Traditional meets proactive at Bletsoes, one of the longest- established, fiercely independent, multi-disciplinary property firms in Northamptonshire, and one that provides the farming and rural community with the support and solutions it needs in these ever more challenging times.
Today, Bletsoes, which was founded in 1881 by Henry H Bletsoe, has specialists in four primary teams, Agricultural, Planning and Development, Auctioneers and Residential Lettings. The firm is headed up by six Equity Partners, including father and son, Chris and David Bletsoe. The company also runs Thrapston Livestock Market, the last remaining livestock market in the county, which operates on a Thursday and Saturday. In addition, Bletsoes also operates a monthly collective sale of plant and machinery.
From its head office in Thrapston, which is well located at the A14 (J13) and A45 interchange, Bletsoes provides expert advice to its landowning and occupying clients across the Midlands, East Anglia and the Home Counties on a range of agricultural, property and planning issues.
Bletsoes believes that the knowledge and expertise it can provide has rarely been more relevant to deliver sound, professional advice on maximising rural assets, spaces and places for profit, ensuring the legacy lives on, whether it is succession planning, streamlining the business, advising on grants and funding opportunities, or navigating tax laws.
Partner and Chartered Surveyor Chris Templar said: “We’re a multi-disciplinary team of consultants and experts with roots in the rural community and have considerable experience and a proven track record of success.
“Operating the livestock market in Thrapston keeps our independent business firmly grounded. Through the livestock market, we have a real sense of the challenges and opportunities facing clients, which we believe stands us apart from our competitors.”
Bletsoes works closely with a number of legal professionals including solicitors and accountants, to provide holistic advice to its farming clients and is keen to widen that service, offering invaluable insight to any other professionals providing advice to clients in the farming and land sector. That might encompass areas such as land valuations; sales, purchases and lettings; agricultural tenancy advice; planning applications; promotion and option agreements; compulsory purchase schemes; grants and subsidy applications; and succession planning.
Chris said: “I think we are in difficult times and certainly a more challenging environment and we feel we have to be more proactive in finding solutions for landowners and farmers facing those challenges.
“We want to get the message across that while farmers certainly need the advice and knowledge of their accountants and solicitors, there are areas where we can provide expert knowledge, based on our vast experience in the rural property sector, to help them.
“In situations such as death, divorce or debt, assets may need to be valued. And that’s not just land, buildings or farmhouses, but also machinery, equipment and livestock, and our unrivalled experience as auctioneers is definitely a strength.
“We are at the coal face, the ones dealing with this sector on a daily basis, and can assist solicitors, accountants and other professionals where their clients need advice beyond their specialism.
“And, of course, there’s the issue that’s very much at the forefront for the farming community now, of the proposed changes to Inheritance Tax (IHT) and how detrimental that may be to farming businesses. I’d say that since the Autumn Budget in late October, we are receiving almost weekly enquiries from farming clients together with their accountants and solicitors asking how they are going to be affected.
“When you take into consideration the farmhouse, buildings, land and machinery, it can soon pass the proposed £1m threshold. To be clear, we are not tax advisors and clients will need to take the advice of their accountant/tax advisor, but I feel that we are needed to accurately value their rural assets so that clients can go to their accountants and solicitors with a clear picture of what’s at stake, to enable them to make informed decisions.
“My advice to farming clients and their professional advisors is to assess the liability and take action, even if that action is minimal. Doing nothing and ‘burying your head in the sand’ is, in my opinion, not a good idea, as there may be simple measures that can be implemented to improve the tax position.”
To find out more about Bletsoes and the services the team can offer you and your clients, call 01832 732241, email Chris.Templar@bletsoes.co.uk or visit the Bletsoes website
