The 18th November is upon us and it is now five years since Threave Rural was established. Our focus and ethos remains unchanged providing an individual approach to all areas of rural and estate agency, along with our rural consultancy work. We remain committed to providing the best information and advice to our clients with a ‘can do’ attitude and informing our clients what they need to know, rather than what they think they would wish to hear. We have retained the 24/7 contact with a ‘no answer machine’ policy and tried to be available to our clients whether buyers, sellers or indeed those seeking general advice.

Five years in and we continue to be humbled and blown away by all those who have supported us during the first five years with the business continually adapting and diversifying to meet the highly dynamic market, ensuring that we meet and the needs and demands of the sector.

This year we expected to be working towards Brexit, which indeed is upon us with things set to change on the 1st January 2021, but at this time last year there was no telling that the World would be in the midst of a global pandemic, which has changed working practices from mid-March up to date and, with the good news that there may be some light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine, we can only hope that 2021 will return to some type of normality.

We remain pro-active rather than re-active and continue to embrace change, firmly believing that where there is change, there are new and un-tapped opportunities. We continue to up date our retained clients with all and any changes, whether it be rural consultancy, or indeed, our agency business.

PROPERTY SALES

Our property sales have continued to grow and our market share along with it, we are never complacent and we are always looking for the next exciting instruction. This year has been somewhat different given that the housing market, as we knew it, stopped in March 2020 and when re-opened in June the pent-up demand for rural residential property, along with farms and land, was at a level not experienced before. It is fair to say that there were some ‘really’ moments when prices were received excessively over guide price, with one property receiving 60 viewings in only 10 days, going to an unofficial closing with 9 offers. Our largest week at the end of July saw us agree 8 sales in 5 days and, although transactions are taking longer to complete due to things being rather dis-jointed, there is little sign that demand is diminishing.

We have seen a wide range of instructions again from small residential right up through to large farms, and we are pleased to report that all types of properties are selling. A lot has changed and Threave Rural Ltd. were one of the first to put their new COVID viewing practices into place, which are still required at this time. We continue to offer physical viewings under our strict guidelines and purchasers are travelling, wherever possible, and wherever safely, to view a range of properties.

With restrictions and lockdowns being now more ‘local’ we continue to watch the guidance and adapt to enable our sellers to benefit from a range of purchasers from local buyers to buyers from a distance away who are now embracing the work from home strategy and finding that the standard of living that they are looking for cannot be achieved in more urban areas.

We continue to offer a bespoke and client focused service with a genuine 24 hour assistance, please keep an eye on our website, active Facebook and other web portals which we utilise and your input and critique of our service is always welcome to ensure a better experience for both buyers and sellers.

We look forward to 2021 and the property market with the same enthusiasm as we have done since the company’s inception and we endeavour to meet the continually changing property market which, not only is affected by the pandemic and Brexit but by other political and economic conditions.

AGRICULTURAL CONSULTANCY

IACS/SAF is and remains part of the core business and this year was somewhat different. During the IACS window the Scottish Government did not extend the 15th May deadline, as had been approved south of the border and IACS/SAF’s had to be completed on time during the lockdown. We were fortunate, with the assistance of our clients, who provided all their information when asked for, we adopted a closed office policy and completed all forms online. The process did work and all submissions were made on time, although all matters were a little disjointed given that the Rural Payments & Inspections Division offices were closed and they are set to remain closed until the start of 2021 at the earliest.

With Brexit upon us on 1st January 2021 there is still no word from the Scottish Government as to the method and focus of delivery of support to the agricultural sector and we hope that matters will become clearer over the incoming few months. We were interested to read in the press statements from the Scottish Ministers that all inspections and bureaucracy were being scaled back, but this does not appear to be the case as far as we are concerned and we are still seeing inspections etc. taking place. We would urge all clients to keep us fully abreast of all and any paperwork received by them to enable us to assist them and receive their due support.

Again this year we have seen a loan system put in place by the Scottish Government and this was paid early and a very welcome addition to the cash flow of many rural businesses but there is no word as to when the balancing payments will arrive.

It is our policy to form strong working relationships with other professional Solicitors, Accountants and other independent land agents to offer our client an all-round professional service and we continue to look for opportunities in this ever-changing environment. Threave Rural’s office is open, albeit only by appointment and under strict social distancing measures, but we are here throughout this time to assist you in whatever way we are able.

We thank all our customers old and new for the faith they have shown in Threave Rural Ltd. and we look forward to this post-pandemic and post-Brexit world with optimism.

A W Paterson FIA (Scot)
Dawn A Roberts (BSc)
Directors – Threave Rural Ltd.