Hannah27 Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah27 Posted February 7, 2021 Author Share Posted February 7, 2021 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Punter Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Does it have planning consent? Are mains services easily available? Are ground conditions stable? Underground or overhead obstructions? Reasonable access? Have you got the money to do this (budget £2,700 per m2 to be safe)? The rest should be done with your lawyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Contamination and ecology reports maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell griffiths Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 I would say check all you service connection costs. Without meaning to be rude, that is a very small piece of land, so a very small house, so not the highest value, if you suddenly find it will cost £5000 to connect water, £12000 for electricity and £10000 for sewage connection then that could stop the project dead straight away. Do not proceed any further than a couple of grand deposit without checking these things, better to loose a couple of grand than buy something that can never be built. Remember the council might grant planning consent but that doesn’t mean it is actually possible to build it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 The plot size isn't very large so have the LPA indicated whether you can build a one, two, three or even four storey building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 1 hour ago, Hannah27 said: ... advise on what due diligence is recommended when purchasing a plot.... Is this relevant to you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 I would not buy this one without getting planning first. Which would require a lock-in agreement. I think your chances are low without some special factors. Parking requirements are be one obvious issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav_P Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 (edited) 24 minutes ago, Ferdinand said: I would not buy this one without getting planning first. Which would require a lock-in agreement. I think your chances are low without some special factors. Parking requirements are be one obvious issue. Depends where in Bristol... there have been lots of garages (normally at the bottom of a garden of the old Victorian houses which faces straight onto another road) sold off, knocked down and a mews style house put up in its place. They don’t have parking. So plenty of precedents set. Edited February 8, 2021 by Gav_P Typo pointed out by onoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 1 minute ago, Gav_P said: news style house Is that West Country for "mews"? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 2 minutes ago, Gav_P said: Depends where in Bristol... there have been lots of garages (normally at the bottom of a garden of the old Victorian houses which faces straight onto another road) sold off, knocked down and a news style house put up in its place. They don’t have parking. So plenty of precedents set. That's useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav_P Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 1 minute ago, Onoff said: Is that West Country for "mews"? Yarp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roundtuit Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 I'd recommend a proper (local) solicitor rather than a conveyancer for a land purchase (been there, made that mistake...). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve1 Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 Hi Hannah I've just completed the purchase on a small plot in Bristol a couple of months ago! I think there is lots of good advice above but I can recommend my solicitor in Bristol at Wards, Theo Vitagliano. He's a solicitor rather than a conveyancer. I think you do need someone experienced in land transactions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 check if there are utilities running through the plot. if its sewer or fibre it may well make the build unviable as the cost to divert can be immense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah27 Posted February 10, 2021 Author Share Posted February 10, 2021 Thanks all, that's really helpful. On 08/02/2021 at 07:15, Gav_P said: Depends where in Bristol... there have been lots of garages (normally at the bottom of a garden of the old Victorian houses which faces straight onto another road) sold off, knocked down and a mews style house put up in its place. They don’t have parking. So plenty of precedents set. 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. On 08/02/2021 at 09:05, Steve1 said: Hi Hannah I've just completed the purchase on a small plot in Bristol a couple of months ago! I think there is lots of good advice above but I can recommend my solicitor in Bristol at Wards, Theo Vitagliano. He's a solicitor rather than a conveyancer. I think you do need someone experienced in land transactions. Brilliant, thank you - we will see if he has availability. What sort of price should we be expecting to pay in solicitors fees? On 07/02/2021 at 16:26, Russell griffiths said: I would say check all you service connection costs. Without meaning to be rude, that is a very small piece of land, so a very small house, so not the highest value, if you suddenly find it will cost £5000 to connect water, £12000 for electricity and £10000 for sewage connection then that could stop the project dead straight away. Do not proceed any further than a couple of grand deposit without checking these things, better to loose a couple of grand than buy something that can never be built. Remember the council might grant planning consent but that doesn’t mean it is actually possible to build it. 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. On 08/02/2021 at 06:55, Ferdinand said: I would not buy this one without getting planning first. Which would require a lock-in agreement. I think your chances are low without some special factors. Parking requirements are be one obvious issue. 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. On 07/02/2021 at 16:14, Mr Punter said: Does it have planning consent? Are mains services easily available? Are ground conditions stable? Underground or overhead obstructions? Reasonable access? Have you got the money to do this (budget £2,700 per m2 to be safe)? The rest should be done with your lawyer. 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Thought: can you convert this under Permitted Development? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 8 hours ago, Hannah27 said: There's currently a small industrial building Is the land contaminated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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