Hello from a complete Newbie

[Strudel]

Hi all,

 

I'm so glad I've stumbled across this forum. I've been lurking for a couple of weeks and it's been invaluable. We're very early in our adventure and are still looking for a plot - focusing on Surrey and Kent around the M25 border; basically within a decent commute of central London. We're hoping to get about 0.3 of an acre and, having lived in London Zone 2 for a while now my partner is very keen on actually having some greenery around us.

 

Spoken to a couple of land owners but haven't progressed to actually buying anything yet. Got a fairly solid idea of what we want our new home to look like (both externally and in terms of layout etc.) and importantly what we can afford!

 

My partner and I have zero experience in the building game, but my father used to run a small family construction business so we've got someone to get advice from at least. 

 

Looking forward to seeing all the other wonderful projects on here as well.

 

Thanks,

Edited November 17, 2020 by Strudel

[Declan52]

Welcome. Your going to be paying a lot for a site in that location. 

[patp]

Welcome to the journey

[Bitpipe]

Welcome, I'm in Berkshire M4 J8/9 so pretty representative of the type of area you're looking in.

 

We (and many others here) bought a tired existing house and demolished it to rebuild. Land is very rare and if you find it and can afford it, ask why no-one has developed it yet for love or profit.

 

If you buy and demolish, you will have all services and access established (can cost you many tens of thousands to get to a green site). You will also qualify for the same zero VAT self build scheme. Very likely to get planning (unless its in a conservation zone, listed etc, in which case look for something else).

 

You are paying for a building to flatten which can be a bit mind bending and you need to get a self build mge or use your own funds for the actual build as no lender will countenance this (ask me how I know ).

 

However you can still buy with a standard mge initially and live in it while you develop and get approval for plans so a standard 2 year mge commitment is fine, just don't do a 5 year fix like I do and then try and wriggle out of it without a redemption penalty.

 

 

 

[patp]

I would be interested to know if it is always a given that you can demolish a house in order to rebuild on the site? It has happened several times around here but when one of the developers tried to do it again the council said "no". It was a huge plot (old farmhouse with paddock) and they got planning to build on the paddock. The old farmhouse stands looking sad now and I just wonder what would happen if they chose to demolish it. It is not listed.

[Jilly]

I have a friend who couldn't get permission to demolish and rebuild so they went down the route of Permitted Development and ended up with a bigger house than that which they asked for originally. Bit like Trigger's Broom, there isn't much left of the old house. 

[patp]

I wonder, if you took it to law, if they could stop you demolishing your own house? It would be a terrific risk but if in a residential area surely they would have a hard time refusing planning permission to build on the empty plot???

[Onoff]

19 minutes ago, patp said:

I wonder, if you took it to law, if they could stop you demolishing your own house? It would be a terrific risk but if in a residential area surely they would have a hard time refusing planning permission to build on the empty plot???

 

If you've a mortgage on it then is it really your house?

[Bored Shopper]

Welcome! We are in Surrey, within M25, 30 min commute to Waterloo.

We demolished our old bungalow and rebuilt as a proper 4-bed, the plot is small (well, infill build in town, not much room), but it is doable.

Good luck with your search, and enjoy reading the forum!

[Bitpipe]

1 hour ago, Onoff said:

 

If you've a mortgage on it then is it really your house?

 

Well, it's your house but you've secured a loan on it so by demolishing it you revoke the contract and they ask for immediate repayment of the loan. Ask me how I know this

 

[Bitpipe]

2 hours ago, patp said:

I wonder, if you took it to law, if they could stop you demolishing your own house? It would be a terrific risk but if in a residential area surely they would have a hard time refusing planning permission to build on the empty plot???

 

I believe if you don't have planning to demolish then they can make you rebuild to the original design.

 

However unless you're in a conservation area or the property is listed then hard to see why they'd refuse.

 

Edited November 18, 2020 by Bitpipe

[Strudel]

Thanks all for the welcome.

 

I'm not sure buy to demolish would be feasible for us given where we're looking; it would probably take everything we've got to buy the place in the first instance and then leave nothing with which to actually build the new place. We appreciate it's going to take a while to find land but we're in no rush.