Buying a house with land

Kingb4

Hello,

I was hoping from some advice. My wife and I are looking to buy a house in the next year. We intend to buy a property with a couple of acres of land.

We have bought houses before, but all have been on small plots. The places we are now looking at have fields/paddocks. Are there any specifics we should check on beyond those for a general house purchase (e.g. the solicitors should check for rights of way etc on any purchase).

I would love to be able to tell you exactly what we wanted to do with the land, however we have not got a clear idea ourselves. We want space (I want to be able to have a massive garage (6 car)).

Any helpful advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

mlz1413

If you want to build a 6 car garage on the land you will need to check it has planning permission for buildings. If there are exsisting buildings I would check if you can get change of use if building is already high enough.

Re footpaths I think this comes up on a local search but definately add it in to the solicitors questions. You could also buy an OS map which would show surrounding paths.

Debt_Free_Chick

Check the classification of any land - field or paddocks may be classed as agricultural or amenity land. Either way, forget any plans for "development" - which includes converting those types of land into garden. Garden is usually classed as residential as it will be specifically part of the title for the house i.e. the house and garden/land will be one title, with residential classification. Any additional land will almost certainly have a different classification, if it's a separate plot/title.

A massive garage on agricultural/amenity land would almost certainly be turned down, as a garage is for residential use and that won't be permitted on land which is not classed as residential.

Other uses will also not be allowed. Believe it or not (as many are surprised by this) agricultural use is different to equestrian. So if you wanted to put stables and a sand school for a number of horses on agricultural land, you would need to apply for the classification to be changed to equestrian. A shelter for one or possibly two horses might be OK - but all this type of thing needs to be explored with the Planning department at the local authority and/or an experienced land consultant.

Public rights of way (public footpaths) should appear on the local authority searches, which your solicitor will obtain, but they should also be in the HIP (probably the only useful purpose a HIP serves!). So you could save a bit of money by actually reading the HIP to spot any public rights of way and they will appear on an ordnance survey map of the area, too.

Private rights of way (easements) will not be on the map and not on the LA search either - but they will be in the title deeds. Again, this is in the HIP or you can download it for £3 from the Land Registry (provided the property is registered).

In rural areas look out for private sewage treatment (cess pit or septic tank) and lack of mains gas, meaning oil, calor gas or electric is needed for cooking and heating. None of these are an issue, but many prefer to not to have these "features"

A search of this board for "agricultural" will find some threads with problems experienced by those who have mistakenly bought agricultural land, only to find they can do pretty much nothing with it!

Do plenty of research .....

planning_officer

Yes, to clarify - fields and paddocks will be agricultural/equestrian land therefore you certainly won't be allowed to build ancillary residential structures, like a garage on the land. The extension of a residential curtilage (i.e. garden) into the countryside is not normally looked on favourably.

Plus, if there are other constraints, like the house being in Green Belt, there are strict limitations on development - a huge garage like the one you seem to have in mind is highly unlikely to be approved, even if it is within the residential curtilage, in Green Belt/AONB/National Park etc.

janey_uk

Where do you find listings for houses with land? I've been looking on rightmove and can't seem to find anything.

poppysarah

janey_uk wrote: »

Where do you find listings for houses with land? I've been looking on rightmove and can't seem to find anything.

Depends where you're looking.
If you're looking for a house with land in the middle of Manchester then you'll be waiting a long time.

Lots of places with acres on the countryside searches I do. They're just very expensive.

You pick the area you want and then scour every EA in the area - and ask them directly for info on the sort of houses you want. There's some which specialise in countryside properties with land etc.

david29dpo

I friend bought a house with 8 acres and outbuildings. Only got permission for an open bay garage no bigger than the original building. Also got a public footpath moved a little (but not much) to build a big extension. This was shropshire council.

Kingb4

Thanks for all the replies.
I suspected the agriculture/equestrian would have clear boundaries and restricted use. Saw a property this week with a couple of paddocks. I asked the owner where the garden boundary was (as the paddocks opened straight onto the garden. The owner couldnt tell me!

Janey, I look on rightmove. There are also some local equestrian websites. There is also a local estate agent who specialises in country properties. Hope that helps.

Ben

Debt_Free_Chick

david29dpo wrote: »

Also got a public footpath moved a little (but not much) to build a big extension. This was shropshire council.

In relation to Public Footpaths, you must consult with the Rights of Way Officer at the County Council. It is possible to get a PF diverted, but this involves a statutory process, which the CC will deal with. Of course, you must offer an alternative route across your land for the "new" PF.

Make sure that the Local Planning Authority liaise with the CC - or better still, contact them yourself.

We have an equestrian property locally where a huge indoor (horse) school has been built WITH planning permission. But it's been built across a PF. The CC were not consulted and now the whole thing has an enforcement order requiring that the school be demolished!!!!!!!!! :eek:

To be honest, the owner has not "boxed clever" in this instance but they are facing financial ruin :eek:

Hatster

It's also worth trying to see whether there are any problems with flooding / waterlogged land. We saw a place with a couple of acres of paddocks, but the waterlogging was bad enough that my husband said he wouldn't want to put animals there. The estate agent didn't help by saying 'that pond wasn't here last time I came'!

RAS

And there are even more restrictions if the property is listed. Check this out before you buy.

It is possible extend and to get garaging but you may have to do it incrementally and very sensitively.

I know one bright spark whose activities led to 4 enforcement actions including one for erecting stables in the curtilage of the listed domestic building