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Landed Estates

The UK’s leading landed estates lawyers

Farrer & Co is proud to have the largest and most experienced landed estates team in the UK.  For generations, we have advised some of the country’s most significant landed estates, families, and rural businesses, earning recognition from legal directories as the leading law firm in the sector. With our unrivalled expertise and understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing rural landowners, we deliver practical, forward-thinking solutions that stand the test of time.

Tailored solutions for every estate

No two estates are the same. Whether you are managing an historic family estate, diversifying into new ventures, or planning for succession, our advice is bespoke to your unique situation.

Our approach is built on trust, discretion, and a genuine commitment to your long-term success. We take the time to understand your priorities – whether they are preserving heritage, maximising commercial opportunities, or balancing family interests. We build enduring relationships with our clients and work alongside you in a way that reflects your values.

360° expertise

With the largest dedicated landed estates team in the UK, we combine the core tax, trusts and property offering with expertise in charity, employment, family and corporate law, as well as specialists in areas such as events, brands, and crisis and reputation management – an integrated approach that meets all the legal needs of the modern landed estate.

Our services for landed estates

Wills and succession planning

For generations we have been applying our expertise to help clients prepare wills, structure succession and plan for the tax and regulatory issues which affect those decisions. We offer expert tax planning with an international network, as well as strategic and practical advice to help people provide certainty for their families, their businesses, their treasured heritage and other unique assets.

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Trusts and trustees

We advise individuals, families, corporates, and charities on all aspects of trust law, including their creation, administration, and variation, to achieve strategic wealth and succession planning goals. Our team delivers integrated advice on tax, structuring, and governance, as well as contentious issues, across leading jurisdictions, ensuring trusts remain effective and compliant in an increasingly complex legal and regulatory environment.

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Art and cultural property

We advise individuals and landed estates on all aspects of owning, managing, and passing on historic or heritage chattels, including art, antiques, and cultural collections. Our expertise covers acquisition and sale, succession planning, tax, provenance and title issues, and structuring ownership to protect these assets for future generations.

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Estate sales and purchases

Our team has unrivalled expertise of major estate sales and purchases. We regularly handle transactions of nationally significant and multi-faceted properties, delivering results efficiently with minimal fuss.

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Rural property management

We are the UK’s largest rural property team, providing expert advice on rural estate management to modern landowners. From complex agricultural tenancy arrangements, to natural capital agreements, and from sporting and mineral rights, to renewable energy and forestry, we offer practical solutions that balance respect for heritage with commercial sustainability.

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Dispute resolution

Our clients turn to us when they are faced with disputes critical to their interests, including property and estates, trusts, and issues concerning family and succession, often with an international aspect. We deal with complex, high-value and sensitive issues to deliver the best possible outcome.

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Family

We advise on all aspects of family law, including divorce, financial settlements, child arrangements, and complex international cases involving trusts, tax, and asset protection. Our team provides pragmatic guidance on nuptial agreements, cohabitation, surrogacy, and reputation management, ensuring clients’ interests are protected at every stage.

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Charities

We have been providing cutting edge charity law advice to charities and not-for-profit organisations for nearly as long as we have existed. We anticipate regulation, help charities contend with the repercussions of ongoing political change, manage reputations in the hostile media environment and provide clear direction in a crisis. Our advice is commercial and to the point, assisting senior leadership teams and trustees in decision-making.

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Reputation management

Our defamation and reputation management lawyers have vast experience in protecting the privacy and security of high-profile individuals and families. As well as media coverage, our experience ranges from family disputes to the removal of online content, to corporate crisis planning and threats posed to individuals and organisations by challenging personnel or obsessed/harassing individuals.  We know the urgency of reputation management and act quickly to take whatever legal steps are required to minimise risk and damage.

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Work highlights

  • £20 million+ estate purchase | Dorset – acting on the purchase (within one month from receiving heads of terms) and later sub-sale of a major mixed rural estate comprising 32 cottages, plus let farms and a main house. We also advised on complications created by the estate's private water supply.
  • 15 Will Trusts | UK and international – we act for the trustees of substantial family trusts (with assets over £500m, including a nationally significant art collection) on preserving and passing down wealth to the next generation, as well as providing specialist input on the family's philanthropic and ESG aims. 
  • Largest contiguous land purchase in 40 years | Northumberland – we acted in the purchase of c.9,500 acres of upland terrain, completing the transaction within two weeks of instruction.
  • Lithium quarry | Cornwall – acting for an estate on a major option and lease for the extraction of lithium from hard rock and liquid brines.
  • Family trust company | UK – where a life tenant was unhappy with unilateral IHT planning decisions, we coordinated and negotiated a successful mediation resulting in a settlement agreement and the replacement of trustees. We prepared bespoke constitutional documents to guarantee the family a voice at the trustee table. 
  • Pre-Budget planning | UK and international – with an eye to changes to IHT reliefs, we set up a new farm partnership to hold all the agricultural property within an estate. As the estate contains many conditionally exempt items, we also advised on the cultural gift scheme.
  • Large Habitat Bank for BNG | Hertfordshire – we helped an estate unlock six-figure biodiversity net gain receipts by negotiating BNG unit sale agreements with developers, together with the section 106 agreement with the Local Authority.

Contact our Landed Estates team

They are at the top end of the game. They are very well known and regarded nationally for their work in agriculture and landed estates.

Chambers & Partners 2023

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