Rent some land to Developers yes or no?

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Charmel

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Land Rent Confusion

I have 20ish acres in total and the smallest paddock a 1 acre field right alondside the road at the entrance to the yard is right opposite a new housing development of 20 4/5 bed executive homes. The building contractors have been great really courteous and helpful. I have been allowing them to park in my driveway entrance as large turning area just before my locked gates. They have approached me about using of the 1 acre to put their welfare cabins on and storage of materials and machinery. They offered to put in a menage when they leave or and tarmac drive concrete yard as a payment. some people are telling me I should charge them rental instead....if so how much would be fair. I do use this field during the day in the winter as higher ground no mud and lots of grass but as next to the road i never turnout over night there.
 
I think you need to find out a bit more, how long would they want the land for, then do your sums. What would a ménage cost for you to do your self v what rent would bring in plus them returning land to current state.
 
I think the cost of the school (done properly of course!) would be a heck of a lot more than what you could reasonably charge for rent for use of 1 acre so I'd say yes to the former, once you have stipulated what you want, how long it will take, when it will be done etc - and get a contract checked by a solicitor covering everything regardless of which option you go with! It might be cheaper for a contractor to build the school as they already have the manpower, so everyone wins.
 
Adopter said:
I think you need to find out a bit more, how long would they want the land for, then do your sums. What would a ménage cost for you to do your self v what rent would bring in plus them returning land to current state.
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They want it for 28 weeks and found out that the council charges building contractors £250 a week for an area a quarter of the size 2 miles away at side of other development!
 
Well first you probably need to check whether any planning permission is needed for them using your land which will be trashed by having vehicles, plant and office on it and they will have to put hardstanding down. You must decide how you want it restored afterwards and make sure they store anything like oils properly otherwise you could be left to clear it up.

If you haven't got PP for a school you won't be able to have it built anyway so you will need this in place and once they've left it could be difficult to get them back to do any work. Do they understand the issues of building a school? Will you still have to buy all the materials? I can't imagine as general builders they would know about drainage and surfaces required. They may not be so keen once you price it up.
 
I would go for the rent and reinstatement , building a ménage is a skilled job by offering to do it they obviously have no idea of the cost. I would also have an amount of money held by a solicitor so if they do not complete the reinstatement to an acceptable standard you can pay someone else to do it. In our village the developers were supposed to make two football pitches, 10 years later neither is flat or rock free enough to play football on despite the parish councils best efforts to get them to do what they were contracted to do.
 
I too would go for picking up a weekly rent from the builders. It's easy 'Money in the Bank' for you (and a future arena half paid for from their rent monies, to build where you would want it in the future and by qualified/professionals to do this job. You could charge say £175/week and have nearly 5K in the bank from them after 28 weeks! Any more weeks rental would be a bonus into your bank account :)

I would also as has been said, draw up a contract with them to make sure they are 'legally' obliged to return your 1 acre to the state is was in before they moved on and yes, take some form of 'bond' from them too,....just incase you have to 'right' anything yourself when they've gone!
 
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Def charge them the money and put in a ménage fund account :)
Sounds like you could easy get the £250 per week if they are paying that for a smaller area!
 
I used to work at a construction firm - and they did this a lot - they always did exactly what they promised - looked after the land etc - they will probably put a security guard on at a weekend or over night - to look after all the plant and equipment. It will also be fab if it does snow - they will clear you a path at the drop of a hat ! We often left the area better than it was when we arrived :)
 
I'd highly doubt you would get a "bond" from them, however if its a reasonable sized housing contractor, you will be fine.

Personally I'd go for the rent over the school, you know what your getting then and easier to negotiate.

I've no doubt that the firm will have a general lease agreement for this sort of thing that you both sign, and jobs a good one!

Make sure aerial shot of the land they are renting is included within the agreement, as well as agreeing beforehand how the land will be returned to you. Specify what you want, don't leave it as "current condition". Take pictures of it is at the minute. Make sure they are paying for services (no doubt they will have generators and portaloos). Be mindful that construction projects can either finish early, or go in for ages.
 
Charmel said:
Land Rent Confusion

I have 20ish acres in total and the smallest paddock a 1 acre field right alondside the road at the entrance to the yard is right opposite a new housing development of 20 4/5 bed executive homes. The building contractors have been great really courteous and helpful. I have been allowing them to park in my driveway entrance as large turning area just before my locked gates. They have approached me about using of the 1 acre to put their welfare cabins on and storage of materials and machinery. They offered to put in a menage when they leave or and tarmac drive concrete yard as a payment. some people are telling me I should charge them rental instead....if so how much would be fair. I do use this field during the day in the winter as higher ground no mud and lots of grass but as next to the road i never turnout over night there.
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Tricky one this
You need to find out more
  1. check to see if planning allowed
  2. do you need a school? (make land more commercially valuable)
  3. what size arena - drainage-surface
  4. have a written contract that ALL machinery is parked at own risk.
  5. ALL rubbish and waste is properly organized

Also take photo's of the area before they move onto it in case you need to prove damage caused by them

If just renting land again above applies at own risk etc
and the area is left as they found it when they go


Think you need to do a bit research before committing yourself.
 
Thank you Leviathan, I guess some people are always right with spellings and offer great insight on threads, or are just petty spell checkers with nothing interesting to say.
 
I would personally find a local land agent. Compounds for building works attract good rents and you will be able to hold developers to ransom as you seem their most attractive option locally. Most developers will pay agents fees for negotiating compound rents if it is worthwhile.
 
RunToEarth said:
I would personally find a local land agent. Compounds for building works attract good rents and you will be able to hold developers to ransom as you seem their most attractive option locally. Most developers will pay agents fees for negotiating compound rents if it is worthwhile.
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I agree. When we had National grid erecting a large scaffolding tower for several months to replace overhead cables we hired a land agent. NG agreed LA's terms and he dealt with everything, advised us on what could be claimed and invoiced them for us. Although Land agents obviously take their cut but its usually added on to your expenses so you don't lose out, I know that we actually received several thousand more than we would have sorting things out ourselves.
 
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