Farm succession

LegacyUser

Hi all

I am hoping to take over the family farm in the next few months. It's a very small farm of less around 30 acres or so, so will be farming it parttime as my father did before me. I have talked it over with my parents and it is in both our interests to get this done. My parents are getting older and of pension age and although they are in good health now, should anything happen for their health to deteriorate, they want no farm assests to their name so that they would be eligible for 'fairdeal' should they need it.

They are obviously going to stay living in their own house, which is beside the farmyard. I have my own house off farm, but in the same locality. They want to leave the transfer of their house until they pass on. They have also been open enough to say that it may not be me that get's it (the house), which is fair enough. I have 3 other siblings, none with an interest in the land, and all are happy to see me take on the farm side of things.

As you can probably sense we are a close family with a good open relationship. Family is important to me, so I see no sense anyways in falling out over a relatively small parcel of land. It's not going to make, and hopefully won't break me!! I want to ensure that this transfer is done as cheaply and as painlessly as possible for everyone concerned, with all parties happy at the end of it.

There are a few things that need to be sorted out before the transfer and I was wondering how other people on here dealt with these:

Electricity: At the moment, obviously the electricity for the sheds runs out from the fuse board of their house. Getting a separate connection would probably be a good idea? How do I go about this and what kind of a bill am I looking at?

Water: At the moment the slatted shed and field troughs are fed off my parents private well which they also use for their own house. Is their a partnership arrangement we could enter into? Is sinking my own well feasible or necessary?

Septic tank: The septic tank for my parent house goes out some distance from the existing boundary fence into the field which I will have. It would be 0ver 30 years old and the percolation area was non existant. I was thinking it would be a good idea to extend their house site boundary by 20' or so and place a new precast septic tank and percolation area inside it as it wouldn't fit inside the house site boundary as it is.

Turf shed: My parents use a part of a hayshed in the farmyard to store their turf. Should I build them a new shed on the house site or just let them continue as is?


As you can see there is a few things going around in my head. I want to do things right. I know might be grand with my parents, but should one of my siblings and their partner get the house, I want to pre-empt and avoid any future possible disagreements.

All helpful suggestions greatfully appreciated

Thanks

Tokyo

farmassured wrote: »

Electricity: At the moment, obviously the electricity for the sheds runs out from the fuse board of their house. Getting a separate connection would probably be a good idea? How do I go about this and what kind of a bill am I looking at?

Separate connection would make sense, if you want to keep the billing for the farm separate from the house, both now for your parents, and in the future when the house goes to one of your siblings who won't have a vested interest in the farm. The price can vary, easiest way to find out is to give the ESB a call.

Water: At the moment the slatted shed and field troughs are fed off my parents private well which they also use for their own house. Is their a partnership arrangement we could enter into? Is sinking my own well feasible or necessary?

Is the well sunk on the farm property or on the house property, i.e. who will have control over it should the house be sold on in the future. If the well is on farm property, then it makes sense to make some arrangement in terms of sharing the connection. Alternatively, you could drop your own pump down the well alongside theirs, and take responsibility for the electricity charges to run it, maintenance, and so on.

If the well is on the house property, then you can still share the connection, but night want to weigh up your options for the future should the house be sold on - connection to the main or sinking a well of your own are the two options.

Septic tank: The septic tank for my parent house goes out some distance from the existing boundary fence into the field which I will have. It would be 0ver 30 years old and the percolation area was non existant. I was thinking it would be a good idea to extend their house site boundary by 20' or so and place a new precast septic tank and percolation area inside it as it wouldn't fit inside the house site boundary as it is.

Can't help you there - I'm guessing that's something you might need someone to come out and look at. A lot is going to depend on the site itself, planning regs, and so on.

Turf shed: My parents use a part of a hayshed in the farmyard to store their turf. Should I build them a new shed on the house site or just let them continue as is?

Up to you really. If you don't need the space in the hayshed, then why not continue to let them use it. I realise that you are taking over the farm, but seeing as you are a close family, there doesn't seem to be a need for such a clean breakaway, if that makes sense.



One final thing you might want to be wary of though is talking all this through with them beforehand, and making them a part of it. I realise that you have all agreed to you taking over the farm, and that they are happy with this, however it's still somethign that's been part of their lives for a long time, and in your excitement, coming in and setting up a shiny new water connection, electricity connection, booting them out of the turf shed (if you decide to build them a shed of their own), they might read that as you taking over and pushing them out while they are still alive, healthy and kicking. A five minute chat keeping them in the loop goes a long way towards preventing hurt feelings.

Markcheese

mike_ie wrote: »

Separate connection would make sense, if you want to keep the billing for the farm separate from the house, both now for your parents, and in the future when the house goes to one of your siblings who won't have a vested interest in the farm. The price can vary, easiest way to find out is to give the ESB a call.

Is the well sunk on the farm property or on the house property, i.e. who will have control over it should the house be sold on in the future. If the well is on farm property, then it makes sense to make some arrangement in terms of sharing the connection. Alternatively, you could drop your own pump down the well alongside theirs, and take responsibility for the electricity charges to run it, maintenance, and so on.

If the well is on the house property, then you can still share the connection, but night want to weigh up your options for the future should the house be sold on - connection to the main or sinking a well of your own are the two options.

Can't help you there - I'm guessing that's something you might need someone to come out and look at. A lot is going to depend on the site itself, planning regs, and so on.

Up to you really. If you don't need the space in the hayshed, then why not continue to let them use it. I realise that you are taking over the farm, but seeing as you are a close family, there doesn't seem to be a need for such a clean breakaway, if that makes sense.



One final thing you might want to be wary of though is talking all this through with them beforehand, and making them a part of it. I realise that you have all agreed to you taking over the farm, and that they are happy with this, however it's still somethign that's been part of their lives for a long time, and in your excitement, coming in and setting up a shiny new water connection, electricity connection, booting them out of the turf shed (if you decide to build them a shed of their own), they might read that as you taking over and pushing them out while they are still alive, healthy and kicking. A five minute chat keeping them in the loop goes a long way towards preventing hurt feelings.

That's decent advice to anyone ... Separating things now is no bad idea, but go slowly ... A lot of that can be sorted without digging things up ...short term you could put a small meter on the power line to the farm , could be a lot cheaper /easier than a new esb connection when you're probably not using much power..... Same with the rest .. Couple of grand for new esb, (more if they insist you rewire to meet current regs) , couple of grand for a new shed,
Up to 10 grand for new waste water system( May get away with less, could depend on soil type)
And you haven't even started farming yet...