Mark Bridge finds out whether buying an historic title can offer any tangible financial benefits.
Most of us know that cash for honours is wrong. Under the law, no peerage title can be sold. However, would-be gentry can legitimately snap up the ancient role of “Lord of the Manor” from about £5,000. Hundreds of manorial lordships, a relic of the medieval feudal system, change hands each year – most sold by “old” families. This month, 23 will be auctioned in London, with estimates from £5,000 to £12,500.
Contrary to popular misconception, lords of the manor are no more lords than a pub landlord. Chris Eubank, for example, bought the lordship of Brighton for £40,000 in 1996 but remains plain Mr Eubank, although he can choose to use the impressive “style” of Lord of the Manor of Brighton after his name.
Despite this, manorial lordships are a piece of history and make an interesting, if not too serious, investment. Prices have climbed from an average of a few hundred pounds in the 1970s to about £7,000 to £10,000 today. But the trading of “titles” is fraught with the dangers of con artists and complications. So it is important to understand how the market works and what to steer clear of.
Robert Smith, of Manorial Auctioneers, which is holding the November 15 sale at Stationers’ Hall, Central London, explains that lordships went with ownership of landed estates until 1922. The two were then separated by an Act of Parliament, but a lordship is still treated as land in law and is transferred by conveyance in the same way as a house or plot.
A legitimate example should be supported by documents that track its ownership. These may be held by the lord of the manor and passed on at each sale, or kept at a county records office. Buyers are advised to hire an independent solicitor to scrutinise them. Geoffrey Barrett, of Blakemores solicitors, says that this should cost from about £300.
Lordships are not intangible assets. Most come with ancient rights, such as fishing or mineral rights or ownership of common or waste land within the manor, which can cover an area of several square miles. Often, these rights have not been exercised for decades or more and must be established after purchase through archival research and the help of a specialist solicitor.
The chances of striking coal or selling a big chunk of manorial waste land to a developer are slim, but lords of the manor are often able to charge power companies a small rent to keep posts or pylons on “waste” verges. A handful have exploited their rights to squeeze residents. The best-known is Mark Roberts, the Cardiff businessman and self-styled Lord Marcher of Trelleck, who has exacted tens of thousands of pounds from villagers in his 60 manors for the right to access their houses across “his” land.
Less common than manorial rights are obligations. The Lord of the Manor of Worksop, Derbyshire, for instance, is required to present the new monarch with a right-hand glove at his or her coronation. Other lords of the manor face the much more onerous burden of liability for repairs to the chancel of a local church. In a recent case, the House of Lords upheld the Church of England’s right to charge one unfortunate couple more than £200,000.
Since the 1920s the value of lordships has waxed and waned with the economy, soaring to an average of £12,000 in the late 1990s. Tony Morris-Eyton, of Savills, the estate agent, says that lordships with sound documentation should, at worst, hold their value. He says: “They are a bit of fun, so don’t do well in a recession but punch above their weight in boom time.”
He adds that the lordships most likely to outpace the market are household names. One such example is Chipping Campden, a pretty Cotswolds village, which is Lot 16 in this month’s auction. The lordship is being sold by the Earl of Gainsborough and has an estimate of £10,000 to £12,000 – small change compared with the record £171,000 paid for the lordship of Wimbledon in 1996.
Jonathan Chaplin, of Strutt & Parker, another estate agent, says that some people buy the lordship that once went with the manor house they own, because they are aware that bundling the two will increase interest in the property when they sell.
Lordships are not the only piece of history on offer at the auction. The final Lot is the Irish “Feudal Barony of Mullingar”. In a disconcerting twist, Timothy Duke, of the College of Arms, says that English and Irish feudal baronies were abolished by law in 1660 and 1662 respectively. Despite this spoiler, the sale looks set to benefit Viscount Gormanston, the peer whose ancestors held the barony, to the tune of £15,000 plus.
Mr Smith insists that the Act cited scrapped obligations once associated with the title, not the title itself. He adds that Manorial Auctioneers sold the English “Feudal Barony of Langley” for Greenwhich Hospital, a Crown charity, last year. “If it [the title] is good enough for the Crown, it’s good enough for us,” he says.
The validity of this title may be contentious, but the internet is home to a number of out-and-out fakes. One ruse is to offer a “title”, then change the buyer’s name from, say, Joe Bloggs to Lord Bloggs. Other sites sell a piece of paper “granting” the buyer often ludicrous honours.
More mainstream sites, such as Moonestates.com, sell tiny plots of land in the Scottish Highlands, claiming that these entitle the owner to the title Laird. However, the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the chief heraldic authority for Scotland, says that this is not the case.
More information on the trade in questionable and fake titles can be found at Faketitles.com.
CASE STUDY: fun and fringe benefits
Wendy Hobday, left, bought the lordship of Ruislip through Manorial Auctioneers as a Christmas present for her husband, Ken, in 1990 and inherited the role – as Lady of the Manor – on his death. Mrs Hobday, 72, of Denham, Buckinghamshire, paid £30,000 for the lordship, which had been held by King’s College, Cambridge, since its creation in the 15th century.
Mrs Hobday has a passion for local history and says that researching the lordship, which covers about 12 square miles, has been “great fun”.
King’s College chose to retain the mineral rights that once went with the manor, but Mrs Hobday earns about £100 a year in “way leave” rents from power and telecoms companies that keep structures on the land.
She uses the title “whenever it may help”, sometimes shortening it, incorrectly, to “Lady Ruislip”. In her role as Lady of the Manor, she has been asked to open local shops and has been upgraded on flights.
Her advice to would-be lords and ladies of the manor is to hire a good solicitor. The Law Society’s Find a Solicitor helpline on 0870 6062555 can assist.
Source: Business Times Online
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