Buying land

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Dizzle

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Has anyone ever bought land near to their house for their horses? Hoping to move and our new house is surrounded by fields (one that looks like grazing, one that has horses on already and the rest is arable). I want to try and buy a couple of acres for my ponies but I don't really know what I need to consider.

How easy is it to get change of use planning permission? Can you agree that getting planning is part of the sale, I don't want to buy land to find out I can't have horses on it. What on earth is the going rate for land? (Based in Worcestershire, rural, unlikely to be sold for redevelopment as not near to services etc), are farmers happy to sell off a couple of acres to random horsey ladies? Water etc not an issue as we can run that over from our land. Stabling and storage not important either as we have space on our land for them if needed, I literally just need a bit of grass next to my house! If the land is more than my budget could I get a mortgage on it?
 
Dizzle said:
are farmers happy to sell off a couple of acres to random horsey ladies? Water etc not an issue as we can run that over from our land. Stabling and storage not important either as we have space on our land for them if needed, I literally just need a bit of grass next to my house! If the land is more than my budget could I get a mortgage on it?
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for the first point-they may be happy to but they wont do it at an average grazing land acreage price, if the land will significantly add value to your new house. For example, the people that owned my place before me bought the acre to the front and side of it and paid 6 times the normal price per acre price locally and that was a good few years ago now (and its very low grade rough grazing land). Many farmers will not sell, very few farmers have enough land ;)

land prices vary massively depending on where you are and what it can be used for.

And no, you won't get it added to your mortgage.
 
Dizzle said:
Has anyone ever bought land near to their house for their horses? Hoping to move and our new house is surrounded by fields (one that looks like grazing, one that has horses on already and the rest is arable). I want to try and buy a couple of acres for my ponies but I don't really know what I need to consider.

How easy is it to get change of use planning permission? Can you agree that getting planning is part of the sale, I don't want to buy land to find out I can't have horses on it. What on earth is the going rate for land? (Based in Worcestershire, rural, unlikely to be sold for redevelopment as not near to services etc), are farmers happy to sell off a couple of acres to random horsey ladies? Water etc not an issue as we can run that over from our land. Stabling and storage not important either as we have space on our land for them if needed, I literally just need a bit of grass next to my house! If the land is more than my budget could I get a mortgage on it?
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We bought 3 acres next to our house & paid double the national agricultural price as it vastly increased the value of our house.
The easy part for us was getting change of use from agricultural to equestrian & planning permission for small barn.
The difficult part was persuading farmer to sell it which he only did because of troublesome fly grazing!
Our mortgage company were not in the slightest amenable to adding to our mortgage despite having huge amounts of equity!
Good luck its a long road but well worth it in the end!!
 
Sorry, I didn't mean added to our mortgage, I meant could I take out a mortgage on it not connected to the house mortgage? Even just an acre would be fine to be honest (two fat ponies, land is well drained).

Had a google and came up with this:
"At the close of 2017, Savills GB Farmland Value Survey shows average prime arable commanded close to £9,000 per acre, with average grade 3 farmland trading at £7,500 per acre. Grazing land was trading at between £4,400 and £5,500 per acre, reflecting the variation in quality and geography across the holdings marketed."

That seems easily doable but yes, as you say, it would increase the value of the new house so they could easily shove a premium on it.

I wonder then would it be better to rent land for the horses and then try and buy it at a later date or maybe just be happy renting long term.
 
Dizzle said:
How easy is it to get change of use planning permission? Can you agree that getting planning is part of the sale, I don't want to buy land to find out I can't have horses on it.
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We changed our use to equestrian and it was very easy. The horses were already on it as it was grazing land (agricultural), but I wanted to be able to ride in the field so had to go through change of use.

Dizzle said:
What on earth is the going rate for land?
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I'm not in your area, can't really help here. Ring some local rural estate agents? It really does vary from area to area so you need to ask local people on this one - up north, our two and a bit acre paddock was valued at £75-100,000 when we were selling a few years ago (greenbelt, no chance of planning). More recently, (down south), we were offered £50,000 for 2 acres of our field which we refused. Although, if I'd known then how much we were going to end up spending on fencing it I'd have bitten their hand off :D I think price per acre is inflated a) in places where there is not much land or not many people are selling so not much movement, and b) it's a smaller plot of land. I've seen Rightmove ads selling 50 acres for about £200,000 only a few miles from me, so... I can't make sense of it! I can only assume there are restrictions on the land that would make it unappealing/that's a lot of land to look after which I guess would put most people off.


Dizzle said:
are farmers happy to sell off a couple of acres to random horsey ladies?
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Depends on the farmers! You can ask!

Dizzle said:
If the land is more than my budget could I get a mortgage on it?
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Yes. We needed a 50% deposit for a land mortgage, though. Best to get professional advice on this.
 
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IME it isn't easy - most land owners (me included I admit) are reluctant to lose part of their holding on a permanent basis. Once it's gone it's gone for good and unless you really really tempt them with a high price (or you are lucky and the land doesn't fit with their current operations) you will struggle
 
Dizzle said:
"At the close of 2017, Savills GB Farmland Value Survey shows average prime arable commanded close to £9,000 per acre, with average grade 3 farmland trading at £7,500 per acre. Grazing land was trading at between £4,400 and £5,500 per acre, reflecting the variation in quality and geography across the holdings marketed."
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Blimey! If a farmer is willing to sell it to you at that price, buy as much as you can, OP!

Best of luck with it, whether you buy or rent - it is the best thing ever :)
 
The first five acres of land adjacent to a house attract the highest price premium, the next five acres a smaller premium and after that prices will be closer to the agricultural norm in your area.
Your farmer might be swayed by a large offer, you won't know unless you ask.
 
Much will depend on your area, and if the farmer is wanting to sell, as I’m sure you are aware.
5 acres near my yard (Bucks/Beds/Herts borders) has just sold for over £400,000. There are no buildings on it, and no planning for anything either.
 
Farmers are canny and they aren't making any more land - Before you worry about finance/ planning / fencing etc. best to first have a chat with whoever owns it.

If you catch them desperate for cash and it's a painful shape / annoying location / poor soil then they might let you have it for £10-15k an acre.
If they work out how valuable it is to you / your property then they might add a nought to that!
 
Lindylouanne said:
My orchard is 1/4 of an acre. It cost £25,000 10 years ago.
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I can well believe that. Locally anything under 4 acres is a minimum of 60k an acre and has been for a long time.
Last summer a paddock of under 3 acres quite near me went for 320k, it's boggy in the winter, has a tap supply at the gate, and needed refencing all the way round. Went to sealed bids! The acre next door to it went for 180k........
 
It's not as easy as just buying a bit of a farmer's land, it's quite a complex process with changes ti their deeds, change to payments/ schemes etc and farmers are generally keen to hold on to what they own.
Small acerages also command far higher prices than larger bits, expect to pay 10-20k per acre for a small amount which won't necessarily be fenced/ have water supply.
It would be easier to keep an eyen local land sales and buy something offered for sale.
 
TheMule said:
It would be easier to keep an eyen local land sales and buy something offered for sale.
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The problem is I want the land adjoining my house, there is actually 2.5 acres for sale just down the road but that doesn't really get me much further forward than being at livery.

Maybe I'll just look at long term renting some land.
 
Many farmers will not consider selling any land at any price. Some might if the price is high enough. A general rule is how much value will it put on the house, plus a bit! You might be lucky and get a farmer who hasn't heard of that rule (brother-in-law!) and would sell it at agricultural price +, but the smaller the acreage the larger the price in general as there is more competition and more people able to afford it.

As for price - that depends entirely on where it is, what it is and who wants it. A 45 acre parcel of land sold recently for £6,000 per acre. It was flat, but a bit heavy and low lying and it had no road frontage, the only access being a right of way down a track and sometimes that can lead to trouble/arguments with the person who owns the track. Hence the lowish price. But I think although estate agents will still quote £10,000 an acre for agricultural land I think you will find that when it comes to sales the price has come down a bit.
 
The farm down the lane from me just sold for slightly under £2m within a week of going on the open market. There is a motley collection of outbuildings and a wooden chalet so it wasn't the house or facilities that made the price up- it was the 45 acres of land it came with. Take off half a mill for the buildings (and that's probably being generous!) and you get the land going for 3 or 4 times the price you've found per acre. (Not sure if that's too simplistic a view though)
Smaller plots of land seem to go for a premium, and if the seller knows why you're so keen for that particular parcel of land, they're likely to add even more of a premium to it.

You may get lucky- my parents were looking for an equestrian property. They found one where the land was suitable but the house wasn't. However the house next door was also for sale but had no land. They bought the house next door and the land from the original house! Not a particularly conventional way of doing it but I guess it shows these things can happen.
 
I bought a small field a mile away from my house. It was £20k an acre but I’ve been offered 3x that since I bought it 10 years ago. I don’t think you can underestimate the security that your own place gives you. I’ll never have to worry about losing my grazing, yard politics or people interfering. I borrowed on my mortgage (it’s actually supposed to be a new kitchen and bathroom!) but I’ll never lose money on if, so it was well worth what I paid.
 
If there is land for sale, within your budget, down the road, I would try to buy that. You may be able to swap it in some way for land next to your house at a later date, or even sell it to someone else at a profit.
 
My land is Grade 2, almost solid clay so a swamp in winter. The going price for a farmers field is about 10k, you are buying at least 15acres but most likely 30. Any land near a house with road frontage could be 20k an acre and possibly more, you are paying for where it is not what it is. I know someone who bought land outside a village, no house nearby, a long term investment, it has now sold for housing and has about 50 houses on it, as it is on the main road out of the village.
 
Dizzle said:
Has anyone ever bought land near to their house for their horses? Hoping to move and our new house is surrounded by fields (one that looks like grazing, one that has horses on already and the rest is arable). I want to try and buy a couple of acres for my ponies but I don't really know what I need to consider.
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Having just re-read your OP, I wonder if the horses that you can see, use the land you are thinking of, at a different time of the year. There are lots of fields round us which don't have animals on all the time but will have at some time during the year.
 
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