Renting a Livery yard help!! Advice needed Please!!

[gem666]

Hi all, I have been offered a 30 box yard to rent with over 22 acres. the yard has been run as a livery yard in the past but at the moment is empty so basically would be starting from scratch! it has good facilities and internal and external stables all with auto waters & hay bars. I am just slightly worried after reading a lot of posts about livery yards not making any profit! My rent would be £3,500 a month....any advice people could could give i would be very grateful! At the moment im thinking this is maybe not such a great idea after all!

 

[AmyMay]

Well you stand to make around £3250 a month on DIY livery, only. So unless you will be offering services etc. then I would say you'll be loosing money hand over fist rather than make any. And even if you do offer services, even then you'd struggle (imo).

 

[Tinsel Trouble]

The figures should be based on 65% occupancy in this climate, if that helps... just to cover your rental costs each box should be let at £180pcm. This does not include taxes, rates, insurance, water, your salary, bedding, feed and hay.

You would also need to stop any yard politics (best done by vetting the applicants- and making sure you act as their 'boss' and not as a friend!). You may make some more money by hosting shows... and the first year will be slow as you build up a reputation.

I would ask for a rent free period for 6 months and then half rent for the remaining 6 months... just to get you started- or rent paid as % of turnover for a period. these are both very common in the commercial world.

 

[gem666]

Thanks for that....i was hoping to just offer part livery 5 or 7 day and full livery but i know even just to cover the rent i would need atleast 8 liveries! hmmmmmmm

 

[gem666]

Such a big risk to take.....not sure how people are coping doing livery yards by the sounds of it

 

[chipsy]

where is this yard?

 

[gem666]

Hi Chipsy it's on Farley Hill which is Hampshire/Berkshire Borders.

 

[chipsy]

we went to see this yard a few weeks ago! was intrested in it but have heard from alot of people that the owners are very tricky. apparently when the yard was full of liveries before a friend of theres wanted to take it over as a stud farm so they kicked everyone off with a weeks notice! the stud business went into liquidation and thats why its back up for rent. wouldnt take it on if i were you

 

[ihatework]

There is a yard in Farley Hill that seems to have to advertise a fair amount for Liveries. I don't know it that well but there has historically seemed to be a bit of turnover.

Now I don't know if it is the same yard, but at the rent I would be cautious if I were you.

 

[Wagtail]

Well you stand to make around £3250 a month on DIY livery, only. So unless you will be offering services etc. then I would say you'll be loosing money hand over fist rather than make any. And even if you do offer services, even then you'd struggle (imo).

Agree. £3250 per month would be the turnover if you fill all 30 boxes and charge £25 per week. However, expect to pay around £10 a month per horse on water if you are on a metre, plus £200 per box ratable value plus around £1.50 per square metre for arenas. Then you have electricity, maintenance, insurance, capital outlay (for equipment etc.). I'm afraid unless you can afford to make a huge loss for a couple of years in the hope of attracting some full liveries, then I wouldn't go for it I'm afraid.

 

[gem666]

we went to see this yard a few weeks ago! was intrested in it but have heard from alot of people that the owners are very tricky. apparently when the yard was full of liveries before a friend of theres wanted to take it over as a stud farm so they kicked everyone off with a weeks notice! the stud business went into liquidation and thats why its back up for rent. wouldnt take it on if i were you

How interesting! thanks for that chipsy thats made my mind up i think! what a shame nice yard

 

[mightymammoth]

Will they reduce the rent?

 

[charlie76]

And you have Farley Estate Equestrian Centre on your door step which is offering full livery. I don;t think they are full and its a much smaller ( and maybe nicer?) yard. I imagine you would struggle to fill it.

 

[BBH]

Wouldn't touch it in the current climate tbh.

£3500 is a lot of money to find every month and you'll be needing to fund it yourself until you built the business up. Ongoing you only need a few vacant boxes and its a struggle to make the difference or it'll be coming out your own pocket and you'll be working for nothing.

 

[gem666]

Will they reduce the rent?

we have put an offer in but after hearing some of the comments i might just take a step back completely!

 

[gem666]

And you have Farley Estate Equestrian Centre on your door step which is offering full livery. I don;t think they are full and its a much smaller ( and maybe nicer?) yard. I imagine you would struggle to fill it.

Yes that yard is lovely but they do charge nearly £800 pounds a month! but yes i think your right it would be a struggle to fill it and in the mean time im losing a lot of money

 

[mightymammoth]

Would offering lessons/pony days/stable management lessons be an option or don't you have the facilities. Where I am its 20 odd quid for a1-1 half an hour lesson

 

[ArabianGold]

I was recently looking at doing the same thing as you, until I actually sat down and worked out my costs and incomings.

In the climate unless you are set up, established and have a good name you are going to struggle.

We were looking to spend the same amount as you around the 2-3000 mark and it just doesn’t work.

Instead I have found myself a lovely 3 bed with 3 stables, 5 acres and an arena so I can have a 2 liveries with an acre each to do what they please with and I have a nice home.

Roll on the MOVE DATE!!!!

 

[zoelouisem]

My friend was going to take on this yard she was the one who pulled out she did a lot of advertising including one on here and got 1 phone call in over a month. Some where theres a thread from somebody asking exactly the same thing as you.

 

[Hexx]

We looked at this one too. It did not have a very good reputation when it was last run as a livery and if you were going to set it up under its original name (which actually wasn't a nice name anyway), you may struggle to get clients. I have also heard that the owners weren't particuarly easy to get on with.

The other yard at Farley Hill is very very very expensive, but has fantastic facilities. I think their part livery starts at £750!!

Good luck with whatever you decide to do with it.

 

[gem666]

Thanks for all your help and advice everyone

 

[PeterNatt]

£3,500 per month = £42,000 per annum
divide by 52 = £807.69 per week
divide by 30 = £26.92 per stable per week
They are having a laugh!

 

[Honey08]

£3,500 per month = £42,000 per annum
divide by 52 = £807.69 per week
divide by 30 = £26.92 per stable per week
They are having a laugh!

Someone round here (much further north) has just taken on a yard at a similar rent. They are doing expensive full livery. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts.

 

[SusieT]

You don't sound experienced enough to run a livery yard when you can't figure out that 26/box is quite a lot of rent for potential income :/ .If you did part and filled the yard yuo might scrape by, but chances of filling the yard are slim for the first few months.

 

[Dolcé]

Just as a comparison, and it is in a totally different area, a yard near to us, 18 boxes and 25 ish acres, water and electric, no proper schooling area, is rented out at between £6-700 per month. For the extra nearly 3k a month you could build an arena within a year!

It does seem an awful lot of money, there isn't enough grazing to support 30 horses other than with restricted turnout so you could never really fill it. I think they are probably just trying to make top dollar out of it but are way off the mark. From the other comments I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole, you would never feel secure.

 

[Miss L Toe]

If this was a good business idea the owners would take it on, and employ a few youngsters to muck out,...........forget it.

 

[AmyMay]

If this was a good business idea the owners would take it on, and employ a few youngsters to muck out,...

Not necessarily. There's a little more to running a livery yard than that

 

[Miss L Toe]

Not necessarily. There's a little more to running a livery yard than that

Yes, of course there is, but assuming the owners know the income streams and so on, it still comes out win win for owners, lose, lose, for tenants

 

[Miss L Toe]

Someone round here (much further north) has just taken on a yard at a similar rent. They are doing expensive full livery. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts.

Unfortunately it will last as long as they have capital, then it will struggle. I can't see how anyone can take on rental premises in the UK, and pay up front the standard cost of renting one stable times number of stables.

 

[ecrozier]

Apart from anything else, 22 acres is not enough to have 30 liveries.... My parents place once had 18 horses on 15 acres (before they owned it) and they were all on full/part livery so only out a few hours a day, and still struggled to look after the land.