support team.

The fact that the farmer is denying you part of the field by dumping on it and creating an unsafe environment for your horses means that he is not complying with the terms of your lease.

A solicitor will probably advise you that in the absence of his co-operation that you should put your horses on livery until the fencing is sorted out, have the fencing done by a specialist equestrian fencing company and also have your rent reduced in proportion to the amount of land you can no longer use. You will then be able to claim all expenses from the farmer concerned.
 
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