Home office: Taunton
Residential and agricultural property law
Helen is a Partner in the Private Property and Agriculture team specialising in non-contentious residential, agricultural and rural property law, including sales and purchases, landlord and tenant matters, remortgages, stewardship schemes and easements. Helen acts for private clients, agri-businesses, institutional landowners and landed estates on a diverse range of property transactions.
Helen’s agricultural and equestrian background assists in providing practical advice in such transactions.
Helen joined Clarke Willmott in September 2009 as a trainee solicitor after her law degree at The University of Exeter. Helen qualified as a solicitor in September 2011. Helen was made a Partner in April 2024.
Helen is a member of the Agricultural Law Association.
How Helen can help you
- Acting for large rural landowning institutions and landed estates and dealing with a variety of disposals and rural property advice
- Sales and purchases of residential properties, both freehold and leasehold, including rural and in towns, often involving listed dwellings
- Sales and purchases of agricultural land and farms
- Disposal of farms and land on retirement including preparations in light of inheritance tax changes
- Auction sales and purchases
- Remortgages for residential properties
- Remortgages for agricultural land and farms
- Acting for landlords and tenants in granting and surrendering agricultural tenancies including advice relating to both the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 and the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995
- Granting residential tenancies
- First registration applications to the Land Registry
- Advising on commons rights, dealing with the transfer of commons rights and registering the transfers with the local authority
Recommendations
We highly recommend working with Helen Lock at Clarke Willmott. We recently completed a fairly complicated sale of our long time primary residence and purchase of a new property and Helen was on side throughout the process. We received very good advice and always felt she was looking after our interests. Helen is an empathetic solicitor and she guides you through the process. Always available and working to your timing. Thank you Helen.
Client
The sale of my family farm was complicated and time consuming. Helen Lock went above and beyond to make the process as easy and quick as possible. Queries were answered by return, costs were clearly explained, and despite last minute complications, the exchange was completed in good time. I look forward to dealing with Helen in any future negotiations.
Farm Sale Client
We would warmly recommend Helen. From our first meeting with her, we were confident we were going to be in safe hands with our property purchase, and later with our sale. We were purchasing a Grade 2 * listed property with many issues and complexities which Helen navigated calmly, always updating us and responding promptly, and explaining clearly. She provided clear advice and supported our choices. During our subsequent sale, Helen ensured progress was maintained to the timescale originally agreed by our purchasers, despite last minute unexpected shenanigans.
Farming Client
Articles by Helen
Agriculture
Ten key legal considerations when selling your farm
Deciding to sell your farm can be a challenging and emotional process. There are numerous factors to consider early in the legal process to ensure the sale goes as smoothly as possible.
Read more on Ten key legal considerations when selling your farm