Buying land for future self build

mwpt

In about 10-15 years time I'll hopefully be approaching the point of financial independence from work. At that point, I'd like to think I'll be ready to move out of London and somewhere cheaper in a countryside setting but close enough to a town and transport to get into London occasionally.

Given our current housing issues, I'd like to think that at some point in the future, getting self build planning permission on semi green field sites will become easier. With that in mind, I'm prepared to take a small punt on buying a nice but cheapish plot somewhere and sitting on it for the time being hoping self build becomes viable through residential planning permission.

A few questions:
1) Is this strategy a little nuts?
2) I can find land for sale on rightmove but is there a better strategy for finding good value plots?
3) How do I start learning about what has the potential for future residential planning permission? How can I spot plots where this would be totally out of the question forever vs plots that are more likely? I'd like to get a deeper understanding of this rather than just rely on being sold the idea from someone on rightmove.

Thanks

AdrianC

You might not be alone in betting on whether land that is currently not buildable-on will become so in a few years time. And one thing's for certain, you can bet anybody selling even vaguely promising plots will be milking them for every penny they can get, no matter how realistic the buyer's expectation of PP might be.

By the time they appear on RM, you can also bet that the agent has exhausted their little black book of likely local contacts, who've all decided that it's either overpriced or unlikely to ever get permission.

Even assuming you do find a suitable plot, what do you plan on doing with it in the interim? Renting it out for agricultural/equestrian use? Just letting it go to seed, with the risk of it being squatted, perhaps even adverse possession if you're really off the ball with it?

mwpt

AdrianC wrote: »

You might not be alone in betting on whether land that is currently not buildable-on will become so in a few years time. And one thing's for certain, you can bet anybody selling even vaguely promising plots will be milking them for every penny they can get, no matter how realistic the buyer's expectation of PP might be.

By the time they appear on RM, you can also bet that the agent has exhausted their little black book of likely local contacts, who've all decided that it's either overpriced or unlikely to ever get permission.

Absolutely makes sense, which was why I am wary and approaching this from an angle that I need to understand the area in a lot more detail.

Even assuming you do find a suitable plot, what do you plan on doing with it in the interim? Renting it out for agricultural/equestrian use? Just letting it go to seed, with the risk of it being squatted, perhaps even adverse possession if you're really off the ball with it?

Again, good question. The current answer is, I don't know. My thought process is that there is a lot of unused land. I'd like to understand the implications of owning some of that unused land. Can I leave it standing? Does it need to be put to use? If I outlay, say, £Xk of capital, I am speculating on planning permission being easier to obtain in 10 years time. There is a figure X for which I'd be prepared to earn no current yield, and willing to lose (or partially lose) if after 10 years it goes nowhere. That figure, X, is up to me to decide.

Perhaps it is a non starter, but I'd like to learn and understand why or why not.

davidmcn

Planning aside, how many of these plots are single house size, and have suitable access and services running to them?

Ozzuk

There are a lot of resources for buying land on the internet and as mentioned by the time it gets to the formal level it is likely too late in terms of bargain pricing.

There are people employed purely to seek out and secure land so you are up against those for a start, but that doesn't mean you can't succeed. One of the most talked about approaches seems to be the old fashioned leg-work. Drive around looking for likely spots of land, then either canvas locals to find out owner or do a land registry map search.

I don't think it's a crazy idea at all, I often consider it.

MobileSaver

mwpt wrote: »

I'd like to think that at some point in the future, getting self build planning permission on semi green field sites will become easier.

If that did ever happen then you'd also need to consider that planning permission would be relaxed for everyone in that area. So that idyllic plot you bought 10 years ago may not be so idyllic if neighbouring plots start to be built upon too...

eddddy

You're going to come across many scammers during your search, so it might be best to prepare yourself.

To give you a feel for what you're aiming to do:

Avg price for Agricultural land in the UK = £21,000 per hectare
Avg price for residential development land (outside London) = £1.9m per hectare
(Avg price for residential development land including London = £6m per hectare)

i.e. The value of land can increase 100 fold when planning consent is granted.

So you will have a huge amount of competition from people looking to make a fast buck (which is what attracts all the scammers), as well as the experienced professionals. But I guess you might get lucky.

AdrianC

mwpt wrote: »

My thought process is that there is a lot of unused land. I'd like to understand the implications of owning some of that unused land. Can I leave it standing? Does it need to be put to use?

There is very, VERY little "unused" land in this country. It is far too valuable to leave sat unused. It might LOOK unused, but that doesn't mean it is...

AdrianC

davidmcn wrote: »

Planning aside, how many of these plots are single house size, and have suitable access and services running to them?

Define "single house size"... Some house plots are on several acres of land.

Of course, no services are needed, but you may prefer to get them, rather than run private borehole water, septic tank drainage, off-grid electricity, mobile-only telecomms. The providers of all of the services will run them to any plot in the country - at a price, which depends on how far the plot is from the current infrastructure.

agrinnall

And of course you need to consider access, a plot surrounded by farmer's fields may be cheaper than one that's next to a road, but if you can't get to it then it's pretty much useless for housing.

googler

Look at the council's Local Plan for the area. If it's like mine, the county will be divided up into zones for defined purposes. Commercial here, agricultural there, residential elsewhere.

Generally speaking, any application for permission on land which is zoned for non-residential use will firstly go against the Local Plan, so will have to breach that hurdle when going before the Planning Committee, and will also require Change of Use permission as well as consent to build.

The Local Plan should be on the council's website.