3rd January 2018

Q I’m thinking of selling some land. What can I do to it to guarantee getting the best price?

A. The key to selling or letting land successfully is to ensure that it looks its best when people come to view it. Being involved with countless land sales and lettings over the years, it is always the ones that have been well looked after and on the best terms, which sell quickest.

Here are some tips for creating the best first impression for potential buyers:

• Keep farming! Whilst the look of land does depend on the time of year, it’s advised that you keep farming the holding as if you were intending to stay. It is usually best to advertise a farm in the spring and summer months when land looks at its best.

• Keep the holding well maintained. It’s very important that essential maintenance continues: ensuring gates are hung and work; fences are standing; buildings have been cleaned out and maintained and any rubbish is removed. This guarantees the holding looks attractive in photographs and on the ground.

• Have essential records to hand. It makes life a lot easier if you can produce information about the land such as wayleaves, boundary responsibilities, land designations such as SSSIs and any scheme information as this can save time and get the land advertised as quickly as possible.

• Disclose information from the beginning – If you know of any potential obstacles to the sale or letting of your land, such as rights of ways, these need to be addressed as early as possible. It is best to be honest with people from the start to avoid them losing confidence in you and your agent. Also, being honest from the offset can save a lot of time and potentially prevent the sale falling through if issues arise at the last moment, taking people by surprise.

For advice on any rural land and property issues, please contact Tudor Watkins in our Welshpool office on: 01938 554499 or email: tudor@rogerparry.net