Ad: Supporting landed estates - practical steps for navigating change
Lloyds shares guidance and tailored finance solutions to support long-term resilience as landed estates navigate IHT, market and environmental pressures
The landscape for estate owners and larger farming businesses is shifting. Pressures such as inheritance tax (IHT) changes, rental reform, evolving environmental commitments and rising operational costs all require clear thinking, making it increasingly important for estates to take stock and plan ahead.
Against this backdrop, Lee Reeves and Victoria Read at Lloyds share practical considerations estates might want to explore as they balance day-to-day demands with longer-term planning.
What’s putting estates under pressure?
From April 2026, the threshold for agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) is £2.5m, allowing couples to pass on up to £5m qualifying assets tax-free. However, succession planning is becoming more complex as many estates reassess their property’s status or consider creating multiple trusts.
Victoria Read, Relationship Director of Agriculture & Landed Estate at Lloyds, notes the changes in IHT have meant that estates are needing to consider more complex approaches and start planning earlier - such as splitting into more trusts, considering heritage assets, thinking about long-term plans for succession.
Alongside this, market conditions, rising costs and squeezed margins are putting pressure on day‑to‑day finances.
Lee Reeves, UK Head of Agriculture at Lloyds, highlights the balancing act involved:
There’s a real challenge in managing short-term cashflow while also making decisions that support the estate for the long term
Despite this, there is cautious optimism in the sector with opportunities to grow, diversify income and spread risk.
So, what steps can be taken?
Take a whole-estate view
Estates are multi-enterprise businesses, often encompassing farming, property, leisure, heritage assets and environmental schemes.
It’s vital to take a whole-business view. An estate is rarely solely a farming business. It’s cottages, tenancies, commercial units, renewables, retail, leisure and sometimes off-estate investments.
It is important to assess these aspects of your business as diverse entities, requiring long-term financial and environmental sustainability across all areas.
Considering diversification in the round helps with resource allocation, spreading risk and strategic investment.
Bring your bank into conversations early
Engage your bank early to ensure finance aligns with your estate’s goals and works seamlessly.
While Lloyds does not provide tax or legal advice, early involvement allows us to understand your goals and shape the right financial solutions alongside your advice from solicitors, accountants and land agents.
“We see ourselves as part of your advisory board,” says Victoria Read from Lloyds. “Bringing everyone together in one meeting ensures everything fits, allowing us to explain changes to structure, security, cashflow or financing from the outset.”
Assess practical finance solutions
Lloyds offers a range of tailored finance solutions for landed estates which may be helpful, depending on the estate’s structure and goals, including:
- IHT loan: Spread IHT costs over a more manageable timeframe, up to 25 years. Our inheritance tax loans were designed to help clients to refinance liability over a longer period, making the10-year HMRC payment schedules more manageable.
- Agriculture Transition Finance: Finance for regenerative farming practices
- Clean Growth Finance Initiative: Finance for sustainability investments such as energy efficiency, renewables and water management
- Long-term lending: up to 30-year repayment periods
- Soil Association Exchange environmental baselining: measure, monitor and understand your environmental impact.
Thinking ahead
With regulatory, financial and environmental change continuing to shape the sector, many estate owners are finding now is an appropriate time to review plans, stress‑test assumptions and consider how their estate is positioned for the future.
For more information, speak to your Lloyds Relationship Manager or contact us using the form on this web page.
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