Hello all,
In short I'm in my late 20's, moved out of London and no longer want to rent - but also don't like the idea of having a 25 year mortgage despite being able to afford it and have a decent paying career. I've always wanted to build my own home or have something that's entirely mine, rather than buying a flat in a crowded block or a terraced house and it never quite feeling 'mine'. I realise plenty of people are happy with this, but for me the idea of such a large mortgage for a very small space with expensive bills ontop and it never feeling truly like my own is a hard pill to swallow, and however difficult or unlikely, I'm continuing to look for an alternative. There has to be a different way of carving out a life beyond forever renting, or being in a mortgage for at least 10-15 years.
I'm still in the dreaming/researching stage in trying to figure out what my options really are, but at some point in the near future I'll need to decide on a route.
Currently it seems..
Buy a small plot of woodland, build something small and green, use the 4 year rule to retroactively apply for planning permission/change of use for the land, assuming I'm not noticed by the council. This is risky, and expensive given the cost of land, but the plot would only need to be fairly small, the rest comes down to relationship with neighbours/other land owners being happy with what I'm doing.
Find a piece of land at reasonable cost with no PP, enter into an option contract, apply for PP, and proceed if I get it (which by the looks of it seems rare unless it's already a residential plot which would defeat the purpose, as they often run 100k-200k+), build a small home.
Build a tiny house, rent or buy land, this is also risky but not so much if it's moveable on a flatbed or trailer as worst case I can move on, and at least in my current area there are plenty of farms, at least a few of which likely wouldn't mind me being tucked away in the corner. The problem with this is it'll never feel like a permanent, secure situation which is what I'm looking for.
I'd like to stay in East Anglia, but it seems only parts of Wales are more sympathetic to this way of living and have a good record of approving planning permission.
I'll be stealing ideas from this forum and hopefully taking in all the advice I can! Though my goals are probably a little different from most here.