A ROW has erupted between farmers and a Russian billionaire in the Highlands over the proposed sale of a 9000-hectare estate.
The Tulchan Estate on the River Spey, Moray, has been put up for sale by its owner, Yuri Viktorovich Shefler, a 58-year-old Russian billionaire, by the property firm Savills with a guide price of £67 million.
However, a farmers' action group has claimed the sale’s fine print has a “significant loophole” designed to deny those who work on the land their rights, according to The Herald.
On the surface, the sale lists a 14-bedroom Edwardian lodge, salmon fishing, deer stalking, pheasant and partridge shooting, and five tenanted farms.
But in the fine print of the listing by Savills, it states that in a purely legal sense the estate is not for sale and in fact, it is a 100% share in Tulchan Sporting Estates Limited, the company which owns the land.
This means the farmers on the five farms on the estate will not be given the opportunity to buy their land as outlined in the Agricultural Holdings Bill.
The legislation was introduced so that tenant farmers would have the right to pre-emptively declare their interest in buying their farm if the estate is sold.
However, as the sale is taking place as a transfer of company shares rather than as a direct land sale, the farmers on the land will not be able to exercise that right.
The Scottish Tenant Farmers Association’s chairperson, Christopher Nicholson, is calling for the sale to be halted, claiming that the sale of shares is to prevent the owners from paying any tax.
He said: “This is a significant loophole which needs to be addressed, not just for the farm tenants and communities denied their pre-emptive rights, but also for Scottish and UK taxpayers who are funding the tax avoidance.
“With the shares of Tulchan Estate Company held offshore in Guernsey, the seller will avoid a HMRC capital gains tax liability of over £10m, if sold for £67m, and the buyer will not incur any land and building transaction tax.”
Read More | Tenants raise concerns over Tulchan sale
Read More | Tulchan estate sale exposes land reform loophole
Tulchan Sporting Estates is owned by a company called SF Scottish Properties Ltd, registered in Guernsey, which is, in turn, owned by the Tulchan Trust, also registered in Guernsey, and does not formally disclose its beneficiary.
Shefler has been accused of donating millions in support of the Ukrainian armed forces since Russia’s full-scale invasion in the country in 2022 by Russia’s prosecutor general.
The billionaire’s remaining Russian assets were seized by the state in 2024, with the businessman designated a terrorist and extremist.
Savills has been approached for comment.
Share