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What Can I Build On Agricultural Land Without Planning Permission?

It is your responsibility to apply for planning permission when you need it. This makes it important to know when you need to seek permission – and when you don’t. There are often specific rules. For example, in answer to the question, “What can I build on agricultural land without permission?”

Before we get into specifics though, it’s best to have some understanding of what planning permission and “permitted developments” – the kinds of building work you can carry out without seeking permission – are and how they work:

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What is planning permission?

Planning permission is the process of notifying your Local Planning Authority (usually the planning department of your local council) that you plan to build, change, and sometimes demolish a structure on land you own.

Planning permission applications can be granted or rejected. Plans accepted by some local councils might not be accepted by others. Sometimes, permission might be granted but with conditions attached.

However, there are some types of building work that you should be able to carry out without applying for planning permission. These are referred to as “permitted developments”.

What is permitted development?

Permitted developments are several classes of building work that you can perform without the need to seek planning permission. They take the form of several blanket permissions provided by central government rather than local councils.

Yet even these general permissions are not universal. You will sometimes come up against:

Restrictions by area – some “designated areas” of the UK have restricted development rights to protect the local environment or existing character. Examples would be National Parks and World Heritage Sites.
Article 4 directions – are exceptions that local councils can apply for if they feel a certain type of development would be detrimental to the local area. Usually, the local region would have to be a conservation area to have a direction like this.

All of the above means the best approach is to talk to your local council before you apply for planning permission – and certainly before you start any construction or demolition work.

You might also want to consider speaking to specialist planning permission solicitors to get legal advice before you start to deal with your local council.

What can I build on agricultural land without planning permission?

Permitted Development Rights allow you to erect or alter certain buildings on agricultural land without planning permission in certain circumstances. These are generally said to be when:

Your farm is 5 hectares in size or larger
You are intending to build, develop, extend, or convert only certain types of buildings
You are intending to build or change forestry buildings, agricultural buildings (below a certain size), a caravan site and some related buildings, or you’re planning a temporary use of land

What structures can I build on agricultural land without permission?

Can I put a log cabin on agricultural land?

This may depend on whether you intend this cabin to be used for residential purposes for any length of time. For instance, if you want to use your log cabin to house farm workers, you will almost certainly need planning permission.

Can I put a static caravan on agricultural land?

The length of time you plan to keep a static caravan in place will probably be the deciding factor.

A permanent static caravan will most likely require planning permission. A temporary one that will not change the use of the land is likely to be allowed but may also require permission.

Can I put a touring caravan on agricultural land?

Permission for touring caravans on agricultural land is also usually tied to how long you intend to keep the caravan on the site. Long-term or permanent installation will likely need planning permission.

Can you have a smallholding on agricultural land?

A smallholding is an area of land somewhere between a garden and a farm in size (50 acres or less) that is used to grow crops or raise animals.

Because agricultural land is already designated for the purpose, you will not need planning permission to create a smallholding.

The only exception would be if you want to build any permanent structures as part of it. Those will probably require planning permission.

Can you put a shipping container on agricultural land?

A shipping container is generally allowed on agricultural land. Again though, if you intend it to be a permanent installation, it’s worth checking with a planning permission solicitor or your local council whether you need permission.

Can you put a shepherd’s hut on agricultural land?

Planning permission will probably be required for a shepherd’s hut on agricultural land. This is because it is a permanent structure and is likely to be used for essentially commercial purposes.

Is change of use permitted?

In 2015 and 2017, new rules came into place that revised existing and devised new Permitted Development Regulations for agricultural land. These may allow you to change the use of existing structures for specific purposes.

As always, the best approach is to discuss your intentions with a specialist planning permission solicitor or your local council if you want to know what you can build on agricultural land without planning permission.

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Can An Executor Withhold Money From A Beneficiary In The UK?

It is illegal for an executor to withhold money from a beneficiary in the UK. But that isn’t to say that beneficiaries receive what they are entitled to from a will via an executor instantly.

In fact, being an executor is a fairly complex role. It can take time to get permission, gather the assets, pay any debts, and finally distribute the deceased’s estate to the beneficiaries.

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Here is everything you need to know about how long an executor can hold or withhold funds from beneficiaries named in a will:

Can An Executor Withhold Money From A Beneficiary In The UK?

No. However, an executor’s job is to retain the assets of the estate for a short period of time. They may need them in order to pay off debts such as private healthcare fees or rent, for example.

That said, an executor is not permitted to hold onto assets for any selfish reason.

The only circumstance where an executor might conceivably hold onto the assets is when the debts or fees the estate owes (including any to the executor themselves) total more than the value of the estate.

How Long Can An Executor Hold Funds In The UK?

Strictly speaking, there is a limit on how long an executor can hold assets from an estate in the UK before distributing them:

365 days – is technically the time limit, though it’s not usually strictly followed.
8-12 months – is the average length of time it takes an executor to settle an estate.
More than a year – that said, complex estates often take longer than a year to settle even with the executors and all other parties proceeding actively and diligently.

What Does An Executor Do?

If you are concerned that an executor of a will you are a named beneficiary of is withholding money from you, do be aware that it could just be the demands of an executor’s role that are taking the time.

An executor’s job is relatively complicated. That’s why you should only agree to be the executor of someone’s will after careful consideration. An executor needs to:

1) Value The Estate

The first thing an executor needs to do is value the estate. This might include:

Having property valued
Locating all shares and investments the deceased owned
Finding all bank accounts, pension funds and the like
Gathering (and potentially valuing) any valuable personal possessions
Discovering any outstanding debts

2) Pay Inheritance Tax

Once the value of the estate is known, the executor can calculate how much inheritance tax is due. This has to be paid (often from the estate) and submitted within 6 months of the death date.

3) Getting A Grant Of Probate

Only after inheritance tax has been paid can the executor acquire the legal right to actually do anything else with the deceased’s estate.

This right is called the Grant of Probate and must be applied for. This alone can take 3-6 months to acquire. Sometimes, it can take longer.

4) Locate And Bring Together Assets

The executor should hopefully already have located the deceased’s key assets so they can be valued as part of the estate. Now is usually the time when those assets are dealt with in accordance with the will.

This might mean bank accounts are closed. Or perhaps a property or shares are sold so the funds from their sale can be distributed.

This process can be all the more challenging if the deceased didn’t leave detailed records about what these assets are or how they can be accessed.

5) Settle Debts

Settling any debts that the estate owes may also cause a delay in an executor distributing money to a beneficiary even if they are not deliberately withholding.

This is because an executor needs to give a little bit of leeway to any creditors the deceased may have owed money to. If they distribute too soon and a creditor comes forward later, the executor will be left responsible for clearing the debt.

Needless to say, this is a poor reward for all the executor’s work so far.

6) Distribute Money To Beneficiaries

Again, delays can be caused by the need to locate all the named beneficiaries of the will before starting to distribute them.

This process can be easy or it can be more complicated. For example, imagine a relative named in the will has become estranged and emigrated to a different country.

What Do You Do If An Executor Is Refusing To Pay A Beneficiary?

The first thing to do if you believe an executor is refusing to pay a beneficiary is to contact them directly. Ask the executor what the delay is. It may be any of the reasons above – and many more besides!

Only if you are confident this isn’t the reason there is a delay in receiving any money or other assets you might be due from a will should you consider legal action.

The process for getting an executor to provide details of what they are doing is fairly simple. All you need is to get a court order. Finally, you can have an executor removed if there is evidence they are indeed actively withholding money from a beneficiary.

Want To Take The First Step To Enquire About Or Remove The Executor Of A will?

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To be connected to a specialist wills solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

How Much Does It Cost To Alter A Will?

It’s good practice to regularly update your will. Perhaps you recently got married or had children, two things which can significantly alter your life and future planning. Changing your will to reflect this is smart, but it isn’t free. So, how much does it cost to alter a will in the UK?

Let’s take a look at why and how you can change a will as well as how much it will cost you to do so:

Can You Alter An Existing Will?

Yes. There are two ways you can make changes to an existing will:

Write a new will – and then have the old one destroyed in order to revoke it. This is the ‘belt and braces’ approach, and is arguably more secure than option two as all of your wishes are contained in one document.
Write a codicil to your existing will – a codicil is a new document including the small amendment to your will and is used in order to change some minor details.

To be connected to a specialist Will writing solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

When Should I Change My Will?

Many people write a will and then forget about it until it’s too late. It’s a sad fact that most people don’t update their will to reflect important changes in their life, later leaving their closest and most beloved friends and family members out of their final wishes.

It’s a good idea to consider how much to alter a will you’ve already written when an event like one of the following takes place:

You get married or divorced
You have a new child or grandchild
A beneficiary or executor named in your will either dies or you decide to change them
You move home
Someone named in your Will, or your partner, passes away
There is a material change to your financial position, making it sensible to update your Will.

How do I alter my will?

Altering a will doesn’t always involve making changes to the original document. You can add a codicil amendment (which is another signed and witnessed document) or you can choose to completely replace the will with a new one.

1) Write A Codicil

Codicils are usually quite short official documents that detail changes ranging from single words or names to entire sections of your will. Like the will itself, a codicil needs to be witnessed and signed.

A codicil lets you make small changes to an existing will. These are the kinds of things that can have a big effect but don’t require the whole will to be rewritten. Some examples might include:

Altering how much a beneficiary receives
Selecting a new executor or trustee
Changing what you want to happen to your body after you have passed away

It is worth knowing that the whole reason that codicils were invented in the first place was to create a method by which a will could be altered without needing to rewrite the entire document (in an age where a pen and ink and several hours would probably be required to do this).

In the digital age, rewriting a will is a much shorter process. This means a codicil might be a good solution for a single change. If you want to make multiple small changes to a will though, it’s often easier to simply rewrite the Will even though this will be more expensive.

This is because having a pile of codicils to your will can make it difficult to interpret and can even risk different interpretations of your wishes being drawn or the codicils becoming detached from the Will and/or lost.

2) Rewrite Your Will

Writing a new will is often simpler and likely the best approach for all but the most limited single changes you want to make. Rewriting a will is much like writing your old one, but you also need to:

Revoke – any older wills or codicils explicitly in the text of your new one.
Destroy – your old will and any existing copies. You do not want multiple wills that conflict.
Assess – whether you have multiple wills covering assets in different jurisdictions and whether your new will conflicts with other wills in different regions.

How Much Does It Cost To Alter A Will In The UK?

The amount it costs to alter a will in the UK is usually quite modest, but depends on the method you use to update it:

A will solicitor – will almost always be the safest way to alter a will. It will usually cost between £50 and £100 to use a codicil to update your will using a solicitor whereas completely rewriting a Will will cost a few hundred pounds. Whilst some people baulk at the charges, remember you are paying someone for their expertise for advice to ensure that your wishes are adhered to on your passing, so the peace of mind this brings is invaluable.
Will writing service – there are many will writing services that offer paid subscriptions with the ability to make changes to your will.
Personally – you can write a codicil or new will yourself. But if there is any complexity, it is likely to be found invalid unless you have experience in relevant matters of law. For such an important document, it is well worth having it professionally drafted.

If you are in any doubt about altering your will, it’s always a good idea to discuss the costs and best way of doing so with an experienced will solicitor. Most will talk your situation over with you without charge and explain your options and your charges. You can then make an informed decision about what you would like to do.

Want To Find Just The Right Kind Of Legal Specialist To Chat About Making Changes To Your Will?

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To be connected to a specialist wills solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

How Much Does Probate Cost In Ireland?

Probate law in Ireland has a few common misconceptions and assumptions surrounding it. But one of the most important questions is how much does probate cost in Ireland?

Let’s take a look at what probate is defined as in Ireland, whether you need it, and the costs involved:

To be connected to a specialist probate solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

What is probate?

Probate is a legal process that gives someone the right to handle the estate of a person who has passed away. It is important to note though that probate is not always required after a person has died.

The probate process in Ireland requires someone to make an application to the District Probate Registry or the national Probate Office. If successful, the Office will send a legal document called a Grant of Representation.

This document is only issued if the Probate Office is content that the will is valid. If there is no will, you need to apply for a different kind of Grant of Representation (called a Grant of Administration). Once you have the document, you have the right to distribute the assets of the person who has died.

Do I need probate?

Probate is not always needed following a death in Ireland. You will need probate if the deceased person owned significant amounts in terms of:

Property – if the person who has died owned property in their sole name or as tenants in common.
Assets – if the person who has died owned notable assets in their sole name or in common.
Joint accounts – in some cases, even if the co-owner is alive, probate might be needed to distribute funds from a joint bank account.

As you can see, this list does not include any reference to whether or not the person who has passed away left a will.

There are circumstances where you will need to go through the probate process for a person who has left a will. Equally, you might not need to go through the probate process for someone who did not leave will.

What a will does is ensure that only the people whom the deceased person trusted most (those they named as executors of their will) can apply for probate and get that Grant of Representation.

How much does an estate have to be worth to go to probate in Ireland?

You won’t need probate in Ireland if the deceased person had what is commonly called a “small estate”. Unfortunately, there isn’t a set limit for what constitutes a small estate.

Individual banks and financial institutions set their own rules for this. And, because they control when or if they require a Grant of Representation before releasing a deceased person’s funds to someone else, the bank the deceased person used largely decides whether their estate is “small” or not.

However, a common rule of thumb for what constitutes a “small estate” is €25,000. Anything less than that is commonly not subject to probate. It is worth checking with the bank in question though as some set different thresholds.

How much does probate cost in Ireland?

Probate fees are levied at the following rates based on the net value of the estate in question. Be aware though that these are rates for personal applications. Probate fees are significantly cheaper in Ireland if a probate solicitor makes them on your behalf.

Estate valued at less than €100 000 – €200
Estate valued at less than €250 000 – €400
Estate valued at less than €500 000 – €700
Estate valued at less than €750 000 – €1000
Estate valued at less than €1 000 000 – €1300

If the estate is valued at more than €1 000 000, the fee goes up by €800 for every further €500 000 in value.

Do I need a solicitor to handle probate in Ireland?

Again, it’s worth noting that those fees listed above are personal application fees. Using a probate solicitor to handle probate in Ireland reduces those fees by half.

This means that using a solicitor is a smart move in some probate cases, depending on the complexity of the case and the size of the estate (that is to say, whether the money saved on fees will be greater than any fees the solicitor might charge).

There are also situations where Irish law requires that you use a solicitor for probate. For example, if there are disputes amongst the next of kin or if the person who should apply for probate is of unsound mind.

Apart from that, a probate solicitor adds value in that they can provide professional legal advice where you need it. This can start from the beginning, advising you on how much probate costs in Ireland – often before you need to pay any fees whatsoever.

Want to talk with an expert in Irish probate law?

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To be connected to a specialist probate solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

How Much Can You Get For Unfair Dismissal?

Unfair dismissal settlements and compensation can be awarded by an employment tribunal when you have been fired from a job for no good reason. But how much can you get for unfair dismissal?

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If you successfully show that you have been sacked from a job unfairly, there are a number of laws and limits governing the amount you can get in compensation. Here’s how it works:

What Is Unfair Dismissal?

Unfair dismissal is a term for when a person has been fired or sacked from a job without a valid reason. It is also sometimes used to describe a situation where an employer hasn’t followed their own disciplinary processes.

In the UK, there are laws in place to protect you from being dismissed from a position unfairly. You can claim compensation for this, as long as:

You have worked for your employer continuously for more than two years.
You have not been given a potentially fair reason for your employment being terminated.
Or you have been dismissed for a range of “automatically unfair” reasons, of which there are 60+ (including things like being pregnant or a whistleblower on illegal activity).
It is less than three months (minus one day) from the date of your dismissal.
You are not self-employed, an agency worker, a registered dock worker, a police officer or member of the armed forces, or working overseas or for a foreign government.

What Is The Average Payout For Unfair Dismissal?

The payout for unfair dismissal comes in two parts:

1) The Basic Award

This half of the payout for unfair dismissal is sort of like statutory redundancy pay. It is calculated relative to your age and time served:

Under 22 years old – half a week’s pay for each year served.
22 to 40 years old – one week’s pay for each year served.
Over 40 years old – one and half weeks’ pay for each year served.

Your “week’s pay” is calculated gross (before your tax and National Insurance are taken out of it) but is capped at £571 per week. The basic award is also capped at a total of £17 130.

Of course, at one week of pay or so per year, you would have to have been working for your employer for quite a long time before the basic award becomes a noteworthy amount.

2) The Compensatory Award

If the tribunal ruling on your case believes you have sustained losses (that is to say, you’ve lost out financially – perhaps they judge it will be hard for you to find a new job on the same pay) because of your unfair dismissal, they can award you up to one year’s salary or £93 878 (whichever is lower).

It is worth knowing that you have what is called “a duty to mitigate your loss”. This means, essentially, trying to get a new job. However, if you succeed in getting a new job with only a small delay, it also limits your ability to seek a compensatory award.

What Is The Maximum Unfair Dismissal Award?

The maximum amount you can get for unfair dismissal is:

The basic award – calculated as above, equivalent to a minimum of one week’s pay (if you are under 22) or three weeks’ pay (if you are over 40) multiplied by the number of years you have worked for your employer.
The compensatory award – a maximum of 52 weeks’ pay linked to the level of past and future losses the tribunal judges that you have sustained. This is sometimes called the “statutory cap”.

How Is Unfair Dismissal Compensation Calculated?

The amount you can get for unfair dismissal is calculated using the formula above for the basic award, while the compensatory award is largely at the discretion of the tribunal that decides your case.

The kind of factors that the tribunal will take into account when deciding on your claim and any compensation you might receive on top of the basic award include things like:

If you have found a new job and how much it pays
Whether your new job is temporary
How long it might take you to find an equivalently-paid job if you haven’t found one already
Any benefits your former employer gave you, such as subsidised healthcare
Extras based on whether your employer followed the ACAS Code of Practice when dismissing you or never gave you written T&Cs of your employment

Unfortunately, the tribunal will not award compensation based on factors like emotional harm or stress that the situation has caused you. Nor, under most circumstances, the cost of making the claim (unless they decide your employer was utterly egregious in their actions).

How Much Can You Get For Unfair Dismissal?

All in all, unless you have worked for your employer for a long time or the grounds for your dismissal were inarguably unfair (or automatically unfair), the procedure for claiming compensation can potentially be quite difficult.

The amount you can get for unfair dismissal may also not be as large as you might hope. It’s worth talking to an employment lawyer that specialises in the field first to get a sense of your chances.

Want To Talk Your Dismissal Over With A Specialist Employment Solicitor?

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Employment Solicitors Near Me

To be connected to a specialist employment solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.