SELF-BUILD EVENT 2009
The first step in undertaking a self-build project is buying the site and is probably the most important stage. You may have some wonderful ideas on design but they could be totally wrong for a certain plot of land.
A plot can have several different meanings and different definitions and I want to explore these with you first. These are serviced plots, plots with planning consent and virgin land.
Firstly you can have the opportunity of buying a plot on an existing residential development which would be called a serviced plot and which would have the necessary connections to water, electricity, drainage and possibly gas already connected to the boundary of the property and it will come with planning consent and design drawings ready for you to go on site and construct a house that fits in and is part of the overall residential scheme.
The laying down of the access or service road to the property would normally remain the responsibility of the overall developer as well as the adoption of the road and services and a serviced plot is about as ready made as you can get. Plots are normally sold off on this basis by a builder or developer who is seeking to recoup some of his initial investment in buying the overall site and laying down the services and whilst there is demand, it is probably not the most favoured of opportunities for self-build.
Secondly we have what I would call traditional individual building plots which benefit from planning consent for development.
This planning consent could be in either outline or detailed form but more likely nowadays the plot would have detailed consent.
Outline consent has essentially established that the particular piece of land has been deemed acceptable by the Planning Authority for residential development but everything relating to that development such as the size, height, layout and orientation of the proposed dwelling has not been determined and is a reserved for a subsequent planning application.
Detailed planning consent literally means that, in that a full set of drawings of the proposed dwelling have been submitted and approved. These will set out the layout of the house, the size and the materials and method of construction. Detailed planning consent normally gives certainty of development whereas a plot with outline planning consent could be more attractive as the detailed design remains to be agreed and it gives you the opportunity of introducing your own thoughts not only on design but also materials and methods of construction.
One should not automatically assume however that detailed planning consent means that you can just walk on site and start building. It is very important to check the location of the nearest services particularly the supply of water and drainage.
Apart from the varying in cost that could be incurred depending on the availability of these, it is critical to ensure that there is sufficient land within the plot to lay out the drainage system if you are using a form of bio treatment plant, septic tank or similar and for the land drains to take away the treated water.
Not all plots with detailed planning consent will have included a detailed design of the drainage system and this may be subject to a reserved matter application.
It is also important to satisfy yourself over the adequacy of the access and that there is no ransom element affecting any part of the access or the development.
This would normally be confirmed through searches enquiries carried out by the Solicitor or conveyancer if one is being used for the transaction but acknowledgement of potential difficulties and matters to be clarified are worth investigating at an early stage.
The reserved matters application that I mentioned relates to restrictions and conditions contained in the planning consent for the land, which are items that need further approval by the Planning Authority. Whilst these can relate to matters such as the design of the drainage system, they also relate to perhaps the type and colour of slate being used on a roof, stone to be used or other materials.
You should also be aware that the planning consent could contain contribution requirements in financial terms such as a payment towards education facilities within the locality, charge for waste management or open space.
You also need to ensure that if the plot subject to a unilateral planning agreement under Section 106 of the Town & Country Planning Act, that you are able to meet these obligations. These could include restriction on the occupation of the property to people having a local connection with the Parish or Parishes, being in housing need or other restrictions which must be understood and clarified to make sure the plot would work for you.
If you don't like the design for the house, you could make a new application with your own design.
Detailed planning consent usually lasts for 3 years and to secure the consent you need to make a meaningful start on development.
Having dealt with plots that are more or less ready to go, you just need to consider other opportunities.
There are obviously self-build groups who would look to acquire land jointly to develop a number of houses where you each assist and contribute towards the construction of the units and Community Land Trust Groups which are being discussed elsewhere today and perhaps what we are all seeking is the piece of land that we can purchase for which no planning has been granted but which we can then achieve planning consent.
This type of virgin development land is naturally going to be more likely located either in the countryside or in smaller villages. These pieces of land are understandably attractive because they have the potential of giving you greater freedom of location and design but I have to say in this day and age, are very difficult to achieve.
These plots could take the form of a type of infill development around an existing cluster of buildings in a small hamlet or adjoining a farm or could be out in the open countryside in a corner of a field or endeavouring to utilise the remains of an old farm building or something similar.
The fundamental difficulty of these types of parcel of land is actually achieving planning consent. Overall I think it is reasonable to say that existing planning policy does not encourage or seek to give consent to new homes in the countryside. The Planning System itself works on a devolved basis with overall planning strategy set by government which is developed into regional spatial strategies which cascades down to Local Authorities who provide the detail of the planning for their area through their deposited Local Plans, County Structure Plans and the current system of Local Development Frameworks and Local Policy Guidance.
There are a number of national planning guidance documents usually known as PPS's (Planning Policy Statements) and I think we are up to about No. 30 now, covering all aspects of overall development with PPS 7 having particular relevance to development in the countryside.
You should not assume that because it looks sensible and reasonable to allow for a house to be constructed in a certain place or on a certain piece of land, that planning consent would be forthcoming because I can assure you it is often very difficult to achieve and more often than not you need to employ professionals to deal with the complex planning application process. If you are successful however you can possibly achieve the house of your dreams.
Most applications require numerous consultant reports to be submitted with it and it can be a costly process.
The different types of plots I have talked about naturally come with different price tags, the most expensive probably being the plot with detailed planning consent with all the drawings and a great deal of certainty of being able to carry out the development and then scaling down to a piece of land or field bought at low cost but which could cost a large sum of money in obtaining planning.
So how do we actually find a building plot or piece of land - I think the answer can be fairly summed up as hard work and research although there are the obvious ports of call such as Estate Agents in the area in which you are hoping to buy. They can give you a great deal of assistance in advising you of what is currently on the market or which may be coming to the market in the near future and from their experience would probably be able to tell you the sort of price the average plot might achieve in the area.
Plots with planning consent can vary from around £60,000 up to several hundred thousand pounds, depending on their size and more importantly their location.
Most plots sold through Estate Agents would be on a standard private sale basis, no different to the way you would normally buy a house, although in the good times it was not uncommon for instances to arise where there were several keen purchasers for the same plot who were then asked to submit their best offers in writing on an informal tender basis to be received at a certain time with the highest bidder winning.
Do keep an eye out for auctions. Auctions are often a popular route for disposal of plots and there is absolutely nothing to be worried about over buying plots at auction and a little twitch or scratch of the nose won't mean you end up buying something you don't want! Again it is essential to do your research first.
Most of these plots of course are advertised through the normal sources such as newspapers and magazines. However the greatest change over recent years has been the introduction of the internet and the numerous property portals, the most well known of which is Rightmove and others such as Property Live run by the National Association of Estate Agents and numerous others which include plots for sale. There are also several sites dedicated to plots sales and to self-build such as Plotfinder.
Other avenues are the Local Planning Authorities who normally, subject to a subscription fee, send out regular lists of planning applications that have been submitted. These will give you contact details of someone who is applying for planning on a piece of land and of course they may be interested in selling it. Other ways are to drive around areas that you are interested in and try and identify pieces of land or locations where you think you might get planning consent and knock on neighbours doors to find out if they own it or alternatively, go to the Land Registry internet site where for a small fee you can usually come up with details of the property owner, assuming that the land is registered.
You need to bear in mind that in the Westcountry, certainly in Devon and Cornwall, alot of land is owned by big Estate families who have a tendency not sell off small parcels of land or if they were thinking of doing so, would get planning consent themselves in order to maximise the value. Alot of land is also owned by the Glebe which is the Church and again usually the same policy pervades that if it has potential for development, the owners will try and achieve the planning consent themselves.
You should be cautious about instances where parcels of land are being divided up into small plots and sold off with the promise of planning in the future as there are cases where it is exceptionally unlikely that planning would be forthcoming at any time and large scale development of agricultural land or greenbelt just won't happen.
If you think you have found a piece of land where you might get planning, before committing yourself to buy go and have a chat with the Local Planning Officer. Pre-application enquiries are generally free of charge and whilst the Officer may be circumspect in giving a straight answer, you will at least get some indication and that should point you in the direction of the policy issues and concerns that your application would raise.
Buying a piece of land outright in the first instance will probably mean you get it at a cheap price but it carries the inherent risk of it not being developable.
Alternatively the owner may be prepared to enter into an agreement to give you the right to buy the land and during which time you go and sort out planning. This is usually done by way of a fixed term option agreement where you might pay a small fee to the vendor which gives you the right to buy the land within say 12/24 months at a fixed price and then you go and get planning.
The attraction of this of course is that if you are unsuccessful, whilst you have lost the money incurred in making the planning application, you are not then stuck with the piece of land. The downside of course is that it may highlight the potential to the owner who decides to go off and try and get planning consent himself in order to maximise the development value.
Apart from planning issues talked about, there are other factors that affect the suitability of land such as the topography, local roads and access, ground stability, contamination and restrictive legal covenants. All these should be investigated and considered before the buying the land.
Actually buying a plot is really no different from buying a house or any other property although I do recommend that you use a Solicitor or Conveyancer as they will be able to check all the relevant facts and issues particularly things like boundaries, access and ownership.
Boundary locations and ownership are very important. You must be certain the house can be built on your plot of land and yes, it has happened where it can't be all fitted on.
I have not talked very much about buying a derelict building or former barn and converting or extending it although most of the principles still apply.
Most people will need funding for the development although it certainly helps if you have the money available to buy the plot in the first instance.
Whilst I am not a Financial Adviser, obviously the funding of both buying the plot and building a house is critically important for any self-builder. The self-build mortgage market has changed significant over recent months and there are now very few lenders in the market. One of the biggest changes is now that mortgages must be calculated on provable income whereas generally in the past, they have been self-certified. The normal criteria would see a loan advance of around 90% of the cost of the plot and staged payments of up to 90% on the build cost subject to the overall total lent not exceeding 75 or 80% of the value of the property on completion.
With some mortgages the staged payments are made in arrears and some in advance in 4 or 5 stages during the build process. The typical rate available during the week was 5.99% fixed for 3 years before reverting to standard variable rate.
However as with all mortgages it is important to take professional advice you ensure you qualify before going ahead, bearing in mind the important change away from self-certified mortgages to those that are affordable on provable income.
I really believe that locating a plot is really down to hard work, research and good luck. Use the internet, use your own contacts and use professional sources. The most difficult bit is more than likely getting planning consent for your dream home once you have found the land.
Thank you.