Hannah27

Thanks all, that's really helpful. Yes this is exactly the situation - lots of precedent on the same road (2 and sometimes 3-storey dwellings), with LPA seemingly happy to accept bike storage rather than inbuilt car parking. Brilliant, thank you - we will see if he has availability. What sort of price should we be expecting to pay in solicitors fees? There's currently a small industrial building with electricity, water and sewage, and our plan is to demolish and rebuild, so the existing utility access should help keep costs down. It doesn't have planning yet but we intend to do a pre-application enquiry to suss things out first before completing the purchase. We are going to try and put as much detail in this enquiry as possible, including some basic plans, so that we can be as informed as we can on what we can/can't build, at this stage. We are hoping to build a 2-storey building with a roof terrace (as the plot isn't big enough for a garden), which we hope should be possible as there are very similar developments on the same road. These are all sensible points, and we will take all these into consideration - we have a budget in mind per m2, based on previous conversations with the architects firm we are hoping to work with. The plot still needs to be accurately measured to arrive at the final footprint size - should cost per m2 be calculated on the total size of the footprint, or on the internal living space? Bear in mind with this plot it's likely the building will cover the entire footprint, so no garden etc (roof terrace instead). Thanks so much for your help and expertise, everyone! It's great to have this supportive resource. Hannah

Actually, it would be really helpful if anyone is able to advise on what due diligence is recommended when purchasing a plot. Obviously we will be asking a conveyancer to carry out their checks, but what additional information should we be trying to find out?

Hi Folks, We are a young couple on the road to building our first home in Bristol. We have found a small plot (approx 50sqm) and settled on a price with the seller, and are now looking for a conveyancer (any recommendations for a firm based in Bristol?). We are hoping to use a ‘design & build’ firm to deliver the project. One of the quirks of our plot is that it is a garage that adjoins a back garden, and the garden path for the rear property runs alongside our plot. We are curious about how much we might offer to purchase the path and add this into our plot - does anyone have any thoughts? We want to do this because Bristol City Council stipulate that you have to have bin and bike storage built in as part of the design, and we would rather not lose precious square-metrage from the internal space, though it's not essential in terms of our plans. We are excited about the journey ahead!