Agricultural Solicitors in Lurgan & Co. Armagh
Farming families need legal advice that understands how a farm actually works: land held for generations without a written title, ground let in conacre year after year, and a succession plan that has to keep the farm intact while being fair to everyone. This guide covers agricultural conveyancing, conacre and lettings, farm succession, and the inheritance tax changes that took effect on 6 April 2026.
Legal Advice for Farming Families in Co. Armagh
Campbell & Haughey have been based in Lurgan since 1978, in the middle of one of Northern Ireland’s most established farming areas. Much of the legal work a farm needs is not specialist litigation. It is careful, unhurried work on title, land transfers, lettings, wills and succession, done by someone who understands that the farm is both a business and a family.
Farm legal work has its own particular problems. Titles are often old, sometimes still in the Registry of Deeds rather than the Land Registry, and occasionally still in the name of a grandparent. Ground is frequently let on a handshake. Rights of way, wells, laneways and turbary rights may never have been written down. And succession is rarely as simple as leaving everything equally, because dividing a working farm can destroy it.
We act for farming clients across Lurgan, Portadown, Craigavon, Armagh, Banbridge and the wider area, and from our offices in Belfast, Ballygawley and Dublin. You can reach us through our contact page.
The April 2026 Inheritance Tax Changes
From 6 April 2026, 100% Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief are capped at a combined £2.5 million allowance per person. Above that allowance, relief drops to 50%, which means inheritance tax applies at an effective rate of 20% on the excess. Before this, qualifying agricultural property attracted 100% relief with no upper limit.
The position now
Allowance: £2.5 million per individual for 100% combined agricultural and business property relief.
Above the allowance: 50% relief, giving an effective inheritance tax rate of 20%.
Spouses and civil partners: the allowance is transferable, so a couple may pass on up to £5 million of qualifying assets at 100% relief.
Paying it: inheritance tax on qualifying agricultural and business property can be paid in instalments over ten years, interest free.
The route to this point matters, because a great deal of what is still online is out of date. The cap was announced at the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024 at £1 million. After sustained lobbying it was confirmed as transferable between spouses in November 2025, and then increased to £2.5 million on 23 December 2025. It became law through the Finance Act 2026. If you read an article quoting a £1 million cap, check its date.
Before 6 April 2026
Qualifying agricultural property attracted 100% relief with no cap. Most farms passed to the next generation with no inheritance tax on the land at all.
From 6 April 2026
100% relief is limited to a £2.5m combined allowance per person. Value above that gets 50% relief, taxed at an effective 20%, payable over ten years interest free.
The current position is set out in the House of Commons Library briefing on changes to agricultural and business property reliefs.
Farm Succession Planning
Succession is the single most common reason farming families come to see us, and it is almost never only a legal question. It is about who wants to farm, who does not, what the farming child has already put in without being paid for it, and how to be fair to everyone without breaking up a viable holding.
The tax change has made these conversations more urgent for larger holdings, but the underlying issues have not changed. A plan that only exists in someone’s head is not a plan.
- Establish what is actually owned, and by whomFarms frequently include land in different names, land never transferred after a death, and land held jointly in ways nobody has looked at in decades. Nothing can be planned until this is clear.
- Check the title is in orderUnregistered land, missing deeds, undocumented rights of way and access, and boundaries that do not match the maps are all common and all take time to resolve.
- Have the family conversationUncomfortable, and far better done while everyone is alive and well. Most disputes we see after a death were foreseeable years earlier.
- Take legal and tax advice togetherThe will, any lifetime transfers, the structure of the farm business and the tax position all affect one another. Advising on one in isolation rarely produces a good outcome.
- Put it in writing properlyWills, and where appropriate transfers, partnership agreements or arrangements recording who holds what. Handshake understandings are the source of most farm litigation.
- Review itA succession plan set up ten years ago may no longer do what the family thinks it does, particularly after April 2026.
For general guidance on wills and estate administration in Northern Ireland, see our beginner’s guide to probate and wills and our Northern Ireland probate guide. This page deals with the farm-specific issues that sit on top of those.
Conacre and Agricultural Lettings
Conacre is a system of land tenure particular to Ireland, and it remains central to how land is used in Northern Ireland. Around 30% of Northern Ireland’s farmland is let in conacre. It is traditionally a seasonal arrangement, historically eleven months, and importantly it is not a tenancy. It creates a licence to use the land rather than a landlord and tenant relationship, which is precisely why it has been used for so long.
Two practical issues come up repeatedly.
The certainty problem
- Often agreed verbally or on a handshake
- The taker has no certainty of renewal
- The owner has no certainty it will be taken again
- Little incentive to invest in the ground
- Obligations on fencing, fertiliser, spraying and animal welfare frequently unrecorded
The tax and relief problem
- How land is let can affect available reliefs
- The McClean decision (NI Court of Appeal, 2009) held that letting land in conacre was an investment activity for business property relief purposes
- HMRC treats availability of agricultural relief as a question of fact and degree in each case
- Arrangements set up casually can have consequences that only surface on a death
Since the Property (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 repealed the older agricultural tenancy legislation, landowners and farmers have been free to put proper written tenancies in place instead, for a fixed term, with the obligations of each side actually set out. For some families that is a better answer than another season of conacre. For others conacre remains appropriate. The point is that it should be a decision rather than a habit.
HMRC’s own guidance on conacre and agistment in Northern Ireland is at IHTM24075. Whether any relief applies depends entirely on the facts of the individual case and should be checked with a tax adviser.
Agricultural Conveyancing and Title
Farm conveyancing is not the same as buying a house, and it usually takes longer. The land is often unregistered, the deeds may be held in the Registry of Deeds rather than the Land Registry, and the rights that make the farm workable are frequently undocumented.
Fields, holdings, farmyards and farmhouses, including sales of part where a farm is being divided.
Lifetime transfers between generations, and transfers to give effect to a succession plan.
Bringing unregistered land onto the Land Registry, tracing title, and resolving land still held in a deceased relative’s name.
Laneways, shared accesses, wells and water, and rights that have been exercised for decades but never written down.
Where the fence on the ground and the line on the folio do not agree, which is common on older holdings.
Charges over farmland and buildings where borrowing is needed for investment or restructuring.
For the general process of transferring land in Northern Ireland, including Land Registry and Registry of Deeds, see our detailed guide to conveyancing and the transfer of land in Northern Ireland.
Farm Accidents and Injury
Agriculture has long been Northern Ireland’s most dangerous industry. The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland has reported that the majority of workplace fatalities occur in the agriculture, construction and manufacturing sectors, and the Farm Safety Partnership, which brings together HSENI, DAERA, the Ulster Farmers’ Union, NFU Mutual, the Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster and the Northern Ireland Agricultural Producers Association, identifies four recurring causes: slurry, animals, falls and equipment.
Where someone is injured on a farm through another party’s negligence, whether an employed farm worker, a contractor, a visitor or a family member, a claim may be possible. These cases can be legally complex because the farm is often both a home and a workplace, and the responsible party may be an employer, an occupier, a contractor or a machinery supplier.
Our accident and injury team deals with these claims. For how workplace injury claims work generally, see our guide to accidents at work, or, for falls from height such as from bale stacks, lofts, roofs and ladders, our guide to falls from height claims.
Working With Farming Clients
- An office in Lurgan, in the middle of the Co. Armagh farming community, since 1978
- Face-to-face meetings with a solicitor who understands how a farm is run
- A free, no-obligation initial enquiry before you commit to anything
- Conveyancing, wills, estate planning, probate and litigation under one roof, which matters when a farm issue touches several of them at once
- Plain-English advice and a named contact who keeps you updated
- Willingness to work alongside your accountant or land agent rather than around them
Talk to a Solicitor Who Understands Farms
Whether you are transferring ground to the next generation, sorting out a title that has never been registered, putting a letting on a proper footing, or reviewing a will that was written before April 2026, the earlier these things are looked at the more options you have.
Your initial enquiry is free and without obligation. Reach us through our contact page.
Speak With Our TeamFrequently Asked Questions
Do I need to change my will because of the April 2026 inheritance tax changes?
It is worth reviewing. Many farming wills were drafted on the assumption that agricultural property would pass with unlimited 100% relief, which was correct before 6 April 2026 but is no longer the position. Whether any change is needed depends on the value of the holding, how it is owned and the structure of the family. A review with your solicitor, ideally alongside your accountant, will establish whether your existing will still does what you intended.
What is conacre, and is it still worth using?
Conacre is a seasonal letting of land, particular to Ireland, that creates a licence to use the ground rather than a tenancy. Around 30% of Northern Ireland’s farmland is let this way. It remains perfectly usable, but since the Property (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 it is also open to landowners to grant a proper written tenancy for a fixed term instead. Which is better depends on your circumstances, including how long you want the arrangement to last, what investment the taker will make in the ground, and the tax position, which should be checked with a tax adviser.
Our land has never been registered. Is that a problem?
It is very common and it is not a crisis, but it does need dealing with, and usually sooner rather than later. Unregistered land held under Registry of Deeds title takes longer to sell or transfer, and the work of tracing title is much easier while the people who know the history are still around. First registration can generally be dealt with as part of a sale, a transfer or a succession plan.
Some of our ground is still in my late father’s name. What do we do?
This is one of the most frequent issues we see. The land cannot be sold or transferred until the estate is properly administered, which may require a grant of probate or letters of administration even many years after the death. It is resolvable, but it takes time, so it is best not to discover it at the point of an intended sale.
Can I leave the farm to one child without treating the others unfairly?
Families approach this in different ways, and there is no single right answer. Options can include leaving the working farm to the farming child while providing for others from other assets, life policies, or staged lifetime transfers. What matters most is that the reasoning is thought through and properly documented, because the disputes that reach court are usually those where the intention was clear to the deceased and to nobody else.
Do you advise on the tax itself?
No. We are solicitors, not tax advisers. We deal with the legal work: the wills, transfers, title and partnership arrangements that put a plan into effect, and we will tell you plainly where a tax question needs specialist input. In practice, farm succession works best where the solicitor and the accountant are talking to each other rather than advising separately.
Someone was injured on our farm. What happens?
It depends on who was injured and in what circumstances. Farms can be workplaces, homes and premises visited by contractors and the public all at once, and responsibility may rest with an employer, an occupier, a contractor or an equipment supplier. If you have been injured on a farm, or an incident has occurred on yours, take advice early, because the evidence that decides these cases can disappear quickly.
What does an initial enquiry cost?
Your initial enquiry is free and without obligation. We will discuss what you are trying to achieve and explain your options in plain terms, and fee arrangements are set out openly before you decide whether to proceed.
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This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Inheritance tax reliefs, including Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief, are technical and depend entirely on individual circumstances; the position described reflects the changes taking effect from 6 April 2026 as set out in the House of Commons Library briefing on agricultural and business property reliefs, and tax rules are subject to change. Campbell & Haughey Solicitors are solicitors and not tax advisers, and readers should take advice from an accountant or tax adviser on the tax treatment of their own circumstances. Every farm, title and family is different. You should take advice from a qualified solicitor about your individual case.
