Property Management Flashcards
If a property has a non-compliant septic tank, what would you recommend?
- connect to mains sewer
- install a drainage field (also known as an infiltration system) so the septic tank can discharge to ground instead
- replace your septic tank with a small sewage treatment plant
You must have plans in place to carry out this work within a reasonable timescale, typically 12 months.’
What regulations are associated with Private Drainage?
The General Binding Rules for Small Sewage Discharges
What do the private drainage regulations say?
Septic Tanks cannot discharge directly into a watercourse or drain.
This is because a septic tank provides very little treatment of the waste, and it is no longer considered safe to allow this waste to leave the septic tank and enter into watercourses without some form of further treatment - which can best be provided by a drainage field.
Why would you recommend a license agreement over a tenancy agreement?
- Client wanted a short term use whilst determining longer-term use e.g. let farm has come back in hand, no decisions on future yet.
- If want to gain planning permission and maintain vacant possession of the land
- Soil health - regenerative practices encourage bringing livestock to the ground
What is the difference between a lease and a license? What is the relevant legislation?
Street v Mountford (1985)
- Term
- Rent
- Exclusive possession - under tenancy, tenant has exclusive possession, whereas a licensee does not.
For there to be a tenancy, there must be:
- identifiable landlord
- identifiable tenant
- identifiable holding e.g. written description or a plan
- fixed term
- rent (although not always required e.g. Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976
Why would you use a tenancy agreement over a license?
- Longer term security
- For more certain IHT relief - e.g. 100% APR on FBT, whereas have to be more conscious and keep better records to gain APR on IHT
What would you need to do to gain APR on land let on a license?
- Sell grass instead of leasing acres. Ensure the tenancy agreement reflects this
- Keep invoices to show maintaining the land
- If the licensee does any work, ensure to pay and keep their invoices appropriately
- Try not to have a long license
- Try to be responsible for some animal husbandry, such as checking stock, fencing or water troughs.
What considerations might you need to have when leasing land on a license?
Implications on tax relief such as IHT and APR.
To achieve APR on land:
- it must have been owned for 2 years
- occupied by an active farmer
Must ensure that are an active farmer on the land to achieve APR. E.g. occasionally check the livestock, maintain all the fences and hedges, fix water, retain all invoices related to management of the work.
What can a landowner do to protect their interests in gaining APR for IHT?
- repair all boundaries
- cut the hedges
- responsible for all requirements to gain BPS
- Requirements of CSS
I would advise speaking to the accountant regarding the IHT position.
What IHT relief would a landowner get on other types of tenancies?
100% on FBT/Surrender and re-grant and successions after 1st September 1995
50% on AHA
What is APR available on?
APR available for land occupied for the purposes of agriculture.
e.g. AHA, FBT, licenses ensuring can show active farmer, agricultural buildings and houses
No specific definition of agriculture - In broad terms, this includes horticulture, growing fruit and the intensive rearing of livestock or fish for human consumption.
What are the key cases associated with gaining APR on farmhouses?
S. 115 - there must be ‘agricultural land or pasture’ with the farmhouse.
McKenna:
- Is it a farmhouse?
- Is the day to day management of the holding from the farmhouse?
- Has it been occupied for the use as a farmhouse in 2 years previous?
Antrobus:
- House appropriate by reference to its size/content/layout?
- House proportionate to farming activity?
- Elephant test: does it look like a farmhouse?
- House with land or farmhouse = educated rural layman
- History – how long have they been intertwined
Golding:
-The acknowledgement that as farmers grow older and their work rate drops, reduced business turnover and profitability do not of themselves mean that the farmhouse will cease to qualify for APR.
Please can you give an example of how you have communicated with clients?
- Telephone calls e.g. farmers, vendors
- Emails e.g. to summarise a telephone call
- Face to face meetings e.g. with a client for monthly management meetings or CSS
- Zoom Calls - meetings regarding updates on works that do not require in-person meetings e.g. Swinton Estate twice monthly meetings
Please can you indicate how you communicate with clients?
In-person meetings are resuming:
- Grazier Association Meetings e.g. 12 people. Much easier to discuss in one place.
- Client management meetings - in person with relevant documents - so tenancies can be signed/information can be presented clearly.
- CSS Agreement development - visit site to explore CSS options
- BPS clients - preference for them to meet with you.
Telephone conversation:
- Queries requiring brief updates
- Vendors = to inform them of viewing feedback, to arrange viewings, unless otherwise specified
- To discuss information prior to responding to an email
Email:
- To summarise telephone conversation
- where vendors have specified they would like to respond via email e.g. Trustees
Zoom/Teams call:
- Project catch ups
- Catch up with contractors e.g. ecologists
Letter:
- to confirm instruction e.g. BPS
- covering letter attaching invoice for work
How do you decide your method of commutation?
Dependent on the:
- client
- client’s preference for communication
- situation
- what trying to achieve
