Co-purchasing £1-1.2m Rural House in Barnsley/Sheffield/Peak District

samwisezambeezi

Hi guys,

We're a late 30s child-free, professional couple, and have been looking for our next house move in the Barnsley/Sheffield area for over a year now, without having much luck finding exactly what we want.

We don't necessarily want a big house, but ideally it would be detached, rural or semi-rural, with garden and outdoor space, preferably surrounded by views and greenspace. Areas around the edge of the Peak District would be perfect.

We're looking to spend around £500-600k and, although we've found a couple of examples and made offers on them, in the end we've been unsuccessful, finding that they were undervalued/listed too low, and in the end, winning offers have been well out of our price range.

I'm wondering whether it might worth exploring the idea of finding a partner or partner couple who are in a similar position who might be interested in co-purchasing a bigger house in the £1m-1.2m range, that can then be split into two separate residences, effectively ending up with use living as neighbours in a big semi-detached.

I'm aware that this would be a somewhat more complicated process but I've seen a handful of stunning houses in this price range that tick all our boxes and that, without doing too deep a dive, look like both the house and the plot could be easily split into two, ending up with a house that's much nicer than what's available anywhere in the £500-600k price range.

Just wondered if anyone has any experience, thoughts/opinions or advice on the idea, and if anyone might be able to suggest where we might go about finding or looking for co-purchasing partners? 

Thanks in advance

Sam

user1977

How are you going to finance it? Sounds like you'd need development finance (in partnership with your newfound friends) before you can buy and subdivide whatever you find.

samwisezambeezi

Hi, thanks for your response.

We have cash deposit and a decision in principle for a regular mortgage to buy a £500-600k house. I was kind of hoping that if we could find a co-purchasing partner in a similar situation then we would just need to raise a joint mortgage to buy the house as it is currently; a single dwelling.

Exactly how we then finance and carry out the work associated with separating it would depend on the property, extent of the work and our financial situation - ideally we'd have cash enough to cover it.

Can I ask why you think we might need developer finance? Cheers.

jim1999

There are just so many problems here it's hard to know where to start.

You'd have to convince another couple to go in on this purchase for you, with little idea up front how much it would cost to do the conversion and legal work. It is hard to believe that someone you've never met would trust you enough to do that.

Then you've got the legal problem, in that you'd have to each buy half of the house, and somehow convince a mortgage provider to lend against the whole property with four people buying it, in the knowledge that you intend to break the property in two. I cannot see any lender being OK with that.

I can see two ways of it working.

One would be where you buy with family members, and effectively you're all quite happy with living in the property as one big dwelling. You can subdivide informally, and maybe informally later, but you're buying one property as one group.

Two would be where you buy the entire thing, finance the whole project, then split it down into two, and then sell off the other half.

But somehow getting 4 people to buy a property between them and subsequently split it? Maybe, just maybe if you were all cash buyers, but even then I can't see why the other couple would trust you enough (assuming they don't know you beforehand) to take all of the risks associated. What if the building work to split suddenly costs a fortune? What if you suddenly disagree about the subdivision?

I've probably already written too much on this!

user1977

Can I ask why you think we might need developer finance? 

Because a normal mortgage isn't going to permit you to carry out major changes like subdividing the property. It isn't what they valued, and they don't want to risk repossessing a building site.

daveyjp

Peak District is expensive. East of M1 around jcn 31 near Sheffield is cheaper:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/160135667#/?channel=RES_BUY

secla

Only way I could really see it working would be to find a way to finance the entire project short term do the work and then sell of the "other house"

Any other way is just to fraught with problems

Grumpy_chap

The OP's first criteria for a house was "ideally it would be detached".

Buying a big house and cutting it in half won't achieve that objective.

RelievedSheff

Have you tried widening your search area a little bit further?

We moved out to the other side of Sheffield but still commute into Sheffield for work. You get a lot more for your money out this way than you do in Sheffield. We were initially in Gateford but have recently moved aross the A57 to Shireoaks.

Your budget will get you a lot of house out this way and in the surrounding villages and you are never far from the countryside out this way but have excellent commuter links to the M1, A1, A57 and M18.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/168835658#/?channel=RES_NEW

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/87948423#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/88470600#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/174272732#/?channel=RES_BUY

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6672200/co-purchasing-1-1-2m-rural-house-in-barnsley-sheffield-peak-district

Just wondered if anyone has any experience, thoughts/opinions or advice on the idea, and if anyone might be able to suggest where we might go about finding or looking for co-purchasing partners? 

Echoing user1977's comments - the biggest barrier you face is financing what in effect is a development project. You and the potential partners are likely to need all the purchase money to fund as cash buyers, or else somehow manage to borrow the money on commercial terms.

From a practical perspective, sub-dividing a dwelling is typically very disruptive, it is unlikely you'd be able to live in the property while the work is done, so in addition to finding the funding, you'd also need partners willing to live in a caravan or rent somewhere else for the duration of the work. The required work would be considerably more than just blocking up some doorways and installing a second kitchens and bathroom. Building regulations would require sufficient separation between the dwellings to control noise, and especially for resisting the spread of smoke and fire. You'd also need to add a second staircase (if the property doesn't have one already) which is likely to mean the loss of an upstairs room to create the stairwell.

Related to all the above, sub-dividing an existing dwelling is likely to need planning consent. Once you've got your plans and reports prepared and submitted, a planning decision will probably take at least 8 weeks (if approved) and 6 months (or more) if you need to appeal. Applying before you complete the purchase risks lost money (likely >£5k) if the sale falls through, applying after purchase extends the time before you can move into your separated homes and at worst, if refused, being joint owners of one home that you aren't be allowed to sub-divide.

Jointly buying a smaller house on a large plot of land might be more feasible - one partner gets the house, the other a building plot. But again this would only work if planning consent were likely to be given, and if you can find a partner looking for a building plot and has the cash to throw in the pot.

gazfocus

There are a few issues with what you're thinking of doing.

Before even thinking about the practicalities of finding a random couple to buy half a house alongside you, you would need to be sure that you can get planning permission to split a £1-1.2m house into 2 semi detached houses. I personally think that's going to be a tough challenge.

Secondly, even if you find a lender that will lend to two unrelated families, no residential mortgage lender is going to give permission to split their £1-1.2m security into 2 separate houses hence why someone suggested development finance above.

You've then got the costs of actually splitting the house - in addition to the actual building work, you've got to split the utilities which could involve re-wiring and re-plumbing the entire property, you'd then have to have the 2 separate properties assessed for council tax, etc.

I personally think the idea is fraught with issues and concerns and I honestly think it's one best left alone.