[lara]

hi all you knowledgeable folks , can anyone advise me on any potential pitfalls?    I was approached by one of my close neighbours a couple of weeks ago, he asked if we were using our land at in the near future (we moved into a place last september which has  2.5 acrs rough, neglected grass at the rear - we havent done a lot with it as yet as we have our hands full just tidying the garden just at the mo - which is like a jungle.)
anyway the neighbour keeps chickens - only a few at this moment in time and he has only a small garden, but he has invested in an incubator and was looking for some land to   ' grow the chicks' which he then intends to sell at the market.  we have agreed to rent him a small plot in the far corner ( 15mtrs x 40mtrs) and we have all agreed on a rent of  £1 a day. We understand that we need keep the plot free of the livestock for 2 months a year to avoid giving him any claim to land rights - please can anyone advise me if they are aware of any other restrictions/ pitfalls which we may encounter.
we weren't looking to rent the land out but wanted to help him out - equally would like to make sure we won't be causing ourselves any problems for the future........... any advise will be well appreciated thanks .  lara.

[Hermit]

I would get a proper written agreement then you know where you both stand and each others limits.Notice to quit, livestock kept etc should all be included or else when you want the land back he may get awkard.

[lara]

thanks Hermit, when the neighbour asked us about renting the land he said that he would be able to vacate the land with just a couple of days notice if we wern't happy with the arrangement, as his fencing is in lightweight panels, just small easy to move houses for the birds and he could sell the birds quickly at market if necessary - this was one of the reasons we agreed to it. i really need to find out if we will be legally obligated to anything in the future if this becomes a long time arrangement -we dont know when we may need the land ourselves, and would a contract written by ourselves legally protect us if we wanted him to vacate the land? oh and we have a signed letter from him to this effect.

[Hermit]

It sounds dramatic but i would get a proper agreement written up , after all if he is only paying a £ he is still a tenant. I would definately leave the fence where it is and tell him to put a gate in to a temorary enclosure in your land. that way the boundaries have not moved.Dont trust anyone where land is concerned, if you want to go down the private agreement line get them witnessed. I am no expert I just know what I would do. I have been too trusting twice listening to promises about land and from friends. Never again.

[Roxy]

We only rent from May until October, so its seasonal.  My friend was on a livery yard, and she had to move the horse off for one day a year, so that she did not have a tenancy, but not sure how it works nowadays, because I have never heard of anyone else having to move off for a day.

An old lady in our village rented her land out for years to a farmer.  When she wanted to sell the farm, he was a sitting tenant, because he had been on for so long, so she had to sell the farm with him still on the land, which reduced the price I imagine.

I would get a written contract, so you both know where you stand.  I am not sure about getting him off in two days, but if he says thats all he needs, fair enough.  I was thinking perhaps you could arrange a mutual timescale, like a month maybe, for him to leave.  I would also mention in the contract that he is respnsible for fencing his birds in properly etc.

I have never had any trouble with the farmer renting our land, and I will miss him now he is not coming back - and his cows!

[lara]

thanks guys for your advice, our field has no fencing at all - it has a dyke to each side so i guess they have never bothered fencing before. my neighbour has now put up his movable fencing panels and a small shed which has some chicks in now. He crosses over the dyke up the field near his chickens where i  I asked him to cross and so he doesn't have to come down our driveway twice a day, which is better for us.
 I will take your advice a and write up a contract and also keep to the agreement for him to remove his stock for two months (probably Dec/jan ) when it gets wet down there anyway, does anyone know if i let him keep his fences / shed up during the two month break  will it still be classed as vacating adequately? we dont want to inconvenience him too much - obviously he wont pay us rent during this period. but i would like to safeguard ourselves against him having land rights/sitting tenancy (as you said Roxy).. thanks again for help.

[Jackie]

He needs to remove the fencing too

[doganjo]

But if you buy the fencing off him, then you can leave it in place, same goes for the shed, deduct it from his rent payments.