Agricultural ties – your questions answered

Recently we've been asked a lot about Agricultural Occupancy Conditions, also known as agricultural ties, on properties - specifically what these are and, more importantly, whether or not they can be removed.

It's true that often a rural property for sale looks too good to be true, and buyers should always be aware of the possibility of an Agricultural Occupancy Condition (AOC).

What are Agricultural Occupancy Conditions?

An Agricultural Occupancy Condition, or agricultural tie, is a condition of planning, set by the council, which enables rural homes to be developed. With their introduction, local planning authorities were able to set aside their resistance to new home developments in the countryside and grant planning permission, where there is a genuine business need.

The key condition of an AOC is that the owners of the new property are either agricultural employees (and their dependants), or their widow or widower.

AOCs were introduced to address the variety of rural commercial operations requiring an employee to be available on-site 24 hours a day, which was only possible if the employee had live-in accommodation.

What are the issues with Agricultural Occupancy Conditions?

Although an AOC allows for rural homes to be developed, it reduces the value that they sell for on the open market.

So the greatest problem that agricultural ties pose to our clients is the substantial reduction in the value of their property, often up to 30%. Unsurprisingly, most prospective buyers are unable to comply with agricultural ties as they are not wholly or mainly employed in agriculture, and so the pool of available buyers is correspondingly small.

What can be done?

Fortunately it is possible to alter, suspend or discharge an AOC. The options are as follows, but it is not easy:

1. Apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness of Existing Use or Development (CLEUD), by proving that there has been a consistent and uninterrupted 10 year breach of the AOC that is still...