Makkers82

Thanks All for your comments, really useful stuff. Alfie - I'm going to check out those videos and will be in touch!

Hi All, We've only just started on our paragraph 80 (formerly 79) application and we already feel like we're butting heads with the local planning department. Our plot lies 'in the countryside, outside of the settlement boundary' (based on nearby applications), but in their pre-application advice the local planning officer said that it was not deemed to be 'isolated', due to it having neighbouring properties to the north and south, and it being around 250m from the nearest village (without any services etc.). The officer quoted the Braintree judgement to back up this assessment, and seemed to suggest that it should be an end to the matter ('highly unlikely" that the planners would support our application). I'm a bit confused by the whole thing - The site is in the open countryside, away from facilities, villages etc, although there are a couple of other houses nearby. Is the planners assessment fair and how much weight should we give to it? Should we just ignore and crack on with a full application, or do we need to fight this battle first? I get the feeling that the whole 'isolated' debate is still pretty much open to interpretation - Can we argue this point? Any and all thoughts welcome! Many Thanks

Hello All, I'm back for some more advice - My wife and I are very close to securing our dream plot (hopefully confirmed over the next couple of days!), but we've ended up paying much more for it than anticipated. This will have the knock on effect of lowering what funds we have available for the actual build (through self-build mortgage and savings). In our initial discussions with our architect, he estimated build costs at £2,500 per m2 for the style of house that we wanted, decent quality finish etc., although said that he had recently completed a project which came out at closer to £2k per m2. I have a couple of questions: a) If I took on some of the low level work myself, i.e. painting and decorating, tiling, a bit of plumbing etc, how much could I shave off the cost per m2? b) Could we save costs by contracting a builder to construct a waterproof shell, then organise individual trades ourselves to finish off the build? c) We want to build a 'large' 4 bedroom house - How big would you estimate this to be, in m2? I was aiming for c. 300m2 but have a feeling this might be waaaaaaay bigger than I think it is..... All thoughts and comments welcome! Thanks

Thanks ProDave - Our offer is £150,000 so I think this is 0%, just wanted to make sure that this is classed as non-residential for SDLT.

Hi All We've just put in an offer on a building plot which has outline planning permission, essentially part of a farmer's field - Will stamp duty be payable on our purchase and if so at which rate? Is it currently classed as non-residential? Many Thanks!