Estate of Queen’s cousin sold to property firm for almost £35m

The estate of one of the Queen’s cousins has been sold to the UK’s largest quoted residential property-owning firm.

Grainger announced today that it had paid the trustees of the late Patrick Lichfield’s 5300-acre Staffordshire estate £34.55m in an off-market deal.

Lord Lichfield, 66, collapsed while shooting in 2005 and died in hospital

About 1700 acres of the Ranton Estate are let under agricultural holdings act tenancies, with the rest rented on short-term farm business tenancies.

There are also about 60 houses and cottages let under a variety of tenancies. The estate produces an annual rent of £762,000.

Michael Lamyman, acquisitions director at Grainger, said the move gave the business more exposure to a property sector that was experiencing growth due to rising commodity values and demand from EU countries where land values were much higher.

“It provides excellent short and medium-term trading opportunities together with a substantial amount of reversionary value held in long-term investments.

“By applying our current business model to this acquisition we can release significant value over the coming years,” he said.