Objective professional advice for rural property and business
Jeremy Moody, Secretary and Adviser
| The Central Association of Agricultural Valuers
As “Professionals in the Countryside”, the CAAV and its qualified members bring practical rounded advice with perspective to help clients and policymakers find useful answers to their problems
The Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV) is the UK-wide specialist professional body representing, briefing and qualifying those acting for and advising farmers, landowners and others interested in agricultural and rural business across the whole United Kingdom. With historic roots in the work of valuations for agricultural landlords and tenants, our work is now much broader, across the rural economy.
Rural Britain faces more challenges at a faster pace than seen for years. Farmers, landowners, environmental bodies, infrastructure utilities and other users of rural land along with policymakers are all in need of good practical rounded advice to make the decisions that are best for them. Across the UK with complex legislation and varied individual situations, CAAV members are providing that rounded advice, bringing together issues of land tenure and finance, tax and development control with business and family objectives and constraints.
The CAAV works to help its 3,000 members give professional advice amid the competition for the use of land, the needs to mitigate and adapt to climate change, the opportunities of new technologies, improving farming productivity, the work of nature improvement and changing public policies. The urgency of renewed growth, housing targets, the drive for net-zero and expectations of infrastructure and increased compulsory purchase all bear on the countryside, calling on professional skills for effective delivery and the proper treatment of all concerned.
Founded in 1910 to promote good practice and raise practical issues over policy and legislation with government, the CAAV engages with governments and other relevant bodies across the UK, not to lobby on behalf of any particular interest but for policies to be developed and designed in as practical a way as possible, taking account of circumstances and helping avoid perverse or unintended consequences. How might a farming policy option interact with family concerns about tax or a tenancy agreement? With the scale of devolution, the answers might differ between parts of the UK.
The CAAV supports members, whoever their clients or employers are, with professional briefing and analysis that should be equally useful:
- to landlord and to tenant
- to buyer and to seller
- to agricultural department and to scheme applicant
- to utility operators and to the person affected by a cable, pipe or other infrastructure
- to the taxpayer and the tax gatherer
- to a developer, a landowner and an environmental body.
Members qualify as Fellows (FAAV) through a demanding practical, written and oral examination to affirm their expertise in rural matters. The CAAV has a statutory role in agricultural tenancy dispute resolution and, more widely, promotes good practice for dispute resolution to achieve effective decisions for parties.
Alongside a wide range of technical publications, model agreements, seminars and conferences and daily website updates for members, the CAAV publishes on its website:
- the annual Agricultural Land Occupation Surveys for England and Wales (since 1977), and Scotland (since 2012) reporting on decisions over letting farmland, monitoring changes in this important sector of farming
- public podcasts on topical matters
- a weekly blog on current matters
- and individual papers on current topics from explaining agricultural tenancies in Northern Ireland to analysing the real impact of the current Inheritance Tax proposals.
The CAAV has over a century of professional experience, supports practical approaches to issues and has a commitment to positive outcomes, working with policymakers, industry bodies and members.
For more information, visit our website at www.caav.org.uk or contact us at enquire@caav.org.uk.
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