Andrew advises clients in relation to all aspects of rural property and has acted in the sale and purchase of many large farms and estates, sporting estates and agricultural and residential rural property portfolios.

His particular area of expertise lies in acting for landowners in the grant of options and leases to renewable energy operators. Andrew has acted for landowners in relation to Solar PV and wind farm development agreements, on anaerobic digestion projects and on options and leases of battery storage facilities.

Andrew advises on the grant of and on issues arising from agricultural tenancies, commercial leases, covenants and easements. Andrew routinely acts for landowning clients on complex conditional sale contracts, overage agreements, option agreements and promotion agreements on the sale of rural landholdings for residential or commercial development.

Andrew also specialises in advising mineral owners in the negotiation of prospecting agreements, option agreements, transfers and leases of minerals and now plays a key role in advising severed mineral owners looking to exploit their mineral interests in innovative ways where surface development is planned.

Experience

Examples of experience include advising:

  • A large landowner in relation to an option in favour of a developer for the construction of a national strategic rail freight interchange, with a total development value in excess of £30m
  • Over sixty landowners and landed estates on the grant of options to wind farm developers in relation to sites throughout England
  • A large charitable estate on a conditional contract for the sale of a site to be used for construction of an international data handling and storage facility
  • Negotiating leases and easements for a mineral owning estate client where existing and proposed developments resulted in trespass into the mineral strata
  • A listed plc in relation to the acquisition and subsequent disposal of a rural property portfolio comprising a mixture of let residential properties and farms.