Building Land - Final Checks
Legal Checks
It is always advised that a solicitors should act on your behalf and research legal restrictions if the purchase goes ahead, but points are sometimes missed.
Be sure that the land has legal right of access to the public road, especially where this crosses a verge (often owned by the highways agency) or private road, covenants, rights of way across your site, and easements and wayleaves rights for services to cross the land.
The boundaries can also be confirmed by the searches carried out by your solicitor. You need to own the whole site for which planning permission was granted - where you plan to build on the site may not be where the planners had in mind.
The Cost of the Land
Take a look at both the local market and national market for a guide price for the building land. The two main factors contributing to the value of a building plot is 1) the location and 2) planning permission.
If the land is sold as having planning permission, ensure that it is still valid and has not lapsed. Get written confirmation if work is said to have been started to keep the planning permission current. There is no guarantee that planning will be re-approved, and the premium price paid will have been lost.
Outline Planning Permission (OPP) still allows some flexibility to what can be submitted for Approval of Reserved Matters. Equally there is no guarantee that your proposed final designs will be approved.
Detailed Planning Permission is often more expensive. If the designs are exactly what you plan to build then you have saved time negotiating such permission. You can also reapply for detailed planning on different designs, should you wish, without affecting the permissions already gained.
Council Documents
The council holds on file, letters, comments as well as other documentation relating to the land. From this information you will see the factors that were for and against the development of the land and design your house plans accordingly.
