Ethan Desai
Ethan specialises in non-contentious property matters for agricultural and rural landowners and tenants.
About Ethan
Ethan advises agricultural estates, farmers and other landowners on a range of residential, commercial and agricultural property matters. These include farm sales and purchases, development options and promotion agreements, tenancy advice, overage agreements and renewable energy projects.
"Ethan Desai is a hugely knowledgeable individual with a good pedigree in this area…. Ethan is exemplary, and queries are attended to promptly"
Experience
Agricultural property is a specialist area and Ethan has over 14 years’ experience of advising landowners and farming businesses. Ethan’s recent experience includes:
- Advising a farming company in the sale of a farm with outline planning consent for 550 dwellings and ancillary facilities, including the related overage agreement.
- Advising a family trust in the variation of an overage scheme imposed in the 1990s, relating to land on which residential development has now been permitted. Ethan worked with other interested parties to overcome a title defect which had been overlooked in the past, by doing so he secured a substantial overage payment for his client.
- Working with corporate colleagues and accountants to implement the demerger of a large farming business, including dealing with the reorganisation of security interests and implementation of mutual overage schemes to protect participation in future development value.
- Acting for a tenant of an Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 tenancy, in the negotiated surrender of the tenancy to the landlord. The tenant received a significant payment from the landlord and was able to negotiate payment of a significant surrender premium and an extended period to remain at the farm and wind down farming operations, producing a much better outcome than could have been achieved had the matter proceeded to tribunal.
- Ethan has advised landowners in relation to numerous wind, solar, AD and battery storage projects.
"A first-class agricultural team"
Career
After gaining his law degree at the University of Reading, Ethan qualified in 2007 and joined Hewitsons. He then moved, via Blake Morgan, to Furley Page in Canterbury in 2016, as the head of agriculture and rural business, becoming a partner in 2018. Ethan returned to the Midlands to join Wright Hassall as a Legal Director in November 2021.
Memberships
Interests
Outside work Ethan enjoys hill walking and recently completed the West Highland Way. He follows motorsport and football and is a season ticket holder at Wolves FC.
