Buying land to build on

[andye30m3]

Hi

Has anyone bought land to build on or do this for a living?

I've found a plot with planning for sale at a reasonable price and was after a little advice on what practical things I need to check for prior to going though with the purchase.

so far I've checked for:

- Flooding
- restrictions on the site
- services serving and running across the site.

what other things should I check before proceeding or which are likely to push the build cost up?

[sleep envy]

check for contaminants and japanese knot weed - remediation costs a fortune

[Busamav]

Trees on or around the site.

[Leondrums]

Trees - yup, check for any TPO (Tree protection orders) on trees. We had to compromise our driveway in order to not affect a particular beech tree. The local TPO officer was a right pain in the arse full stop.

Edited by Leondrums on Wednesday 15th July 13:15

[satans worm]

Soil survey, it will give you a good idea on how deep the foundations may need to be.
Also an architect to vists to give an idea on what he could see being built on the plot.

Edited by satans worm on Wednesday 15th July 15:20

[satans worm]

Soil survey, it will give you a good idea on how deep the foundations may need to be.
Also an architect to vists to give an idea on what he could see being built on the plot.

Edited by satans worm on Wednesday 15th July 15:32

[andye30m3]

Cheers for the replies, doesn't appear to be anything I haven't looked at so far.

Pleased to say there's no major tree's etc on the site. Currently there's just a couple of small sheds in someone's garden

It's quite a small site with planning for a bland 3 bed house which I would be looking to re-design for something much more modern.

I've worked for architectural practises for the last 10 years, generally in a more technical roll and on major sites so haven't got involved in the purchasing of sites so thought I'd ask for some opinions on here.

[mas99]

andye30m3 said:

planning for a bland 3 bed house which I would be looking to re-design for something much more modern.

In which case a discussion with the local planing dept to see if you 'modern' is their 'out of keeping carbuncle'

[Stig]

Leondrums said:

Trees - yup, check for any TPO (Tree protection orders) on trees. We had to compromise our driveway in order to not affect a particular beech tree. The local TPO officer was a right pain in the arse full stop.

Edited by Leondrums on Wednesday 15th July 13:15

Cheaper to just cut it down and take the fine!

[andye30m3]

mas99 said:

andye30m3 said:

planning for a bland 3 bed house which I would be looking to re-design for something much more modern.

In which case a discussion with the local planing dept to see if you 'modern' is their 'out of keeping carbuncle'

Yeh, I'm just drawing up some sketches to show to them, it would have the same footprint as the proposed house with a lower ridge line and less overlooking so hopefully they would see the alterations as positive. The houses in the area are quite a miss match of styles so I hoping a more modern structure will be acceptable to them, if not I could happily build out what has permission with some internal alterations. I've already walked away from site being sold with planning permission for stuff I wasn't happy to build.

Yesterday I spoke to the council regarding another site in a much more sensitive location for a client and they were happy for more modern architecture so long as it was of good quality so hopefully they will adopt a similar attitude with the site I'm looking at.

[Plotloss]

Stig said:

Leondrums said:

Trees - yup, check for any TPO (Tree protection orders) on trees. We had to compromise our driveway in order to not affect a particular beech tree. The local TPO officer was a right pain in the arse full stop.

Edited by Leondrums on Wednesday 15th July 13:15

Cheaper to just cut it down and take the fine!

Or write a series of letters to the council in two or three different company names asking for advice and asking how the TPO can be overturned and how to cut it down.

After about 6 months of this the council may instruct tree fellers to come and cut it down one Saturday at their cost.

Happened on a site I was on last year, big thing in the paper about it, how dare they cut down our tree, it had a TPO etc. Developer said, nothing to do with us, speak to the council, they cut it down.

Strange but true.

[Leondrums]

Mmmm - do you mean create phantom business' that object to the tree? For what purpose could they object?

I'm intrigued - I was told the fine would be £25k..

The tree is lovely but it is definately a workaround and currently means I cant have my electric gates!!

[mas99]

Not just the (substantial) fine. You can be made to reinstate.

We have a local case in progress at the moment. A guy has built a road across a field (agricultural use) as a 'driveway' and extended the house garden into the field. It is currently awaiting an inspectors report for his appeal, but he has been served legal notice to reinstate the original setting. The cost will be substantial.

I dont know how often tpo abuse leads to the full fine, but I suspect that taking the 'f*ck it, I'll just pay it' aproach leads to larger fines (it would if I were the person setting the fines).

[Davi]

chap at the bottom of my FIL's garden got bugger all in the way of fines, just a token amount and made to reinstate. He does it on a regular basis on developments too! I'm assured by the local tree surgeon (who does all the council stuff) that reinstatement of a tree is "within the curtilage" - in other words, chop it down, get told off, replant it where you want so you have negated the problem aspect of it.

Edited by Davi on Thursday 16th July 11:29

[xllifts]

Stig said:

Leondrums said:

Trees - yup, check for any TPO (Tree protection orders) on trees. We had to compromise our driveway in order to not affect a particular beech tree. The local TPO officer was a right pain in the arse full stop.

Edited by Leondrums on Wednesday 15th July 13:15

Cheaper to just cut it down and take the fine!

At £30k per limb that you cut i think not!

[Davi]

xllifts said:

Stig said:

Leondrums said:

Trees - yup, check for any TPO (Tree protection orders) on trees. We had to compromise our driveway in order to not affect a particular beech tree. The local TPO officer was a right pain in the arse full stop.

Edited by Leondrums on Wednesday 15th July 13:15

Cheaper to just cut it down and take the fine!

At £30k per limb that you cut i think not!

£30k maximum fine, per tree not limb. It's a maximum, not a given, and from developers I know it's almost never handed out, seems more common to be in the region of £3k than £30k.

[Sam_68]

Davi said:

£30k maximum fine, per tree not limb. It's a maximum, not a given, and from developers I know it's almost never handed out, seems more common to be in the region of £3k than £30k.

Confirmed.

To get a £30K fine, you'd have to cut down that oak tree in the middle of Sherwood Forest where Robin Hood used to live.

[Davi]

Sam_68 said:

Davi said:

£30k maximum fine, per tree not limb. It's a maximum, not a given, and from developers I know it's almost never handed out, seems more common to be in the region of £3k than £30k.

Confirmed.

To get a £30K fine, you'd have to cut down that oak tree in the middle of Sherwood Forest where Robin Hood used to live.

after pushing over a policeman and a council official, who was waving papers in your face screaming "for the hundredth time we've told you you cannot chop that one down"