Agriculture & Rural Affairs Q&As

An ESA Agreement, or an Environmentally Sensitive Area Agreement is a very important document when acquiring land. They have now been replaced by Entry Level Scheme Agreements and Higher Level Scheme Agreements. They dictate how land should be farmed. The plus side of it is that money is paid by Natural England if the land is farmed in the appropriate manner. It is all related to the protection of the environment. If you buy land subject to any of these agreements then you will be required to honour this generally as part of a sale contract. If you sell land subject to this and a buyer does not comply with the obligations, you can be asked to repay any grant. Seek legal advice before buying or selling land subject to these kinds of agreements.