Independent valuation, rural property and strategic advice for private clients, farmers, businesses, charities and professional advisers.
Built on a foundation of calm, straightforward and honest advice…
Geering Chartered Surveyors was founded with a commitment to delivering thoughtful and professional guidance underpinned by regulation, integrity, and transparency. Whether you seek a ‘Red Book’ valuation, assistance in residential matters, estate management expertise, rural land advice, strategic planning insights, or development consultation, we stand ready to assist and guide you.
Our ethos prioritises providing calm and pragmatic solutions to your property-related problems. Whether you’re navigating a complex transaction or simply seeking clarity on a property matter, we invite you to explore our website or reach out to discover how we can support you.
At Geering Chartered Surveyors, our mission is to empower our clients with informed decisions and reliable support. Want to know more? Get in touch via the contact page.
Episode FIVE?! SFI26, Family Farm Tax Rumours, Grain and Livestock prices… #SFI26 #Rural #farmers #farming #SWisbest
Really pleased to have sponsored the inaugural Farrier Competition at St Mawgan Steam & Vintage Rally – well done to Ryan Chapman for his hard work in getting it set up, we look forward to supporting again next year!
Episode FOUR! A little bit on Government Gilts, interest rates frozen, more on family farm tax, a look ahead at CGT and property taxes and rounded off with market prices…
Interest rates held! #interestrates #bankofengland #farming #property #realestate #homes #rurallife
In my job I have learnt that some of Devon and Cornwalls poorest millionaires sit around kitchen tables just like this one. On paper, a family farm can be worth millions.
The farmhouse.
The land.
The buildings.
The machinery.
Add it all together and the balance sheet can make the person sitting at this table look extremely wealthy. But what`s often misunderstood is that land value and income are two completely different things.
A farm worth several million pounds still has to generate enough cash to pay for the diesel, machinery, fertiliser, feed, wages, repairs, borrowing – and the family living there.
And selling £100,000 of the farm to pay the bills isn`t quite the same as taking £100,000 out of a savings account. Sell the wrong field and you may reduce the productive unit. Sell buildings and you may remove future opportunities. Sell land that`s been in the family for generations and the decision isn`t purely financial anyway.
That`s one of the peculiarities of rural property. A person can own an extraordinarily valuable asset and run a business producing a remarkably modest return from it.
So when we hear that a farmer is “sitting on millions”, that may be perfectly true. It just doesn`t tell us very much about how wealthy they actually feel sitting around this table.
Farmers and farming families – does “asset rich, cash poor” still describe the reality, or has that phrase become too simplistic?
"A farm builds a reservoir. Its value goes up £3-4,000 an acre.
Sounds great — until you realise the farm never planned to sell. No profit`s been made, but the inheritance tax bill just got bigger.
That`s the family farm tax problem NFU president Tom Bradshaw raised this week after a conversation with the PM — and it`s happening at the exact moment the UK`s food self-sufficiency has fallen in 10 of 11 categories over the last 30 years.
This week`s Field Report covers that story in full, plus:
🏡 What`s really happening in the housing market (hint: it`s a better time to buy or sell than the headlines suggest)
🌾 A volatile week for grain prices, and fertiliser costs climbing again
🐄 The one bit of genuinely good news — livestock prices running well ahead of last year
Full breakdown in the video. Are family farms getting a fair deal on inheritance tax, or is more reform needed?
#TheFieldReport #Agri #livestock #farmertime #rural
🚨 LANDLORDS – DEVON & CORNWALL REGISTRATION DATES HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED! 🚨
🏡 South West: 14 November 2027
🏡 Cost: £65 per property (annual renewal)
🏡 You need: Personal details, property info, tenancy details, rental info, safety certificates (gas, electrical, EPC).
🏡 Action now: Get safety certificates renewed. Organise your tenancy records. 🏡 Start preparing. You have 18 months – do NOT wait until October 2027!!!
Link in bio for more detail, or watch yesterdays video…
#LandlordRegistration #PropertyValuation #DevonProperty #CornwallProperty #PropertyValuation #DevonLandlord #CornwallLandlord #RentersRightsAct
🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨
Landlord registration scheme coming to Devon & Cornwall by mid-2027.
3 months to comply. Registration numbers required on all adverts. HMRC will now decide rent disputes (not tribunals).
If you own rental property, this affects you. Full breakdown in the video link. ⬆️
#BreakingNews #LandlordRegistration #PropertyValuation #DevonLandlord #CornwallLandlord #RentersRightsAct
New Episode of the Field Report is now live on Youtube, Facebook or TikTok. Links are in my linktree – https://linktr.ee/geeringsurveyors – this week we`re looking at rent reviews, BtV, Government Bonds and Input costs…. Suggestions of more interesting topics are welcomed! hello@geeringsurveyors.com….
A new weekly update on rural property news and markets.
MARKET UPDATE – 28 August 2026
Wheat – £210/t. Black Sea disruption keeping prices firm. If you’re selling, decent market. Don’t sit on it.
Fertiliser – Nitrogen climbing. Gas at €68/MWh. Get your autumn orders sorted now – prices won’t fall back.
Livestock – Heifers strong (369p/kg). Lambs softer but tradeable (319p/kg). Steers need finishing weight. If you’ve got them ready, move them.
Feed Costs – Soya £361/t, distillers £309/t. Know your numbers. That’s your edge.
Land – Tight margins mean fewer farmers actively buying right now. Less competition. If you’re thinking succession, consolidation, or repositioning – conditions are clearer than they’ve been. Worth moving on now rather than waiting.
Bottom line: Tight margins but workable. Take decent prices when they’re there. Don’t gamble. And if you’re planning land moves, this is actually good timing.
New on Notes from the Field 📌
Wet winters. Dry summers. That’s the pattern now.
Farmers need reservoirs. The government’s funding them. But there’s still a £45k problem before they can even start building.
I’ve been advising clients on this for over a year. The real barrier isn’t money – it’s the system.
Full story in Linktree via my bio 👆
#FarmingMatters #WaterResilience #FarmingPolicy #UKAgriculture #FarmingNews
Crazy busy day today. Meetings early on, followed by a bit of time at Honiton Show catching up with lots of familiar faces, then hot footing it to Cullompton to inspect a site for a client before back to Crediton for another meeting. Walked in to my house at 10pm – making hay while the sun shines! Thank you to everyone for all the support – busy days like this are what it’s all about!
After four years of poor harvests, many farmers are going to be at a real crossroads this autumn when it comes to crop planning.
Doing what you did last year won’t work. But that means there’s opportunity to do things differently:
3.7 tonnes per acre at £185/tonne = £685 coming in.
Nitrogen fertiliser: £366/hectare
Sprays: £205/hectare
Fuel. Seed. Overheads.
You’re losing money. 📉
UK farms spend £30-50 MORE per hectare on sprays than Germany or Denmark.
So What Actually Works?
🔄 Work backwards from profit, not costs. Build your system around what you actually need to survive.
✂️ The spray thing is an opportunity. A quarter of UK arable land’s insecticide-free now. Denmark does it for £46 less per hectare.
🌱 Review your entire business. Idle land? Environmental schemes pay. Empty buildings? Diversify. Your assets could work harder.
💧 Build resilience. Wet winters, dry summers – that’s the new normal. I keep saying it. Store water. Build soil. Hold stocks. Some land’s better spent here than potentially losing money on wheat.
🔁 Different crops = better margins. Winter rape’s looking viable.
👥 Work with other farmers. Collaboration Fund starts Sept 1st. I’m doing real work on this with a few other local advisors – more detail coming soon. It’s exciting and I know it works – I work with other surveyors because it’s better for my business. Same applies to farming.
💡 Countryside Stewardship Capital Grants open now. Water management, soil, energy. Real money.
The successful faarms of the future?
They’re not doing less. They’re doing smarter. Lower spray concentrations. Collaborating. Investing in soil and water. Looking at the whole business, not just this year’s crops.
Change = Opportunity
Yes, you need to change. But farms that figure this out first have a real advantage. Innovation matters again. Your skill makes a difference.
If you’re reading this, you know something’s shifted. This is your chance to change first – and build something better. 🌱
Great to see regenerative farming getting serious attention @rockoysterfestival yesterday. The fact that Andy Cato was there both musically as @groovearmada and agriculturally as a farmer, bridging the farming and festival communities – highlights why conversations around sustainable agriculture are gaining real traction. The popularity of Groundswell and more locally, Devon County Agricultural Association’s annual Rootstock festival shows farmers and land managers are actively seeking solutions.
It’s interesting timing. Yesterday’s heat was perfect for the crowd, but out in the fields, it’s telling a different story. The extended dry spell and volatile weather patterns are impacting crop development significantly. Several farmers I’ve spoken with have expressed real concern – many are predicting one of the worst harvests they can remember, with smaller crops and disappointing yields across the board.
That said, events like Rock Oyster matter because they’re creating space to discuss climate resilience outside traditional farming circles. Better soil health, water retention strategies, and diversified farming practices aren’t just ideals – they’re becoming essential tools for weathering unpredictable seasons.
Golden acres 🌾 Walking through the barley right now and thinking about what good farming looks like – and how it’s changing.
The crop in the foreground is feeding people. The fields in the distance are feeding wildlife. Ten years ago, this landscape was different. Probably less diverse. Fewer habitats. Drier soils.
Intensive production and environmental stewardship used to be opposites. Now they’re neighbours on the same farm. It’s (r)evolution.
But here’s what the problem is: that barley is showing stress from water scarcity. Droughts are more frequent. Soils are recovering from decades of monoculture. Pollinators are coming back, but they nearly disappeared. The SFI grassland in the distance isn’t just conservation – it’s climate adaptation and resilience built into the landscape.its improving the soil health for future cropping.
This is what nature recovery should look like. Mosaic, not monoculture. Both/and, not either/or.
The working landscape isn’t going back to what it was. It’s becoming something different. Something that has to be both productive AND living.
🚶♂️🌍
#barley #farming #agriculture #SustainableFarming #SFI LandscapeChange ClimatAdaptation RegenerativeAgriculture RuralLife FarmWalk WorkingLandscape BritishFarming Resilience BiodiversityMatters WaterSecurity
Something a bit different from us today – and it’s definitely not a political post! 😂
There`s been some interesting debate in property circles about the idea of a land value tax – one of Andy Burnham’s ideas for replacing stamp duty and council tax with an annual charge on land rather than buildings.
Whatever you think of the politics, it throws up some really thought-provoking questions for Devon and Cornwall in particular:
✅ We have a huge number of second homes and holiday lets. An annual charge on land regardless of whether it`s occupied could really shake things up in places like Padstow, Rock, Salcombe and Dartmouth.
✅ Farming is the backbone of both counties – how agricultural land gets treated would make or break it for the rural community who are already under huge taxation pressure.
✅ Our land values vary enormously – coastal vs inland, AONB vs ordinary farmland, planning permission or not. Valuing every plot of land separately from the building on it, across the whole country, would be an enormous task.
As chartered surveyors and valuers here in Devon and Cornwall, that last point is what really interests us professionally. It`s a problem that would need solving before any of this could work.
It`s worth thinking about if you own property or land in the South West.
What do you reckon?
#southwest #charteredsurveyor #landvaluetax #devon #cornwall #valuation
Compensation Claim 🌱
A few weeks ago, I met with the contractor undertaking groundworks to assess the land he’ll need to utilise for new pipework installation.
I then calculated all the inputs required to reinstate the crop – in this case grass – covering seed, fertiliser, sprays, and cultivations.
Prior to work commencing, I’ll carry out a schedule of conditions, with a further review once the job is complete, having reserved the right to claim additionally if needed.
A standard rural valuation job, and just one part of the service offering from @geeringsurveyors 📋
Follow for more riveting countryside commentary 😄😂
🚨 LANDLORDS – you have just 3 days to act! 🚨
Under the Renters` Rights Act 2025, there are several important notices you must serve on tenants by 31 May 2026:
📄 Government Information Sheet – all landlords with existing written tenancies must provide this to every tenant – not per property!
📝 Written Statement – required if your tenancy is verbal with no written agreement
⚠️ Prior Notices – if you may need to use possession grounds in future, serve these NOW
🎓 Student landlords (HMOs) – must serve a Ground 4A written statement by 31 May to use the shorter 2-month notice period
🏠 Shared ownership landlords – must notify tenants of your exemption from the 12-month re-letting restriction
The deadline is THIS Sunday. Don`t risk losing your possession rights by missing it!
Not sure what applies to you? Get in touch urgently!
#LandlordAdvice #RentersRightsAct #PropertyLaw #Landlords #UKProperty #PrivateLandlord #privatelandlord #privatelandlord #privatelandlord #privatelandlord #ukproperty #privatelandlord #privatelandlord
Absolutely fantastic few days catching up with professional colleagues, clients, and good friends at the @devoncountyshow – the hard work put in by DCAA is evident and it’s been another fantastic show which just gets better every year. Too busy to take more photos, but now nursing blisters and sun burn! Looking forward to the Royal Cornwall in two weeks time…!
🏡 A result worth sharing.
We recently helped clients selling a property on the edge of Dartmoor achieve a fantastic outcome – HMRC confirmed no Capital Gains Tax liability on the disposal.
The case centred on Private Residence Relief and whether it could extend to cover the full extent of land sold, not just the house itself. Properties on the Dartmoor fringe often come with significant grounds, and getting this right really matters. We put together a detailed report and comparables to support the application – and it worked.
As the clients kindly put it: “The outcome of your CGT advice has been particularly pleasing.”
If you’re selling a property with significant grounds and want to understand your CGT position, get in touch – it could make a real difference.
🌐 www.geeringsurveyors.com
Happy Easter!
Good news for farmers — SFI is back for 2026, and it`s better. 🌿
✅ Simpler (71 actions, down from 102)
✅ Higher moorland payments
✅ Priority June window for smaller farms
Full breakdown on the blog — link in bio.
#SFI #SustainableFarming #Devon #Cornwall #Farming2026 #AgriEnvironment #FarmersOfInstagram
Farming & Rural Update | January 2026
There’s been a lot of change in the farming and rural sector — and finally some much-needed clarity.
Our latest website update looks at:
• Inheritance Tax, APR & BPR
• The Farming Profitability Review
• The new Sustainable Farming Incentive for 2026
• What it all means for farm businesses going forward
🔗 Read the full update via the link in our bio.
#Farming #RuralBusiness #Agriculture #FarmPlanning #SuccessionPlanning #SFI #LandAndProperty #RuralConsultancy