Savills was instructed to advise on the value and dispose of a small moor and jointly owned sporting rights.
The small moor was owned by our client with the sporting rights let to his sibling who owned the neighbouring estate. The moor comprised freehold sporting rights over a common and freehold land that was occupied by a farming company without a tenancy agreement. In addition, our client jointly owned sporting rights on part of a neighbouring moor which was subject to a short-term licence agreement. Their requirement was to release capital from both assets for re-investment elsewhere.
Much research was required to identify the position on ownership in this situation, what interests were owned and the legal mechanism for disposing of jointly owned assets. The obvious purchaser of the moor and the jointly owned sporting rights was the owner's sibling, and discussions took place which resulted in the jointly owned sporting rights being sold to the sibling. In addition, items were confirmed and clarified on the small moor in relation to agricultural occupation as well as the acquisition of some sheep rights.
The tiers of ownership on the moor were complicated by it being part-registered common, part freehold and the freehold owner of the common being unknown, all of which had to be investigated and clarified in order to market the property accurately.
As a result of the sale, the sibling managed to secure the core of their sporting estate exclusively in return for a significant capital payment. The small moor was publicly marketed and received lots of interest being at an accessible price point in an exclusive market.
The moor ended up being sold to a private individual who was not known to be in this marketplace which demonstrated the benefits of public marketing in this case. The moor transacted at values in line with other recent transactions of freehold sporting rights along with some freehold owned land with sporting rights.