House sold can’t find somewhere to live

[Kelvin]

One hurdle cleared next kicks us right in the ass. We sold our house in England  really quickly  for a great price and the buyers want to go quickly. The problem is we cannot find a rental in Scotland with 15-20 people viewing every property we have zero chance of getting one as we have two dogs and everything is nae pets. We are months away from being able to put a static caravan on the plot so are a bit stuck. One option is to buy a new build in the area where we have bought the plot. One has come up that i can secure in the next few days but before I commit does anyone have any suggestions? Ideally in Perth & Kinross but anywhere will do really. 

[Mr Punter]

Other than the cost of Stamp Duty, if you could afford to live in the new build while you get your self build underway it could be nicer than living in a caravan.

[nod]

It’s the same everywhere 

We've friends that have come back from living in Africa and they have been living in a hotel for 11 weeks With no sign of a rental 

 

[Buzz]

Any holiday parks / lodges in the area that might do a deal on a 3-6  month rental ? not sure on how much the stamp duty would be so difficult to do the maths . 

[ProDave]

The few times I have moved house I have utterly utterly hated the process.  It is either a good time to buy (depressed markets nothing selling quickly plenty of houses to choose from and you can often get them below asking price) OR it is a good time to sell (everything sells instantly over asking price)

 

I have not encountered a time when it has been good to buy and sell at the same time.

 

The last 2 moves have been self build where we bought the site, organised services and the static caravan and then moved onto site, detaching the buy and sell process.

 

Put the sale on hold and wait until you have the plot ready to move onto. You will probably get more for the house in a few months.

[jamieled]

We got a cheap deal on an airbnb for a few months over autumn /winter. Could be worth a shot?

[newhome]

If you don’t have any other options get a cheapish touring caravan and put it on a site until you are ready to move onto the site. 

[Buzz]

16 minutes ago, jamieled said:

We got a cheap deal on an airbnb for a few months over autumn /winter. Could be worth a shot?

Really down to how much you want to spend and for how long ? 

Airbnb would keep it simple and buy time until you are ready to move on site .

 How much will it cost in legal fees and stamp to buy and then how much in agents and legal fees to sell ? but you will have a comfortable environment to live in while you self build. 

 

[Stewpot]

5 hours ago, Kelvin said:

We are months away from being able to put a static caravan on the plot

 

More to compare notes, rather than to offer advice, I'm wondering why you say that? What is preventing you doing it now? Is it a planning issue?

 

I am thinking about doing this myself, and currently there are several likely caravans for not much money available in the area. I'm pretty sure I know what the rules are about doing it (Caravan Act, and Town & Country Planning Order both have something to say about it), but am interested in others' experiences.

[Ferdinand]

The rental market in Englandshire is bunged up partly because COVID has extended to eviction process of unwilling or non-paying tenants to well over a year. assume Scotlandshire is similar.

 

I have 3 properties dependant on getting an estate approved which has been with the authorities for many months, and we are now nearly 2 years on from the death. They have been empty for nearly a year and can't be rented out as it could take 12-18 months to remove new tenants and they could need to be sold at little notice.

 

All empty for between just under a year and 2+ years.

 

 Proceed as best you can, if you can afford it.

 

But don't gub to yourself that you will have done X by Y date, and leave your housing vulnerable therebby - without Plan B.

 

F

[Kelvin]

7 hours ago, Stewpot said:

 

More to compare notes, rather than to offer advice, I'm wondering why you say that? What is preventing you doing it now? Is it a planning issue?

 

I am thinking about doing this myself, and currently there are several likely caravans for not much money available in the area. I'm pretty sure I know what the rules are about doing it (Caravan Act, and Town & Country Planning Order both have something to say about it), but am interested in others' experiences.

We haven’t quite finalised the plot purchase. We’ve agreed the contract and are now at the purification stage. The plot has planning in principle so we need to apply for full planning. Buying a new build with a mortgage will cost less than renting. We’ll need to use some of our house equity for the deposit but we’ll still have our build budget and largish contingency fund. 

 

[Ferdinand]

6 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

We haven’t quite finalised the plot purchase. We’ve agreed the contract and are now at the purification stage. The plot has planning in principle so we need to apply for full planning. Buying a new build with a mortgage will cost less than renting. We’ll need to use some of our house equity for the deposit but we’ll still have our build budget and largish contingency fund. 

 

 

And you will be able to move in before doing eg much of the fitout (eg small  kitchen in the utility), and outside. Maybe.

 

Do  you need full planning before you compete on the plot?

 

If you want to put a porcupine up their posterior, you could start hinting that Rishi might be about to hike CGT. Which IMO has a 50%+ chance of happening.

  

[ProDave]

As soon as you complete the purchase put a static caravan on the site and move in.  Life will be a bit basic until you get services connected so that should be the No 1 thing to get started.  Perhaps a large touring caravan might be easier to live in without mains services in the short term.

 

I very much doubt planning will bother you about a static caravan on a building plot, but when you submit the final plans, mention the temporary static caravan and it will be written into the planning permission.

[DragsterDriver]

14 hours ago, ProDave said:

The few times I have moved house I have utterly utterly hated the process.  It is either a good time to buy (depressed markets nothing selling quickly plenty of houses to choose from and you can often get them below asking price) OR it is a good time to sell (everything sells instantly over asking price)

 

I have not encountered a time when it has been good to buy and sell at the same time.

 

The last 2 moves have been self build where we bought the site, organised services and the static caravan and then moved onto site, detaching the buy and sell process.

 

Put the sale on hold and wait until you have the plot ready to move onto. You will probably get more for the house in a few months.

 We’ve pushed our sale through before the static has electric on the plot- but I’m terrified of staying in my property too long, the economy can change very quickly. Taking the money and running.

[ProDave]

4 minutes ago, DragsterDriver said:

 We’ve pushed our sale through before the static has electric on the plot- but I’m terrified of staying in my property too long, the economy can change very quickly. Taking the money and running.

There is a lot to be said for that.  I have sold 5 properties in my time, and only ONE was quick and easy to sell (and that was more to do with lucky circumstances rather than a buoyant market)

[DragsterDriver]

4 minutes ago, ProDave said:

There is a lot to be said for that.  I have sold 5 properties in my time, and only ONE was quick and easy to sell (and that was more to do with lucky circumstances rather than a buoyant market)

ours has a large annexe and attracted loads of interest (14 viewings first week) and sold second week on the market but was a bit niche if you didn’t want the annexe. 
 

I just thought- end of furlough, price increases on everything. Things can change so fast, sadly I’m old enough to remember a couple of recessions now. Construction is becoming unsustainable with supply and cost, we’re losing heart a bit at work.

[saveasteading]

From recent experience, a temporary caravan is permitted in Scotland. This is perhaps more relaxed because of the 3 year requirement to complete after warrant.

In England I think, put it on the drawings, as mentioned above.

 

A nice , 2 person plus living space (described as 4 berth) can cost £8k to £12k, depending on condition.

An 'end of life' or 'tired' static caravan from a holiday park can be very cheap, even down to say £3k, but then allow £1k for transport, and then quite a lot of cleaning/doing up.

Afterwards you have to sell again and transport or scrap of course, whereas a tourer is easy to move on.

[Stewpot]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

..when you submit the final plans, mention the temporary static caravan and it will be written into the planning permission.

 

I would not do that. I deliberately haven't in my own application.

 

My reading of both the Caravan Act and the Town & Country Planning Order is that they categorically permit you to put a caravan on site to accommodate people working on the building. Further permission from the planning department is therefore unnecessary. However, if you do include them in the process, they can then put conditions and restrictions on it, so the less they know about the caravan, the better, I'd say.

 

One thing I'm not clear about is whether PPP is sufficient, or whether Approved Matters have to be granted - both acts state that permission has to be granted before a caravan is permitted, but the wording seems open to interpretation regarding the level of permission. If you want to keep the planners ignorant of the caravan, then, ipso facto, you'll have to wait until you have full permission, but apparently few planning departments are doing site visits at the moment, so maybe PPP is adequate.

 

A touring caravan would certainly be easier to get onto site (and remove for a while, if it seemed prudent to do so). I've also considered having two cheap tourers and using one for sleeping and washing, and the other for living and cooking - but I can see that some neighbours might be uncomfortable about an apparent encampment suddenly appearing.

Edited September 12, 2021 by Stewpot
Correction

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, saveasteading said:

From recent experience, a temporary caravan is permitted in Scotland. This is perhaps more relaxed because of the 3 year requirement to complete after warrant.

 

 

I wasn't aware of  that.

 

What do they do if you run out of money, get divorced, just don't finish it etc?

 

The English Planner seem to have the underlying idea that people who try to force an end-date that are King Canute. 

[ProDave]

30 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

I wasn't aware of  that.

 

What do they do if you run out of money, get divorced, just don't finish it etc?

 

The English Planner seem to have the underlying idea that people who try to force an end-date that are King Canute. 

If you go beyond 3 years you stump up £100 for building control to extend the building warrant for a time period that they seem free to decide.

 

 

[DragsterDriver]

Private building control do the same in England- not sure about local authority’s?

[Kelvin]

Thanks all. 
 

As already pointed out by DragsterDriver we have a buyer who made a great offer so we just want to get it done now so that we can get on with the next chapter of our life. Buying a house while we build was never in the plan but it’s 3 miles from the plot and we can do it without locking up masses of money we need for the build. There doesn’t seem to be much of alternative at the moment. Plus it completely takes the pressure of us. 

Edited September 12, 2021 by Kelvin

[saveasteading]

2 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

3 year requirement to complete after warrant.

I think this is sensible, to prevent people living in a caravan permanently. 

Buy the site, get planning permission, set up caravan....no more cost, but a permanent caravan would not have been permitted.

It seems that any believable or sensible reason is acceptable, but that there is a limit eventually, when they say 'last chance..6 months'.

 

11 minutes ago, DragsterDriver said:

Private building control do the same in England-

That is news to me...planning requires a start in 3 years and then can take forever. I didn't know there was any building control time limit.

[ProDave]

37 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

I think this is sensible, to prevent people living in a caravan permanently. 

Buy the site, get planning permission, set up caravan....no more cost, but a permanent caravan would not have been permitted.

It seems that any believable or sensible reason is acceptable, but that there is a limit eventually, when they say 'last chance..6 months'.

 

That is news to me...planning requires a start in 3 years and then can take forever. I didn't know there was any building control time limit.

Each time you extend the building warrant you have to give a summary of where you are and what is left to do.

 

There is someone near me who has bought a plot and been living on it for several years now in a yurt.  I don't see any sign of even starting to build a house yet so I doubt he has even applied for a building warrant.

[saveasteading]

1 minute ago, ProDave said:

living on it for several years now in a yurt.

Is he waiting for the yak herds to come through?