Bertie Hoskyns-Abrahall

Partner

Bertie is a partner in the private client and tax team and focuses on farms and estates.

His practice focuses on advising landowners and estates on a wide variety of management and succession issues including the sporting, agricultural and commercial aspects. Bertie also advises forestry investors and increasingly clients who are looking at carbon capture opportunities and biodiversity offsetting.

Bertie has extensive experience in advising clients looking to purchase estates, farms, and country houses either as part of a portfolio or as first time buyers. This advice includes structuring advice where appropriate.

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Full profile

Secretary Michaela Fluck

+44 20 7597 6479
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I have recently managed to sell my Yorkshire grouse moors and have been lucky to have had Withers helping me. The team of Bertie Hoskyns-Abrahall and Rebecca Spencer fully understood all the specialist problems and presented the 6000 acre estate, which had plenty of 150 year old mapping problems, in a simple and attractive format which sold itself in a speedy and trouble-free manner. From our first meeting to the exchange and completion they were a pleasure to deal with.

Jeremy Archdale - Rural estate owner
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The ‘very charming and extremely well connected’ Bertie Hoskyns-Abrahall is said by one source to be ‘the best legal brain for farms and estates’ and ‘has a high level of understanding of rural clients and knows what issues matter to them’. The team is described as a ‘very heavyweight performer giving fantastic levels of advice’.

Chambers UK 2017, London
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He is very good, he stays completely calm at all times and never gets flustered. He understands the practicalities and intricacies of a working farm or estate. He is surprisingly experienced for a man of his years.

Chambers HNW 2016, London
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He’s incredibly responsive and very knowledgeable. He’s got a great team around him and he can move very fast on a deal. He is also very practical and gives good sensible advice. He doesn’t just read from the textbook, he understands the countryside.

Chambers HNW 2016, London
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Bertie Hoskyns-Abrahall is ‘a lovely guy, and always a joy to deal with,’ noting that ‘he’s sensible, pragmatic and takes a view.’ He has a broad rural practice and is well known for advising sporting estates.

Chambers UK 2018, London
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Bertie was up against it when dealing with a purchase for us with regards to time but didn’t bat an eyelid. He is incredibly knowledgeable and if there is something that he doesn’t know, he will know by the end of the day. Bertie provides clear advice and has a fantastic unassuming confidence when dealing with any situation which gives comfort.

Estate owner in South of England
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Bertie is very well known among sources for his work handling rural property matters, including the buying and selling of country homes, estates and grouse moors. He provides clear advice and has a fantastic unassuming confidence when dealing with any situation which gives comfort.
Chambers HNW 2018, London
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Bertie Hoskyns-Abrahall attracts praise for his formidable range of expertise and experience in all areas of rural estate law.

Legal 500 UK, 2018

Focus areas

Farms and estates

High-net-worth individuals

Track record

Admissions

Memberships

Transacting over 30,000 acres in England in the 2015-2016 financial year.

Advising clients on the Stamp Duty Land Tax treatment of their property purchase leading to an unexpected saving of over £600,000.

Structuring a purchase using a retention mechanism which allowed the reclaim of 25% of the purchase price of sporting rights without compromising the use of the rights.

England and Wales, 2003

Member of the judging panel for the Purdey Awards

Country, Land and Business Association

Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust

European Landowners Organisation

Agricultural Law Association

Moorland Association

Me in a minute

I am responsive, commercially aware and have empathy for the client and their objectives

I lead the landed estates team and advise clients on all matters relating to land and land ownership. This area of the law has evolved significantly ever since 2001 when I joined Withers, and since then my team and I have made it our business to be at the forefront of thinking in relation to opportunities that exist for those connected to the land.

For many clients, their decisions about succession are largely influenced by how to deal with the land that they own, so I work very closely with my wealth planning partners to help clients to make provision for the future and to keep their land intact for the next generation. I act as a trustee for a number of landowning families.

I also head a team of dedicated rural property lawyers who specialise in buying and selling a wide range of property for clients, from country houses to investment land, sporting estates and grouse moors. My guiding principles are to be responsive, commercially aware, and most importantly, to have empathy for the client and their objectives. It is my job to ensure that clients get the high level of service that they deserve.

I am very interested in the future for farming and land management in the post-subsidy era, particularly in relation to diversification, biodiversity offsetting, carbon capture and agri-tech. Far from being something to fear, I think the future holds a myriad of options for land managers and investors and I get a huge buzz out of helping clients make those strategic decisions about what will work best for them.

I live on a farm with my wife, three children and a lurcher called Sybil.

Education

University of Newcastle, B.Sc. (Hons) Countryside Management

Languages

  • English

Dates

Joined

2001
Partner

2008

Recognition

Regularly works with...