Q: I know a few people who have invested in forestry over the last couple of years and with everything else appearing to be in financial meltdown due to the coronavirus crisis, I am wondering whether forestry sales in this area are buoyant?
A: Well, we have certainly seen an increase in the number of enquiries for both sales and purchases of forestry since the start of this year and this has remained the case during the crisis. This could be down to a number of factors, some of which suggest the popularity of forestry as an investment could be here to stay for the foreseeable future.
As you say, many other investments have fallen to an all time low since COVID-19 hit us. However, as a nation we have become very conscious of the benefits of lockdown, especially from an environmental point of view. More and more large institutions are turning to biomass fuels and the current lockdown worldwide is destined to have an effect on imported fuels for some time to come. There has also been an increase in recent times in the amount of timber and timber by-products being used by the construction industry, which of course is about to be kickstarted in a big way following a period of dormancy during the lockdown.
As the sale and purchase of forestry, along with farms and rural land, sits within a complex area of law that requires specialist knowledge and the expertise to help avoid unnecessary penalisation through taxation, it would be worth you speaking to a firm of lawyers who, like us, have many years’ experience of dealing with this type of purchase.
Article 08/06/2020
This question has been answered by Richard Lloyd, a Partner with GHP Legal. If you would like to speak to someone about this or any other legal matter it is still possible and we are doing everything we can to ensure that we continue to offer our high levels of service to our clients. In accordance with government guidelines, most of our lawyers are currently working remotely which means you may not now receive a response as promptly as you may expect. Please kindly bear with us and we will respond as soon as we are able.
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