We made it!

Congratulations on the move, to do all that in 6 weeks would have been quite a challenge.  

Hope you have many happy years in your new home.

Good news on all fronts.  Enjoy your new found 'freedom'.

Well done, after all that hard work why not go away for a week or two as you say. Hopefully the CLs will still have available space!

Congratulations on the move.

I'm interested in Agricultural Planning Restrictions. How strict are these? What types of 'agriculture' are acceptable?

I'm thinking of stables, solar energy farm, wild flowers etc.

What actually happens if you never quite get around to 'planting the crops' or buying the animals?

Well done TheEnks

Congratulations to you on completing your move. A new phase of life to look forward to now! 

Congratulations on the move.

I'm interested in Agricultural Planning Restrictions. How strict are these? What types of 'agriculture' are acceptable?

I'm thinking of stables, solar energy farm, wild flowers etc.

What actually happens if you never quite get around to 'planting the crops' or buying the animals?

When we bought the piece of land nearly 30 years ago we put up a shed to house 4000 free range hens and then applied for planning permission for a house, which was turned down because we were outside the village planning guidelines.  We then applied to get a house under the Agricultural Occupancy Restriction, which we got after two years of living in a caravan on the site to prove the need,  This limited the OCCUPANCY of the dwelling to someone who is or has recently retired from Agriculture, horticulture or forestry.  Horses do not meet the restriction as they are classed as domestic animals (not entering the food chain) Solar farms would not be included.  In theory (and I have seen it happen) if you then fail to meet the restriction the local council can make you demolish the house at your own expense.......  We gave up with the hens 4 years ago after it became unprofitable - we sold our eggs to Sainsburys under their Freedom Foods Woodland Eggs label - eggs leaving us at 95p a dozen for the largest size and ending up in Saindbury at £4.50+ a dozen.  Once the busines had gone, we were OK as in theory we were then "retired" from farming.  However, AOC places are difficult if not impossible to get mortgages for, even with a profitable business and it knocks the value of the house by anything up to 30%.  We put the farm up for sale with a view to getting the restriction lifted, something involving land agents and the local authority which makes herding cats look easy.  A potential purchaser does not have to prove to us that they can meet the restriction, it is up to them and their Solicitors to explain it all to them fully.  Luckily our purchasers are going to be farming sheep in a very small way and were basically cash, having sold one barn conversion.  We spent two months waiting for them to sell their other barn conversion and then the six week thing kicked in.  Luckily we had a small chain of 5 buyers/purchasers with 4 properties.  Everyone was keen and all the Solicitors involved were excellent.  However, it is not something I wish to repeat in a very long time.

This is what I always imagine "red tape" is all about.  Its ok for some things, but, as in this case, they should abolish it altogether

Thanks for that Enks, very interesting.

I wonder what would happen if you bought a house that has been there for years and has an Agricultural Restriction in place but never got around to doing the agriculture?

I wonder what exactly the planners would do?

Good for you Enks! Glad things worked out for you, no doubt stressful, but I am sure you will be able to find a lovely CL to chill on for a couple of weeks. The ins and outs of your AOC were interesting as well.