GETTING A SMALL-HOLDING
IN DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY

Smallholding (Continued) Getting round Planning Regulations:

(i) Wait for the Scottish Nationalists to gain control of the Council. (Or of Scotland). It is possible they. may. They are sympathetic to smallholders.

(ii) There are exceptions to the planning ban for agriculture, forestry and pursuits bound up with the countryside. Here it is essential to get the appropriate public body on one's side.

Forestry: Forestry Commission (a long shot)
Agriculture: Senior Lands Office, Ministry of Agriculture
Crafts: Small Industries Board (I think) Nature Reserve: Nature Conservancy


All appeals for planning permission are referred to the Senior Lands Office, who however don't like being importuned by the public for planning permission. One should approach them apparently for invaluable agricultural advice and bring up the planning permission aspect discreetly, it seems. The same applies to the other authorities. One might hope to buy land, claim it as a farm, and seek planning permission for the farmhouse. One planning official reckoned the minimum parcel of land to do this as 5 acres, another as 25. So talk to Lands Office before making an offering.

Building Regulations - Galloway ones are fairly lenient, and it is always worth seeking a relaxation. Minimum ceiling heights (2.3 meters) are the most troublesome, you'd have to raise the existing roof. But we were offered a relaxation so as to preserve the characteristic proportions of the Scottish Farm Cottage - which are indeed worth preserving. In fact, people get away with build-ing some real nasties.

Making an Offer - in Scotland an offer made in writing and accepted in writing is binding. This system is simpler and better than the English system; it is quicker and gazumping is impossible. One may make an offer with conditions; e.g. it may be conditional on obtaining necessary finance from such-and-such a source. Obvious-ly it's better without conditions, though it might be an idea to make it conditional on the Title Deeds being satisfactory to you, (we didn't). It could also be conditional on a satisfactory report from your surveyor. Don't be shy about making an offer well below the asking price. We offered £2,000 less, thinking we were being a bit cheeky, and later found that there had been at least two other, lower offers.

The Forestry Commission does not pull fast ones, and we consulted a solicitor before offering but made the offer ourselves. This has advantages: (i) Save £30 Missive Fee
(ii) Astonish Solicitor
(iii) Give impression of honesty to seller
(iv) Include personal details, e.g. will live there all the year round, will cultivate soil, are worthy citizens of the countryside. We strongly suspect that the Forestry has been influenced in this way.

And After - at this point we did hire a solicitor, after some desultory phoning around to compare costs of conveyancing. In fact there is a Law Society Stipulated Fee which they quote, with a land registry fee on top. For a £10,000 house it is about £160 all together. Scottish Conveyancing Law is different from English so I didn't fancy do-it-yourself, but I think I should have.

Instead of accepting our offer, the Forestry sent an informal letter to say that our offer had been successful, followed by a counter-offer, offering to sell at the price we had offered to buy at, and specifying in full all the conditions, burdens (e.g. rights of way, fishing rights), and wayleaves (other peoples' water-pipes, the GPO's telephone cable, etc.). Feu duties have been abolished. Moving-in date, and paying-up date, was to be on completion of the missives, i.e. when we wrote accepting this offer. We could even have refused it, withdrawn our original offer and pulled out, loosing only solicitor's fees. We are delaying acceptance until we have seen the Title Deeds (Forestry taking a long time to produce them) and until we have all the money to avoid paying interest.

I do not know if this 'counter-offer' is standard.

Afterthoughts - I think a car is really essential for this business. A base within or near the area to feel secure and encouraged is very valuable. Quite a good book is 'What to Watch Out for When Buying or Selling a House' by Michael Llewelyn, Paperfronts (Eliot Right Books) 1975. Worth ordering from the library.