Do you have a sporting chance?

Last month saw the start of the grouse season, also known as the Glorious Twelfth. Shooting parties pay a high price to be amongst the few people allowed to step onto the managed moors and take aim.

Given that grouse shoots brought in almost £70million for the rural economy last year, according to the latest study by the Moorland Association, more and more landowners are leasing sporting rights for shooting, hunting and fishing. Alistair Millar, from Tallents Solicitors in Southwell, explores potential difficulties when negotiating terms for landlords and sporting tenants.

Says Alistair,

“It’s important that the landowner and the sporting tenants establish some ground rules at the early stages of the negotiations. For example, the landowner can specify what quarry can be shot and on what part of their land.

 However, if the terms of the agreement aren’t carefully worded, the landowner could find themselves interfering with the ability of the sporting tenant to exercise their rights, As such, the landowner could be liable for damages even thought they’re just continuing to use their land as they always have done. It’s best to involve a solicitor so that issues like this aren’t overlooked.”

Granting sporting rights can be very beneficial for a landowner as the individuals, or sporting syndicates, often invest money to improve their shooting experience, such as game plots, pheasant release pens or shelters.

Alistair continues,

“When investing significant capital, sporting tenants may assume that they have access to the land at any time. But they cannot interfere with the working requirements of the landowner, so access needs to clearly defined in the lease. If they are adding additional stock to the land, sporting tenants also need to consider the impact that an influx of hungry game birds might have on a landowner’s growing crops nearby or increasing fish numbers in an existing river .”

One issue that is often forgotten at the outset is the renewal of the lease.

Alistair comments,

“Most tenants will assume they have an automatic right to renew at the end of the term, especially if they’ve invested significant sums of money to improve the sporting experience. However, should the landowner decide to sell the land or dies, then the sporting tenant could find themselves with multiple landlords, each with whom they would have to negotiate a separate renewal. Any refusals to renew could leave significant gaps in the sporting area.

 “This is one of the main reasons why an experienced agricultural solicitor should be consulted at the early stages of negotiating sporting leases as they can consider how to structure the deal for the best and prevent disputes and difficulties further down the line.”

Leasing land to the Mobile Networks

In today’s financial climate, more and more farmers are tapping into their entrepreneurial spirits and finding ways to use farm assets to generate additional income. One such way has been to allow telecommunication companies to site masts on their land.

Since the mobile phone market has boomed, lease agreements for the land and the airspace rented to telecommunication companies have brought in valuable additional income for landowners. However, advances in technology means that mobile phone companies have been able to collaborate without having to site additional hardware.  Additionally, the tough economic climate has meant many operators are being forced to seek financial savings and this is one area being considered.

Alistair Millar, agricultural laywer at Tallents Solicitors in Southwell, examines some key areas, which landowners renting mobile phone sites should be aware of.

Says Alistair,

“It appears that mobile phone operators are currently reviewing mobile phone sites following a series of mergers and collaboration agreements, and as such we have seen a series of phone operators trying to exercise break clauses and terminate lease agreements early.”

He continues,

“This is a complicated are of law and the leases should have been carefully negotiated at the outset to ensure that the landowner receives fair compensation.”

Telecommunication leasing agreements will usually cover the following areas:

The amount of land and airspace that the company wishes to use. Airspace is particularly important as it could allow the company to add additional dishes and hardware to the mast in the future without any additional financial payment to the landowner.

Alistair says,

“The solicitor should ensure that any significant increases in the size of the mast, or mast-sharing, will ensure a renegotiation of the lease and raises the option of additional rental income increases for the landowner.”

Landowners should also ensure that the company does not have automatic renewal rights.

Alistair points out,

“However, landowners need to be aware that this clause can be overridden by Schedule 2 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 which allows the company to demand a new lease for the mast.”

When negotiating telecommunication leases, landowners also need to consider access rights to the mast.

Alistair continues,

“Access to the mast will be vital for maintenance and upgrading of equipment but it is possible to ensure that the exercise of these rights does not cause undue disturbance to the landowner.”

When negotiating leases, your solicitor should also consider tenant break options, enhanced equipment rights and prevent the site being shared across several telecommunication companies without financial recompence.

Alistair finishes,

“This is a rapidly changing environment and we always recommend landowners should consult an experience lawyer before negotiations begin to ensure they receive the best terms possible.

 

If your mobile phone site is due for renewal or you have received a rent review notice, then contact our experienced lawyers at Tallents for immediate advice before you agree to anything. ”

Tallents has been advising the farmers and landowners of Nottinghamshire for more than 237 years and has a wealth of experience in dealing with agricultural law.

Laxton hits the Big Time

Laxton has been in the news of late, and its that time of year when I have to start thinking about it, in my role as Steward of the Court Leet.  I will very shortly be sending out the Jury Notices  so that the jury for 2011 can be sworn in on Court day (the first Thursday in December).  Before that is Jury Day on the previous Thursday, where the Jury that I swore in at the 2009 court took to the fields to assess who had farmed the strip system and who had fallen foul of the rules.

 

Click on the photo to see the full Country Life article.

 

In September, there was a great 6 page article in the prestigious organ that is Country Life magazine.  It did include a photo of the Bible that I use and that has been used to swear in the Jury at Laxton for over 220 years.  It was photographed with my Presentment paper from last year complete with mistake (I’d got the date wrong on it!).  Click on the photo from Country Life to view the whole article.

Over the last few weeks, BBC4 has been showing Michael Wood’s Story of England, looking at the history of England through the Leicestershire villages of Kibworth Harcourt, Kibworth Beauchamp & Smeeton Westerby.  When they reached the section on the Agricultural Revolution, they used footage of the Laxton farmers as it is the only Manorial Court that this country now has that retains proper jurisdiction.

They did film the whole court proceedings and had poor Robert Haigh, the Bailiff, repeating his call to the Court again and again afterwards until they were happy with it.  In the event, though, Maya Productions only utilised the footage that they had shot on Jury Day, which I missed last year (I’m only actually required to run the Court on Court Day).  And, as a complete aside, my wife’s Godmother actually lives in Smeeton Westerby, one of the three villages that the series centres upon.

Anyway, below is the footage from Laxton that was used by Maya Productions, and I acknowledge their copyright.  If you want to know more about the Laxton’s Court Leet, please click here.

courtesy of BBC/Maya Productions

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