We have been reflecting recently on the experience we have built up over the last ten years or so of buying and selling woodland across England and Wales. Each site is different but we have set out below some of the common themes and issues we have encountered and which buyers need to be alive to when purchasing a plot of woodland. In no particular order:

1. Access to the site.

This is obviously key in ensuring that you can access the lot you have bought, as woodland is frequently not adjacent to a public highway. Therefore establishing that there is a valid right of way benefitting the site is absolutely crucial. If there is no written right of way then you have to be careful to establish what access has been undertaken in practice and look to obtain a suitable indemnity policy to support the position on the ground. In looking at a right of way you also need to make sure that it is adequate for your purposes in terms of the nature of access, any limitations on the volume and timing of access and what are the maintenance obligations or responsibilities in relation to that access to keep it useable.

2. Make sure the trees are included.

This might be a bit surprising, but we do come across areas being sold as woodland where the title indicates that the trees and/or the timber are excluded from the seller’s title. Often this arises from a fairly old conveyance where the intention was to keep back to the then seller the trees that were growing at that time. Whilst that might have been the intention sometimes the wording used does not make that absolutely clear and it can be unclear whether trees growing now are within the title.

3. Rights of others to come onto the land.

It is not uncommon for rights to the mines and minerals to be owned by a third party. In practice this may well not be an issue, although there is a risk that if a planning permission for mining exists or is obtained that those persons might exercise those mineral rights and interfere with your use and enjoyment of the woodland. Another issue that in practice can be more of a concern is third parties having sporting rights over the land. This could involve the right to use the land for hunting, shooting and/or fishing. If these rights exist, then it is important to establish the extent of those rights, what protections are given to the landowner in terms of making good any damage, the frequency with which they can be exercised and to establish from the seller what their experience is of such sporting rights being exercised.

4. Felling licences and grant schemes

A felling licence (either a licence to thin the trees or with restocking conditions) may be required for any felling in the woodland that has either taken place or which you may wish to undertake once the woodland has been bought. Enquiries before contract should reveal whether there is a licence in place, as well as the existence of any woodland management plans or grant schemes. It may be that you, as the buyer, will be required to take over a grant scheme for the wood and its conditions for the woodland and you will want to ensure there has been no previous breach of any grant scheme.

Woodland conveyancing should not involve the stress or time pressures that many people associate with the residential conveyancing process of moving house, but it is not without its complexities and pitfalls. Title to woodland can often be as complex if not more complex than the title to a house and needs to be carefully investigated so that a piece of land you are buying either for investment or enjoyment does not become a source of concern and worry.