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 Manorial land in Mid-Wales
Saffery Champness is alerting landowners who own manorial rights that, from the 12th October 2013, these will cease to be an ‘overriding interest’, binding the owners of the surface title to the rights. Andrew Arnott, a partner of Saffery Champness Landed Estates & Rural Business Group, says: “Those estates holding a Lordship of the Manor are now required to register their title at the Land Registry in order to secure their interests which might include sporting rights and, importantly, mineral rights”.
Manors and manorial rights have often been overlooked or undervalued by landowners, say Saffery Champness. This is mainly because the value of the land has generally been low and a valuation hard to determine. However, there has been increasing interest in manorial land, much of which is in the uplands of England and Wales, due to wind farming development. Similarly, there can be significant sporting value as well as future potential, albeit remote, for mining trace metals. Andrew Arnott says:“Registration of title to manorial land certainly makes sense now that there is a deadline after which the rights will cease to exist. These rights may not be of much interest today, but they could well have considerable value in the future. “October 2013 may seem some time off, for those owning these rights, but registration can entail a considerable amount of legal work to gather all the documentation necessary to register manorial rights. Of course, the cost of the exercise must be weighed against the potential benefits before proceeding. It is therefore important to seek advice and act now if you think you may wish to register rights. “Landowners may be pleasantly surprised by the value of manors and manorial rights and this needs to be factored into the tax and succession planning of the overall estate”, Andrew Arnott concludes. |
Legal update 
