Possible to buy a cottage in a rural location for under 50k/or derelict and be allowed to do it up?

daveyjp

Anyone who is selling a non residential property with 'redevelopment potential, subject to planning permission', may well know getting planning permission will be a lengthy uphill battle they don't have time or funds for as a non resi with planning permission would be worth far more.

FreeBear

Another point to consider with any property is access. Any repairs/renovation is going to need materials to be delivered and waste removed. If access is limited, you could well be screwed. A couple of examples in mind..

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/24138966.most-remote-cottage-yorkshire-dales-removed-market/ - 4-wheel access, and only after negotiations with landowner for rights to cross their land.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/145859597# - On the face of it, looks like a good plot. But you can not put access in from the main road, so you'd need to use a private track. Even then, there is a ransom strip that would need to be crossed.

I had looked at an ex water authority property that was up for sale - A water storage tank that had serious conversion potential due to views. Someone had already tried getting planning permission, but it got thrown out. One of the main reasons was access to the site being considered dangerous by the Highways Dept.

Some properties are cheap for a reason - Do your research very carefully.

Jaybee_16

Living in rural Wales it seems to be the norm for any planning permission for a rural property to be subject to rare species surveys and bat surveys, neither of which are cheap. All these things eat into a renovation budget which may not be massive to start with. 

RelievedSheff

Properties like the two you have posted links too are cheap for a reason.

Gaining planning permission for change of use will be a lengthy and expensive process before you even start with the costs and time spent to renovate to a habitable condition.

RHemmings

user1977 said:

GervisLooper said:

user1977 said:

What sort of "derelict" are we talking? Do you have examples?

I wouldn't expect there to be a need for planning for the use if it was previously residential in its own right (e.g. not merely for an employee on a farm) and hasn't been used for something else in the interim.

Only just starting looking but something like this.

Well, that was a chapel. So unless you wanted to continue using it as a church, yes you would need planning consent for change of use.

The property stands in a pretty corner plot and offers possible conversion subject to obtaining the appropriate consents.

The magic words. Similar to 'subject to planning permission'. 

In these situations it's sometimes possible to check the property and find if someone has made an attempt to apply for planning permission for residential use, and if that has been refused. It seems not uncommon for people to buy a property, attempt planning permission, get refused, and then sell the property onto the next person. 

Looking up the postcode SA32 8QR, I find this is the area of that postcode. 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Broad+Oak,+Carmarthen+SA32+8QR/@51.8991513,-4.0688869,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x486efe83019eb525:0x2012fd60ab6965e8!8m2!3d51.901081!4d-4.0573767!16s/g/1tmql6l4?entry=ttu

And, looking for planning permission (since 2007), I can't find anything that appears to be the chapel. https://www.carmarthenshire.gov.wales/home/council-services/planning/my-nearest-planning-information/?searched=true&Easting=258408&Northing=224599&Language=en-GB&Address=RHYD+YR+AFON,+BROAD+OAK,+CARMARTHEN,+SA32+8QR&Catchment=Planning_Applications_From_2007_Onwards_iLocal

Note that I also haven't found the chapel on Google Streetview. Others may be able to find it, but I couldn't. That would make it easier to confirm if anyone has tried to turn it into a house before. 

RAS

I have found the Chapel on Streetview; it's quite some way from Broad Oak, north on a corner.  I'd note that the Google map appears only to outline the main Chapel building, not the vestry. There a number of issues that struck me:

There is a gate in the middle of the railings, which seems to lead to the front door. There is an adjacent verge. It is unclear what right of access the owner would have over the grass verge, without which the property is landlocked. There does not appear to anywhere to park a vehicle.

The details helpfully advise that an electrical supply is connected to mains electricity. They are silent on the issues of water supply and sanitation. Trying to fit any sort of treatment plant within the curtilage might be a challenge, ditto rain water disposal?

The interior photos facing the minister's podium show a large crack on the left hand side. I'd want a report on possible subsidence in that corner.  

I'd want to be clear about the right to rebuild on the vestry footprint, as this may or may not be possible.

The old school is even more interesting.

The building comprises a stone built room, with modern flat roofed ancillary accommodation to the entrance end. 

The details, floorplan 1 and photos 4 and 5 indicate that access is via the front path, round the corner up a ramp into the entrance hall. Floorplan 2 only outlines the original building, suggesting the ancillary structure is path way? 

And the vital left hand front corner that is currently occupied by the ramp is outside the curtilage?

secla

caprikid1 said:

"Both of the properties tell you in the advert that it is subject to relevant permissions or planning permission which means they currently dont have permission to be used as a residential property. This will notably reduce the price as you could buy it and planning permission is refused you are stuck with a chapel or school house"

I believe a conversation with local planning may help you get a clearer picture of the chances of planning being granted.

If it could be easily changed to a residential then the owner would have done it and the price would then reflect that, if its subject to planning approval more than likely it will be expensive difficult or impossible to obtain.

I have seen derelict properties in rural areas pretty cheap but you would generally have to be a cash buyer as if there bad enough to be super cheap then probably not mortgageable 

Grizebeck

Buy a house in one or the mining villages/towns in the valleys and you will have no issue buying a 2 bed terrace for 50k....