splitting back garden and building a new house on it: where to start

erik85

Hi all,
hopefully an easy question with an easy answer: we mortgage-own a terraced property in a city with a very long garden with road access at the back.

We were tinkering with the idea of splitting the garden so to build a house on the back half of the garden but we are a bit stumped as per how to actual kick the ball rolling; we never submitted a planning application, so we were wondering what is the natural order to undertake this potential project.
Also, I was reading that there could be covenants on the land which prohibit erecting additional buildings - a solicitor matter I guess.
So where does one start from? Submitting a planning application or solicitor? If we start from planning, can we submit a crude plan or does it need to be the proper final thing, and therefore we must start by going to an architect?

Thanks

TripleH

I'd start by getting a copy of your property deeds from Land registry to check covenants.

Check the local area to see if similar properties have also built in their garden, if so check their deeds to see if restricted covenants apply.

Check your local council website for any information and planning applications,both approved AND rejected.

Do as much of the above before you progress further as its cheaper than employing specialists to do the samevjob for you.

Also, do you want another property looking on to your house and at everything you do? How much light do you get to the back of the house, where are your bins collected from?

Slithery

You also need to check with your lender whether they'll agree to the split or not.

tacpot12

Your process should probably start with checking whether you can build on your garden, so checking your deeds and checking with your mortgage provider should be your first steps. You might as well get a quote from your solicitor for their cost to split the land and register the property when it is built. They should be able to advise on what rights you will need to give the new owners so that they can occupy the property easily. 

You can submit a crude plan and get a "Outline" planning permission. There are some pros and cons to doing so: have a read of this link: Why Do Professionals Think Outline Planning Permission is a Good Idea? | Urbanist Architecture - London Architects

The alternative is to submit an application for "full plans" approval. 

You can get Pre-application Planning Guidance where you (and any architect you have selected), can meet with a Council Planning Officer to see what the council might be prepared to approve. This is a very good idea, and is worth paying for, even before you submit an application for Outline consent if this is the route you decide to go down. The meeting with the Planning Officer may give you enough confidence to move straight to a full plans application.

You should try to have a read of your council's local plan that should help you assess whether infill developments are something they are keen on or not.

I would look carefully at access to the property - if the road is unadopted, or it is a busy/fast main road, then access may not be as easy to agree as you think. You also need to consider a range of other issues such as parking - normally new houses would be required to have off-street partking for a minimum of 2 cars. Have look for all the planning advice you can from your local council. It may also help you to try to download any planning applications you can find for a similar development anywhere in the borough. 

It's a big project, but a good architect will be able to help you with most aspects, for a price. The more you can do yourself, the more you will save for the work that your can't do yourself.

You will need to sort out some finance to pay for the architect and the building, but you can look at self-build mortages. They are not common, but are a "thing". You might also look into whether you can get a warranty on the building that you can offer to the prospective purchaser. 

If you can find a builder that is interested, you might take the simpler approach of forming a partnership when you own the land, and have some input to the design of the property (so you don't have to look at an eyesore), but the builder takes on the full responsiblity for geting the plans approved and the house built. They would provide the finance to cover the building of the house, and you would split the profit from the sale.  

Section62

erik85 said:

hopefully an easy question with an easy answer: we mortgage-own a terraced property in a city with a very long garden with road access at the back.

What's on the opposite side of the road?

Massive generalisation coming up....  planning authorities tend to be reluctant to permit new dwellings in the rear gardens of terraced properties.  You'd need to work out an arrangement of the new building so it respects and preserves the privacy of the surrounding properties for a start.

Also bear in mind that if you have no external access to the rear garden from the road at the front of your property, selling away the rear access will have some devaluing effect on your current property, in addition to the loss of space and being overlooked by the new house.

You will need a lot of stars to align for this scheme to deliver a net profit.

lincroft1710

How long is "very long". For example, 100 ft seems long but to give decent room sizes a house needs an external depth of around 30ft, and to allow for "front garden" parking the house needs to be set back about 20 ft. So only 50 ft between you and new house. Your neighbours probably wouldn't be happy either.

ProDave

Have any other houses in the street done this?  assuming they all have the long garden backing onto another road.

If no and you are the first I would use a planning consultant who is more likely to know what would and would not get permission.

erik85

A lot of useful insight from you all, really appreciated.

To answer some questions:
our neighbouring properties either have slightly shorter gardens and no back road access; or back road access but gardens that are less than half our garden length.
Opposite our back entrance is a road which gives access to back gardens to both the left and right side.
Bins are collected at the front
Appreciate giving up back garden access will de-value our property, however if we were to be able to build a new property it would more than offset that value loss.

erik85

tacpot12 said:

[...]. You also need to consider a range of other issues such as parking - normally new houses would be required to have off-street partking for a minimum of 2 cars. [...]

that's a very interesting comment; in this residential area they have converted an old manufacturing site into a new residential development, something along the lines of 150 new dwellings and perhaps only as many as 30 have off street parking.
The remaining are supposed to park on street, and obviously not on the streets of the development itself (which are double yellows), but on the streets where all of our houses are located, streets which are already clogged by our parked cars as no property round here has a front drive!
If what you are reporting is factually true, a guess a classical example where the big fishes can do what they want...

Section62

erik85 said:

Opposite our back entrance is a road which gives access to back gardens to both the left and right side.

I was wondering what was on the other side of that road... what the new house faces onto will be a factor in whether consent could be obtained.

erik85 said:

Appreciate giving up back garden access will de-value our property, however if we were to be able to build a new property it would more than offset that value loss.

Possibly.... but unless you've already got a design and had quotes, you may end up disappointed.

The margins on new-build aren't always great, and with the industry as it is, prices are going up.  Whatever sale figure you have in mind is not guaranteed, and if the housing market stagnates (or tanks) you may end up with a new house which cost more to build than it can be sold for.

You will have considerable costs involved in design, planning consent, and getting BR approval.  Added to which your local authority may have a requirement for a sum of money to be paid to them for the provision of new local services (google "CIL" or "S106" for examples... not necessarily applicable in your case though)

You'll also have legal costs getting your mortgage company to agree to the division of the plot and the eventual transfer, in addition to the costs of marketing the property and conveyancing.  And what arrangements were you thinking of to provide a guarantee to the buyer in terms of defects to the property?

Housebuilding isn't all about making big profits... otherwise we'd all be doing it, rather than spending time posting on this forum.

Section62

erik85 said:

tacpot12 said:

[...]. You also need to consider a range of other issues such as parking - normally new houses would be required to have off-street partking for a minimum of 2 cars. [...]

that's a very interesting comment; in this residential area they have converted an old manufacturing site into a new residential development, something along the lines of 150 new dwellings and perhaps only as many as 30 have off street parking.
The remaining are supposed to park on street, and obviously not on the streets of the development itself (which are double yellows), but on the streets where all of our houses are located, streets which are already clogged by our parked cars as no property round here has a front drive!
If what you are reporting is factually true, a guess a classical example where the big fishes can do what they want...

Not really.

The planning authority will have published parking standards applying to different types of property.  They might be willing to agree to a development being fully or partially 'car free'.  The standards that one development is required to meet won't necessarily be he same as what you will be asked for.

Those properties out of the 150 that don't have dedicated off-street parking may have a planning condition imposed that they will not be eligible for on-street parking permits if the council implements a resident parking scheme.  Which the developer may have been required to make a S106 contribution towards.

You might be able to ask the council to have your new build designated 'car free' to avoid the need for off-street parking as well - but it is likely the cost of the legal agreements you'll be asked to enter into will exceed the cost of providing the required number of parking spaces instead.