Farmland in Norfolk is being bought up by mega-rich counts and foreign billionaires, putting the squeeze on family farms. Researchers at Who Owns Norfolk? (WON), a project which has scoured public records to identify who owns land in the county, have found farmland is being “hoovered up” by investors from abroad.
Some of Norfolk’s biggest landowners include an Italian count, Malaysian billionaires, Dubai royalty and the heir to a German cigarette fortune. Tens of thousands of acres of land are now owned by a cluster of individuals, who snap up any parcels of green space around their grand estates. While some have made a home in Norfolk, others have bought land and estates as cash-generating assets – and some are owned via offshore companies registered in the Cayman Islands and Jersey.
Local, small-scale farmers say they are struggling to compete with these wealthy investors, who are inflating prices and pushing them out the market. This comes amid fears that changes to inheritance tax rules will force more family farms to sell up, putting even more Norfolk land in the hands of moneyed investors.
Norfolk MP Terry Jermy believes the findings show that urgent changes are needed to stop this “tax loophole” being exploited by the mega-rich. These concerns sparked a campaign by this newspaper, calling on the government to offer farmers in the county a fairer deal.
So who does own Norfolk?
According to the research, the biggest landowner in Norfolk is the Crown Estate (33,700 acres) followed by the Forestry Commission (29,500). Among organisations, the Ministry of Defence (24,200 acres), Norfolk County Council (16,600 acres), the National Trust (15,900 acres) and Norfolk Wildlife Trust (8,500 acres) also feature in the top ten.
Much of Norfolk is also owned by aristocracy, some of whom have possessed the same land for centuries. This includes the Coke family, who own the 25,000-acre Holkham estate, the Birkbecks of West Acre (8,850 acres) and the Le Strange family in Hunstanton (6,200 acres).
Overseas owners
However, of the top 20 biggest landowners, five are enormously wealthy individuals from overseas. Count Luca Padulli di Vighignolo owns the most land out of the five, which equates to about 1% of the entire county, through his holding company Albanwise. His land holdings are not limited to Norfolk and he reportedly now owns entire villages in Yorkshire and elsewhere.
Since about 1992, he has gradually built up his property empire. He now owns some of Norfolk’s most impressive estates; including the Gunthorpe and Saxlingham estate, Barton Bendish Hall, the Wimbotsham Estate and Hackford Hall Farm in Reepham. He owns more than 14,000 acres in the county and is thought to have made his Barton Bendish estate his home, where he invites people to explore his gardens each summer and organises fireworks displays in the village.
Count Padulli generates enormous income by charging rent to leaseholders, such as tenant farmers.It is understood he has bought more land as recently as 2023. According to his firm’s latest account report, submitted to Companies House last year, it holds £193.825m in assets and generated a total operating profit of £27.85m after tax.
Bernhard Reemtsma, the heir to German cigarette firm Reentsma’s fortunes, owns 8,400 acres predominantly in west Norfolk through his firm Eau Brink Farms. The company is registered under a German address.
Tan Sri Arumugam, a Malaysian billionaire, owns 7,450 acres through the South Pickenham Estate. The estate is owned by a company registered in the Cayman Islands and Jersey, according to a Greenpeace investigation. Despite the huge wealth of the owner, the estate was revealed as being one of the biggest recipients of government farming subsidies in 2017, prompting anger among campaigners.
Other major landowners include the Dubai Royal Family, which owns the 6,200-acre Shadwell Estate. Francesco Baggi Sisini, another ultra-wealthy Italian count, holds 6,180 acres across several estates via Tharros Limited and Bithia Limited.
It’s a wholesale land grab
A farmer in west Norfolk, who does not wish to be named, has said much of the farmland surrounding his own has been bought up by Albanwise and other firms run by foreign investors. He said: “They are banking every piece of land that comes up for sale – other people don’t get a look in. They are not UK residents, which upsets people.”
Thomas Playford, an environmental campaigner from west Norfolk, started researching land ownership in 2020. His findings, including informative maps, are published on the WON project, which pulls together information from the Land Registry, Natural England, freedom of information requests, Companies House, and information about public rights of way (and the estates they cross) kept by Norfolk County Council. Playford says his findings are as accurate as it is possible to be using publicly available data, but it is likely some of these foreign investors have bought more land recently.
The tax issue
Playford says, “The past 30 to 40 years have seen wildly affluent Europeans hoover up thousands of acres of Norfolk land, including farms, forests and country mansions. At present, land value is a non-taxed asset. This has resulted in a range of non-farmer, super-rich individuals buying up swathes of England. The richer they are, the more they can buy.
“As there is no balancing tax to disincentivise concentrated land ownership, this means land prices have become abnormally inflated well beyond their value as farmland – increasing by 13% in 2022 alone. This becomes a negative feedback loop – the more land prices increase, the more investors see land as an attractive asset.”
Mr Playford has called for the introduction of a land tax, in which landowners would face charges on an upward scale depending on the amount of land owned.
Tax reform is needed…
The government is changing inheritance tax rules, which will require farmers to pay a rate of 20% on agricultural property and land worth more than £1m when previously they paid none. The move has caused outrage among the farming community, spurring widespread protests over fears it will push many family farms out of business.
However, Terry Jermy, Labour MP for South West Norfolk, says the research shows reform is needed: “This is further evidence that current arrangements for agricultural property relief (APR) are being abused. Local farmers in my constituency recognise that for some, APR is seen as a tax loophole, and it is being exploited by the very rich, who often do not actively farm. People are angry that celebrities and billionaires have drawn attention to this issue.”
He added that there are many other challenges facing the farming industry, including a fundamental lack of profitability, historic poor trade deals, biosecurity threats and climate change.
…but it needs to be done carefully
Steff Aquarone, Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk, believes the findings suggest more of Norfolk’s land could fall into the ownership of the mega-rich due to the tax changes. He said: “Farmers in North Norfolk are the lifeblood of the county and when they are forced to sell their farms because they can’t afford to pay the ill-conceived ‘family farm tax’, Norfolk’s farms will fall further into the hands of the ultra-wealthy.
“The number of British farms has fallen by nearly a quarter in 18 years and this will trigger further decline. This isn’t just devastating news for farmers, their families and their livelihoods – it’s a devastating knock for our British food and farming industries and must be stopped.”
This article is adapted from a report by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
