A Place in the Country….What to Consider When You Are Buying Rural Property

Many of us have dreamed of “escaping to the country” – moving out from towns and cities to a more rural location in search of a slower pace of life. The coronavirus pandemic has brought into sharp focus the potential health and wellbeing benefits of living somewhere where we can be surrounded by more space and open air. On top of this, working practices may be permanently changed, with many more people choosing to avoid the commute altogether and work from home, opening up the possibility of living further away from a traditional office base. Estate agents have reported a surge of interest in rural properties this summer as a result.

Many aspects of buying property are the same regardless of the location, but rural properties often come with specific issues that need to be addressed in the purchase process. So, if you are planning to purchase a rural property, what are some of the key matters that you need to consider?

Access

In town, roads will almost always be ‘adopted’, meaning that they are maintained by the local authority. Many rural properties are however accessed via private roads. Ownership of the road may be included in the title to the property you are buying, or you may simply be given access rights over it (known as servitude rights). If you are buying the road itself, you will need to consider the potential costs of maintaining it, as well as practical matters such as how it can be cleared in case of winter snows. If you have access rights only, you must ensure they are wide enough to cover any potential use you might want to put the property to – for example, if you intend to build anything new on the land, are the access rights wide enough to cover any redevelopment, or are they restricted to the current use only?

In either case, it should be checked whether any other properties also use the road and, if so, the exact nature of their access rights and whether they are responsible for sharing the maintenance costs.

Drainage

Rural properties may not be connected to the public sewer system and will often be served by private drainage such as a septic tank. This may be located within the land you are buying or on land owned by your neighbour, in which case it needs to be checked that your property benefits from all of the necessary rights to keep the septic tank and associated pipes in your neighbour’s land, to use them and to take access to empty and maintain the tank whenever necessary. Again, the drainage system may be shared with other neighbouring properties who should also share the maintenance costs.

Septic tanks need to be registered with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the seller will therefore need to exhibit copies of the registration paperwork.

Water Supply

Some rural properties are served by a private water supply, such as from a well or borehole. This may be located on the land you are buying, or the source may be on neighbouring land in which case you will once again need to check that the title deeds include all necessary rights to use the water supply system and to take access to your neighbour’s land to carry out testing and repairs if necessary.

The seller should be asked to provide a copy of the most recent test results from the private supply to make sure that the water is safe to use.

If the land you are buying is the source of a private water supply that also serves neighbouring properties, it will be your responsibility as the owner of the source to manage the supply and to ensure the water stays safe to use. You should therefore be clear about your obligations before completing your purchase.

A Second Home?

If you are buying the property as a second home, the purchase will be subject to Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) on top of the standard rate of Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) payable on the purchase. The current rate of ADS is 4% of the total price for all purchases taking place on or after 25 January 2019 (subject to a minimum property price of £40,000).

If you then sell your original home within 18 months of the second purchase, you can apply for a refund of the ADS paid. In recognition of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the Scottish Government has recently extended the reclaim period to 3 years for second properties bought between 24 September 2018 and 24 March 2020.

Get in Touch

These are just some of the most important issues to consider when making your own ‘escape to the country’. For further information and advice on these matters or any other aspect of purchasing rural property, please get in touch with our friendly team.