Building your own home starts with acquiring a plot of land – and this is your guide to buying a building plot to ensure that process is a success.
While building your own home from scratch can be a rewarding and exciting experience, it also comes with many challenges. One of the most important and difficult steps is finding and buying a suitable plot of land for your project.
This guide will take you through the process of buying a piece of land to build your dream home. The steps to take include:
- Finding your perfect plot of land
- Assessing the land
- The issue of planning permission
- Buying land
Let’s get to it and start at the beginning…
1. Finding Your Building Plot
The first step is to decide where you want to live. It’s always better to decide on an area before starting to look for a plot of land.
Once you have identified your search area, you have to find a plot of land. But how on earth do you find a building plot, I hear you ask. You have several different options:
- Estate agents
- Specialised plot finding websites
- Auction houses
- Government websites
- Go to the source
To increase your chances of finding the perfect plot of land, you want to look at all of the above rather than focussing on just one.
Estate agents
It might surprise you, but many estate agents will have building plots on their books. And there are also specialised land agents that focus only on plots of land.
Register your interest with various local agents of both types to get a heads-up as soon as an opportunity comes on the market.
Make sure you tell them exactly what you are after to ensure they only inform you about plots that will work for you.
Specialised websites
Like for properties, there are also specialised websites for building plots. And they work similarly too: you put in the area you want to build in and your price range, and it spits out available plots.
One such website is Grand Designs Magazine’s Land Finder. If you have ever watched Grand Designs, you will know that the show is all about people building their own unique homes.
This website has all sorts of plots of land on offer, including development land, commercial land and residential land. You can narrow down your search even further, such as for a large or a small site.
Another useful website is Plotfinder, which works similarly to the Grand Designs site. Once you have chosen your area, you can adjust the budget, features and property type.
The last one lets you search for land with or without planning permission, as well as other types, such as development or redevelopment.
PlotBrowser is also a useful website to find your perfect plot of land. The plot types you can choose from include single building plots, multiple plots and replacement dwellings.
As you can see, finding your perfect building plot isn’t as difficult as you might have thought.
Auction houses
If, like us, you are a big fan of Homes Under The Hammer, you know that you can get plots of land at auction.
If you want to go down that route, then make sure you don’t get carried away on the day. It’s easy to go over budget when in the middle of bidding, as the TV show has shown us many times.
Make a list of plots that you are interested in and go and see them. Make sure they are what you are looking for. Otherwise, buying a building plot at auction can become a nightmare.
Once you have won the bid, the plot is yours and if you change your mind there will be charges that apply. It’s also important that you read the legal pack, so you know all you need to know. You might even want your solicitor to have a look at it too.
While buying at auction can be daunting, it could also be the place where you find the perfect plot for your dream home.
Government websites
Another way to find a building plot to buy are different government websites, such as brownfield land registers and the asset disposal website.
Every local authority in England has to have a brownfield land register. Which is a list of sites the authority no longer needs and that are appropriate for residential development. You can register with the local authority in your search area to find out which sites are available.
Some will have planning permission for a residential property in principle, with others you will have to apply for change of use and planning permission. However, given the shortage of housing permissions are likely to be given, but aren’t guaranteed.
The government’s asset disposal website is similar, as it shows you government-owned properties or land that is available to be bought. You will need to contest its current use, so you can build a residential home on the land.
Again, given the housing shortage, this shouldn’t be a big problem in most cases, but it’s never guaranteed.
Go to the source
Finally, you can go to the source. Contact landowners, such as farmers, in your search area to see if they have a piece of land they would be willing to sell. Keep in mind though that in these cases the land won’t come with planning permission.
So you might want to check if you would be granted permission from the local authority before buying a building plot in this fashion.
You can also speak to locals. Have a pint in pubs in your selected area and see if they know of any land that is available to buy. Or maybe your favourite village has a shop where the owner might know of building plots or plots of land that are available.
While these methods are unconventional, they might yield the perfect plot for you.
2. Inspection and survey
When you want to build your dream home from scratch, the perfect plot can seem like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. So when you think you’ve found it, make sure you do your due diligence before you crack open the champagne.
This is where an independent surveyor can be worth their weight in gold. A professional plot assessment will give you the best chance of understanding what you are about to invest in, whether you’re paying the right price for it and what literally lies below the surface.
Professional reports, measured land surveys, and topographical surveys provide a map of the land and the key features on it, such as buildings and trees, walls and walkways, underground utilities, watercourses, overhead cables, boundary and access issues and much more.
Also consider a soil test to inform your foundation design and spot any possible signs of contamination, as well as a desktop analysis of environmental matters.
3. Planning issues
Planning permission is vital if you are going to be able to build on the land, meaning any site that has valid planning consent is going to be much more valuable than one that has either no consent, expired consent, or less than 6 months to go.
Planning permission usually has conditions attached, and it is crucial that you understand their implications before you proceed with the purchase.
Make sure you are absolutely clear about what is and isn’t permitted when buying a building plot and bear in mind that any existing building you are thinking of replacing must be in a habitable state in order to retain its planning status.
Where planning is uncertain or untested, it may be wise to buy the plot subject to obtaining new planning consent. In any event, the professional services of a planning consultant and/or specialist property lawyer may be a worthwhile investment.
One thing to consider is also that land that comes with planning consent is more expensive than land without it. Applying for planning permission is not just time-consuming but also costs money.
You need to get an architect to draw up plans that you can submit, which will involve costs, and you have to pay fees to submit your planning application. Keep this in mind if you are looking at buying a building plot without planning permission.
4. Financing the purchase
Obtaining finance for a building plot is not as straightforward as getting a mortgage for a standard house. Since the value of the land is tied to its planning status (which is temporary), a lender may agree to 60-80% of the plot’s value, to be redeemed when planning consent expires or with a guaranteed date for the start of the build.
You may also need to provide a personal guarantee, a guarantor or other collateral.
Mortgage applications for self-build homes must be accompanied by detailed information about the build and build route, including proposed materials and costings, valid planning approval with drawings, and robust evidence of affordability by the applicant.
It is highly recommended that you work with a dedicated broker for self-build mortgages who will know the lenders in this specialist market segment. They can guide you towards the most appropriate product, and help prepare a successful application.
You can get equity loans in the UK to help you buy a building plot for a self build. There are different schemes for England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland doesn’t offer such a scheme.
While there are differences, they will loan you money to buy land and cover the cost of the build. It’s definitley worth looking into this, ideally before you start looking for your building plot.
5. Agreeing the price
Valuing a building plot is not an exact science. It usually involves working back from the likely market value of the finished build, subtracting design and build costs to arrive at a maximum guide price for the land.
You should use your due diligence to determine your maximum offer price before you start negotiating with the seller, a process that can take many weeks.
If there is a lot of competition for the purchase of the land, it may be difficult to reach a successful conclusion quickly, especially if you need a mortgage in order to proceed.
In some cases, sealed bids may be invited, meaning you get one shot at putting your best offer forward, leaving the seller to make his final choice based on price and purchaser profile.
6. The legal process when buying a building plot
The conveyancing process is carried out by a property lawyer who will follow the Conveyancing Protocol guidelines. They will conduct a series of standard searches on your behalf, including environmental, utilities, and drainage searches. Your solicitor will also check the Land Registry title, if there is one.
Given the history of any building plot, the title plans and deed narrative are often hard to make sense of. It goes without saying that you should check the accuracy of the boundary positions and plot dimensions, and that it matches the planning consent.
The title deed may go back many centuries, detailing transfers of ownership through the ages and any legal covenants pertaining to the land. Your legal adviser should alert you to any problems for your intended build arising from this document. Once both parties are ready, contracts of sale will be exchanged and completed, as with any property transaction.
Conclusion – Buying a building plot in the UK
For many people, buying a building plot in the UK can be a challenging but rewarding process, as it allows you to create your dream home from scratch.
However, it requires a lot of research, assessment and planning to find and buy a suitable plot of land for your project.
By following the tips and advice in this article, you can increase your chances of finding, assessing, and purchasing such a plot to deliver your dream home.
Good luck!
