Buying land

yorkiechick

Me and my partner have always dreamed of building our own house but suitable land in the area we want to live seems to be like unicorn poop!

I've seen an advert for a 2 acre plot of land, but the advert is very vague as to the potential uses. How can I go about finding out what the land can/can't be used for? I emailed the estate agent and they said residential planning would be unlikely, however there are houses as well as a golf resort in the vicinity. 

I've checked the Land Registry and there are covenants in place, but from what I can tell these only relate to the air space as the land isn't far from an old RAF site and a currently closed airport.

CKhalvashi

The Local Authority may or may not be helpful with regard to this, both the one with planning responsibility and any authority below them who will be consulted.

ProDave

First check the planning history of the site, has anyone tried, and failed to get planning permission.

You can pretty much guarantee if the land is being sold without planning permission for residential, the vendor has either tried and failed, or knows the chances are almost 0 and has decided to sell with no planning being applied for rather than a refusal.

What part of the country are you looking?  Some places are quite easy and cheap to buy a building plot, others near impossible and silly money on the rate occasion a plot comes up for sale.

comeandgo

Where I stay, if a piece of land can get planning permission it is sold advertising this and has the permission in place.  If land can’t and would very unlikely get planning then it’s just sold as land.  The premium on land with planning permission is so high any person selling land gets this in place first.

RAS

I'm guessing this is near Robin Hood?

CSI_Yorkshire

Local plan, local development statement, local planning maps.

propertyrental

Some councils are more approachable than others. If they are, speak to a planning officer.

babyblade41

Just for guidance in the SE a small plot of land with PP for a very small 2 bed house was going for 300k and was sold very quickly, obviously up north this would be a lot cheaper but the next thing to consider is the building after/if PP is given 

Trust me self build is very expensive especially without any knowledge at all .. we are doing a barn conversion, very basic  but the escalating costs are quite huge , thankfully we had a built in pot as we have done it before and it always throws curve balls 

My advice is possibly read everything you can about self build first, but in your case if the land hasn't been snapped up by a local developer then the chances of getting PP are virtually 0 

GDB2222

What is your timeframe? It is possible that one day the government will be so desperate to get more houses built that the planning regime will be relaxed. 

Until then, you will own a field.

eddddy

yorkiechick said:

I emailed the estate agent and they said residential planning would be unlikely...

Estate agents will always be very optimistic in any answers they give.

So if they say planning is "unlikely" - I suspect they mean "no chance whatsoever".

But you can ask your local planning authority. You can probably write them a letter asking for "pre-application advice" - but they'll almost certainly charge you a fee. Check the "planning" section of your local council's website.


But also bear in mind that if there really is any planning potential, developers will almost certainly have spotted it (and they'll probably have a much better idea of the planning potential than you do, because it's their job). So you might have some tough competition.

secla

Price is usually a good indicator as well, Anyone selling land that has even the possibility of getting planning will price it accordingly, If its priced at closer to the farm land side of things then you know theres no chance.

A 1 acre plot has gone up recently near me with planning for 4 houses on it for 650k