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Affordable Self Build for a Young Person

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Paul092
Paul092 Posts: 2 Newbie
in House buying, renting & selling
Hello, this is my first post.
I am a 26 year old, who is struggling to afford a first place of my own that isn't a flat, (this area is very expensive). So I have a outlandish idea to build a small affordable house 100sqm. I have found a small patch of land with a derelict cottage that need knocking down, I have finally tracked the owner a local farmer, and established the where the nearest services are.
Finally the bit I need advice with. When I ask the owner if I can buy it subject to planning, I obviously pay for the outline planning but, what is stopping the owner from pulling out and selling the land when property prices are even higher.
Many Thanks for any advice
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  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 44,427 Forumite
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    have found a small patch of land with a derelict cottage that need knocking down, I have finally tracked the owner a local farmer,

    Is there an agricultural occupancy condition attached?
  • Doozergirl
    Doozergirl Posts: 33,813 Forumite
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    xylophone wrote: »
    Is there an agricultural occupancy condition attached?

    Is it currently registered as a dwelling? Does it have a council tax banding?

    You can take something called an 'option' on buying the land subject to your gaining planning permission before a certain date.

    This isn't easy territiory to navigate and self building isn't cheap - whtwrh it's your time or your money. My husband and I have been through the rinser trying to negotiate the path to planning permission for self-build. We've got there in the end but the journey hasn't been all that fun!
    Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627 Forumite
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    Self build isn't guaranteed to be cheaper than buying house that is already built.


    What has actually happened is that you have a job that doesn't pay enough for you to live in your chosen area. In order to buy a property what you have to do is to get a job that does pay enough or to get a job in an area where property is not so expensive.



    The trick to buying a property is to work in an area where what you earn means you can save a lot of money and then can afford to buy.
  • Paul092
    Paul092 Posts: 2 Newbie
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    Thanks for replying, the property and even the surrounding land that is being farmed, is not under any title deeds, so I have already done a fair bit of detective work. The property doesn't look like anyone as been near it since the 70s and least, the local council don't seem aware it exists. My budget is £250 which is do able as I will do a fair bit of the work, and have had my hand in a few different trades.
  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627 Forumite
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    Paul092 wrote: »
    Thanks for replying, the property and even the surrounding land that is being farmed, is not under any title deeds, so I have already done a fair bit of detective work. The property doesn't look like anyone as been near it since the 70s and least, the local council don't seem aware it exists. My budget is £250 which is do able as I will do a fair bit of the work, and have had my hand in a few different trades.


    What do you mean by not under any title deeds?
  • Slithery
    Slithery Posts: 6,046 Forumite
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    Paul092 wrote: »
    My budget is £250
    You can get a half-decent 2 man tent for that, yes.

    I've just bought 2/3rds of an acre and my budget is around £50,000 - and that's doing all of the work myself :)
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,449 Forumite
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    Paul092 wrote: »
    I have found a small patch of land with a derelict cottage that need knocking down

    Are you sure it needs knocking down? It might be much cheaper to just rebuild the bits that need rebuilding.

    Paul092 wrote: »
    Finally the bit I need advice with. When I ask the owner if I can buy it subject to planning, I obviously pay for the outline planning but, what is stopping the owner from pulling out and selling the land when property prices are even higher.

    There are 2 typical approaches for doing this...
    1. A "conditional contract" (i.e. completion is conditional on planning consent being granted)
    2. An "option agreement" (i.e. giving you the irrevocable option to purchase, if planning consent is granted)

    Typically, you would pay both the farmer's legal fees and your own. It's a specialist area, so the legal fees for either approach might be a thousand or three. Plus the planning fees and costs.

    ...and if you don't get planning consent, it's lost money.
  • Doozergirl
    Doozergirl Posts: 33,813 Forumite
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    Paul092 wrote: »
    Thanks for replying, the property and even the surrounding land that is being farmed, is not under any title deeds, so I have already done a fair bit of detective work. The property doesn't look like anyone as been near it since the 70s and least, the local council don't seem aware it exists. My budget is £250 which is do able as I will do a fair bit of the work, and have had my hand in a few different trades.

    Be careful here.

    Saying it isn't under 'any title deeds' doesn't actually make sense, but I'm presuming you have asked the Land Registry to find the registration docuemtns and there are none as the land is unregistered as it has been in the same ownership for an awfully long time.

    That's pretty irrelevant.

    What is relevant is the status of the building as a dwelling with the council. If it has not been lived in for 40 years then it is highly possible that it isn't registered as a dwelling at all. Being in the countryside, planning restrictions are tight and it might be that the local authority are resistant to granting permissiion for a new dwelling (despite evidence of a previous one) or may slap an agricultural residency order on it, meaning it's tied to being for a farm worker.
    Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
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    xylophone wrote: »
    Is there an agricultural occupancy condition attached?
    If it's an old cottage there won't be, but that's not to say there couldn't be if it is made habitable via a new planning application.

    However, relaxation of planning rules for redundant farm buildings, known as Section Q, suggests that conversion of existing structures could be looked upon more favourably than in the past. Depends on the council.
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
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    I'd like to hope that £250 really means £250,000 (because you're not going to get more than the tent that Slithery mentions for £250). How much of that do you already have, and how much will require a mortgage? Because for a self-build you really need to have some up-front resources to pay for materials and work done until the mortgage pays out (which is likely to be in several tranches as work progresses).
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