[themadsaxon]

Hi all,
       I am doing a college project where I have to do a business plan about an idea and I'm doing mine on establishing a smallholder only estate agents.  I'm hoping you lot will be kind enough to answer a few questions below.  Many thanks.

On a scale of 1-5 with 1 being strongly agree, 5 being strongly disagree how would you rate the following statements.

1)   I would love to farm a smallholding but I just can’t afford to get started.
2)   The cost of either renting or buying a smallholding is much too high.
3)   The government should relax planning laws for people who wish to run a smallholding.
4)   Given the opportunity I would rent a smallholding in my local area.
5)   If it was cheap enough I would rent a smallholding for the long term and consider raising a family there.
6)   With the correct guidance I would be confident of running a small holding and becoming, at least partially, self sufficient.
Also please give your thoughts to the questions below,
7)   How much would you feel is a reasonable amount to pay per month to rent a 4 acre small holding?
    Would you be happy that your landlord made bi-annual checks to ensure you were farming the smallholding?
9)   Apart from cheaper rents what would you look for in a smallholding estate agents?


Thanks very much for your time.
Pete

[smiley bucket]

Hi Pete, hope this helps.
Q1. 3
Q2.  2
q3.  1
Q4.  5
Q6  1
Q7  Rent depending on quality of human accommodation but i would expect to pay £200 a month on top of rent for the 4 acres.
Q8  Perhaps advice on form filling/licences.  If i was an owner looking to rent out my holding i would not use an agent who tried to get the cheapest possible rent, i'd pay an agent a bit more to get the best possible rent.

[gerpsych]

[1] 5 (Already own)
[2] 2
[3] 2
[4] 5 (see 1)
[5] 3
[6] 2
[7] No idea, depends on area, accomodation, quality of land
[8] Information, advice and pointers to training

[suziequeue]

Might be worth contacting Rural Scene.

They are Estate Agents specialising in equestrian properties, small farms, smallholdings and the like.

We found our smallholding through them.

To answer your questions:

1 - 5 (Already own)
2 - N/A
3 - 4
4 - N/A
5 - N/A
6 - N/A (already running our smallholding - guidance/confidence or not!)
7 - Don't know and couldn't guess. It would be very dependent on other factors
8 - N/A
9 - Possibly advice on riperian rights, CPH numbers, projected stock capacity

[Lesley Silvester]

I'm answering these as if I was just starting out.

1) 1
2) 1
3) 1
4) 1 if I couldn't afford to buy.
5) 1 if I couldn't afford to buy.
6) 1
7) That would depend on many factors, including area, condition of land, accommodation available or not and condition of it, state of fences, number of outbuildings.
Yes, I would have no problem with the landlord making checks so long as I was given adequate notice, say 48 hours.
9) Guidance on the pitfalls of starting a smallholding and things like how to apply for CPH, grants available, what forms needed to be fill in and advice on doing that.

[Shropshirelass]

Hi pete, hope this helps:

1) 1
2) 1
3) 1
4) 1
5) 2
6) 1 (But it would be nice to be able to run farms as a successful business too.)
7) £450-£600 depending on facilities but ideally towards the lower end or less.
Yes but would want free-range of what I was allowed to use the ground for - e.g pigs, crops that can sometimes put people off.
9) Help & support - e.g about land grants, land owner & tenants rights, possibly info on useful organisations

[shygirl]

1)   already own
2)   3 -there are some great deals around, you just have to look and be prepared to change area according to budget
3)    4 - there is relaxed planning in existant if you own over 12 acres.
4)   2 - i would rent in a different area but i cant find any available. i have rented a smallholding out but it was just through a regular estate agent and is currently now wild and overgrown within 6 mths. i would choose a specialist estate agent for rental if i found one.
5)   2
6)   2 - being self-sufficient doesnt always mean cheaper food.
7)  £850 pcm
  yes, as maintenance is a major part of smallholding and fencing, grass can quickly become array if not looked after.
9)   range of properties available, we bought through rural scene also as although our property was on the market for a year before we bought it, we couldnt find the right websites to find any adverts online. scottish estate agents use different wording to english (ie farm-croft, barn -steading, park - field) and if you are moving countries its hard  to know the local terms, and then subsequent internet searches are poor. also we never realised estate agents are solicitor based in scotland or that the solicitors have a communal website for the wholecounty. so we found it hard to find places for sale. rural scene have tapped a niche market as the are national, if not overpriced.
simple contact details for animal health etc would be an added bonus when getting a small holding as these are different in different areas and would reduce the learning curve/stress level for newbies.

[henchard]

Good luck with the project but wouldn't you have been better using one of the online survey tools (which are free for basic use) like


http://www.surveymonkey.com


 so that it was easier to respond and easier to collate the answers?


Also if people can read other peoples answers this could bias the results.

[Herdygirl]

1)  N/A
2)   1
3)   1
4)   1
5)   1
6)   3
Also please give your thoughts to the questions below,
7)   £80 per acre per annum for the land, extra for the buldings (if any) and up to £150 per week for a small house
    yes
9)   Can't really say, as they operate in the same way as any other estate agent