Agricultural Occupancy
I am regularly asked whether it is possible to get an agricultural tie lifted. Usually this is a reference to a planning condition restricting the occupation of a house to people employed within agriculture, horticulture or forestry. M odern occupancy conditions are along the following lines:-
"The occupation of the dwelling hereby permitted shall be limited to a person solely or mainly working, or last working, in the locality in agriculture or in forestry, or a widow or widower of such a person, and to any resident dependents".
The dependency test is not a financial one; so normally any spouse or cohabitant could be expected to fall within it. The reference to locality is usually taken to mean either the parish within which the property is situated or the immediately adjoining parishes .
The employment test is not one of income but how the occupant, in practical terms, spends their day.
Local authorities rarely take practical steps to enforce these planning conditions, although they undoubtedly have the right to do so and probably will do so when formal complaints about breach are made to them. They do, however, rely on the market to enforce these planning conditions since clearly their existence inhibits the value of a property. Similarly building societies and banks are reluctant to lend on such properties particularly where they believe that the planning condition is not going to be complied with.
Usually planning permissions containing these conditions will have been granted for houses that are built in places where planning permission would not normally be granted and have been built on the back of a substantial amount of evidence to show an agricultural need for such a house to be built. Given that an exception to planning policy will have been made for the permission to have been granted in the first place, local authorities are reluctant to lift planning conditions, although clearly they can be removed where circumstances have significantly changed.
In order to get such a planning condition lifted, the house owner would normally have to provide evidence to the local authority that there was no longer a need for a house subject to such an agricultural condition. One popular strategy is obtain letters from every farmer in the locality confirming that they would not be interested in buying the house and to have the house offered for sale at a price which reflects the planning condition. If the property has not been sold within a year then it could be argued that the relevant evidence has been obtained. The difficulty about this approach, of course, is the offer of sale has to be at the appropriate discount and the reason why the house owner may want the condition lifted is that he wishes to increase the value of his property.
The more common approach, therefore, is to apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness which can be obtained from the Council provided it can be shown that there has been at least ten years' continuous breach of the planning condition. A Certificate of Lawfulness is basically a certificate confirming that the Council are effectively barred from enforcing the condition. Property owners should note, however, that this is not the same as having the condition lifted altogether. If the planning condition were to be complied with in the future, then the Council is entitled to take the view that the condition has been reinstated.
Furthermore, if at the time the original planning permission was granted the property owner entered into an agreement with the Council that he would keep certain land within the same ownership of the house, (and Councils are entitled to insist upon such an agreement being entered into before the grant of planning permission) then that agreement will continue to be enforceable beyond the lifting or variation of the planning condition or the grant of a Certificate of Lawfulness.
"The occupation of the dwelling hereby permitted shall be limited to a person solely or mainly working, or last working, in the locality in agriculture or in forestry, or a widow or widower of such a person, and to any resident dependents".
The dependency test is not a financial one; so normally any spouse or cohabitant could be expected to fall within it. The reference to locality is usually taken to mean either the parish within which the property is situated or the immediately adjoining parishes .
The employment test is not one of income but how the occupant, in practical terms, spends their day.
Local authorities rarely take practical steps to enforce these planning conditions, although they undoubtedly have the right to do so and probably will do so when formal complaints about breach are made to them. They do, however, rely on the market to enforce these planning conditions since clearly their existence inhibits the value of a property. Similarly building societies and banks are reluctant to lend on such properties particularly where they believe that the planning condition is not going to be complied with.
Usually planning permissions containing these conditions will have been granted for houses that are built in places where planning permission would not normally be granted and have been built on the back of a substantial amount of evidence to show an agricultural need for such a house to be built. Given that an exception to planning policy will have been made for the permission to have been granted in the first place, local authorities are reluctant to lift planning conditions, although clearly they can be removed where circumstances have significantly changed.
In order to get such a planning condition lifted, the house owner would normally have to provide evidence to the local authority that there was no longer a need for a house subject to such an agricultural condition. One popular strategy is obtain letters from every farmer in the locality confirming that they would not be interested in buying the house and to have the house offered for sale at a price which reflects the planning condition. If the property has not been sold within a year then it could be argued that the relevant evidence has been obtained. The difficulty about this approach, of course, is the offer of sale has to be at the appropriate discount and the reason why the house owner may want the condition lifted is that he wishes to increase the value of his property.
The more common approach, therefore, is to apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness which can be obtained from the Council provided it can be shown that there has been at least ten years' continuous breach of the planning condition. A Certificate of Lawfulness is basically a certificate confirming that the Council are effectively barred from enforcing the condition. Property owners should note, however, that this is not the same as having the condition lifted altogether. If the planning condition were to be complied with in the future, then the Council is entitled to take the view that the condition has been reinstated.
Furthermore, if at the time the original planning permission was granted the property owner entered into an agreement with the Council that he would keep certain land within the same ownership of the house, (and Councils are entitled to insist upon such an agreement being entered into before the grant of planning permission) then that agreement will continue to be enforceable beyond the lifting or variation of the planning condition or the grant of a Certificate of Lawfulness.
