Hi all!

[Duncan10]

Hi everyone,

 

im hoping to start a self build in my garden plot! Planning should be granted next week so very excited. I wonder if anyone had any advice when it comes to self build especially garden plots? I’ve been told by my mortgage company that I will need to split the deeds, has anyone done this before?  Know Costs? And how long would this normally take? 

 

Once this is done I would need to get a separate self build mortgage for the dwelling - does anyone have any recommendations for good providers and who to avoid?

 

sorry for all the questions

[ProDave]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

 

There are several on here building on split garden plots so you will get plenty of help in due course.  Can you post a plan of what you are doing?

[Dreadnaught]

Hi @Duncan10, a warm welcome!

 

I am also in the process of buying a garden plot. And I have just retained my solicitor. I was told that deeds are not split for garden plots until the new buyer is identified, not before. The cost of my solicitor to me is £1,100 + VAT, plus search and other fees of about £320, plus stamp duty, plus land registry fee of £270. I sought 3x quotes before choosing. In my case, there is some complexity as I have an unadopted access road to contend with and some other issues. I imagine that your cost could be lower if the situation is simpler.

Edited April 17, 2018 by Dreadnaught
To correct the fees

[Dreadnaught]

A side note on stamp duty for garden plots. I have had conflicting advice as to whether garden plots are subject to the residential or non-residential rate for stamp duty. For plots costing more than £125,000 the non-residential rate offers a small saving.

[Duncan10]

Hi @Dreadnaught many thanks

 

i believe it to be simple as its straight down the middle the only issue I see is the gas and electric meters for my property at present when split will be on the new dwelling side but this will change once I start building! This my be a problem and I will approach my mortgage company about this. We currently live at the property and will do through out the build.

 

What Construction method will you be using?

I’ve been thinking about solid wall construction with external insulation/render system.

[Duncan10]

18 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Hi and welcome to the forum.

 

There are several on here building on split garden plots so you will get plenty of help in due course.  Can you post a plan of what you are doing?

Thanks @ProDave yes no problem 

[Dreadnaught]

3 minutes ago, Duncan10 said:

What Construction method will you be using?

 

 

We have not finally decided yet. I am buying from a vendor who has the original house and remaining garden. There is an existing design that was used for planning but I intend to vary it to make it into a (near or certified) passive house and will probably use a timber-frame construction of I-beams filled with blown cellulose for insulation. This has the benefit of making the house relatively lighter which is an advantage on my plot as there are tree roots that need to be protected beneath and which will necessitate a complicated foundation structure with piles.

[Duncan10]

11 minutes ago, Dreadnaught said:

A side note on stamp duty for garden plots. I have had conflicting advice as to whether garden plots are subject to the residential or non-residential rate for stamp duty. For plots costing more than £125,000 the non-residential rate offers a small saving.

I can’t see the plot being worth more than £70k so I take it no stamp duty? 

[Dreadnaught]

1 minute ago, Duncan10 said:

I can’t see the plot being worth more than £70k so I take it no stamp duty? 

 

Correct, zero stamp duty. Stamp duty starts at £125k for residential, £150k for non-residential.

[TheMitchells]

12 hours ago, Dreadnaught said:

 

We have not finally decided yet. I am buying from a vendor who has the original house and remaining garden. There is an existing design that was used for planning but I intend to vary it to make it into a (near or certified) passive house and will probably use a timber-frame construction of I-beams filled with blown cellulose for insulation. This has the benefit of making the house relatively lighter which is an advantage on my plot as there are tree roots that need to be protected beneath and which will necessitate a complicated foundation structure with piles.

Can I suggest you take a look at Janet Cotterell and her PH15 system.  I met her a few years ago when I first thought I would be building at Graven Hill and I liked her and her system.  She has researched all aspects of passivhaus and has come up with a system that works and uses the best products at a good price.  her website is http://www.phhomes.co.uk/

I think her system is cut in a factory and then built on site and uses cellulose insulation with a timber frame system.  You can also see one of her builds going up on the www.houseplanninghelp.com website on the Hub.  The site is worth a look if you are still learning as there are loads of podcasts on all aspects of self build.

And I would recomment a visit to Swindon's National Centre for Self build and renovation. https://www.nsbrc.co.uk/

That is a great place for information and inspiration - particularly on one of their open days.  and its free if you pre-=book.

Very exciting time - keep us all informed with lots of photographs.

[Dreadnaught]

11 hours ago, TheMitchells said:

Can I suggest you take a look at Janet Cotterell and her PH15 system.  I met her a few years ago when I first thought I would be building at Graven Hill and I liked her and her system.  She has researched all aspects of passivhaus and has come up with a system that works and uses the best products at a good price.  her website is http://www.phhomes.co.uk/

 

 

Thank you very much for making the suggestion. Yes I have met Jane a couple of times, both times at the Buckinghamshire Passive house that Ben Adam Smith has been featuring on his podcast, which you mention. I also read her book, The Passive House Handbook.

 

Yes PH15 is a nice system, I agree. Well thought through. I was on the phone today with Touchwood Homes about their system, which is similar but differs by having the airtightness barrier on the outside, removing the need for a service void within. An interesting contrast with PH15.

 

Yes, have been to NSBRC a couple of times but planning to return because of learnt so much from contributors such as yourselves and others here on BH and that I will see things with new eyes on my third visit. I plan to go on 11 May for their next "show", when Ben Adam Smith will be talking. 

 

I appreciate your advice.

[jack]

11 hours ago, Dreadnaught said:

I was on the phone today with Touchwood Homes about their system, which is similar but differs by having the airtightness barrier on the outside, removing the need for a service void within. 

 

Did they tell you that today? I was convinced that they'd moved to an inner airtightness barrier a year or two ago, but perhaps I'm misremembering something else.

[jonM]

On 17/04/2018 at 21:14, TheMitchells said:

Can I suggest you take a look at Janet Cotterell and her PH15 system.  I met her a few years ago when I first thought I would be building at Graven Hill and I liked her and her system.  She has researched all aspects of passivhaus and has come up with a system that works and uses the best products at a good price.  her website is http://www.phhomes.co.uk/

I have also had a look around the Buckinghamshire Passivhaus. The PH15 system seems very well set up if you are using a builder who has not built passivhaus before due to its modular nature and support / training available. 

[vivienz]

It may be worth checking with all the various utilities that you can connect in easily. Quite a number of BH members gave commented recently about getting expensive surprises in the form of having to pay for new connections as the existing ones were full or too old to allow an addition. This seems to have cropped up with mains sewers and electricity.

Good luck with the project!

[Ferdinand]

On 17/04/2018 at 20:06, Dreadnaught said:

Hi @Duncan10, a warm welcome!

 

I am also in the process of buying a garden plot. And I have just retained my solicitor. I was told that deeds are not split for garden plots until the new buyer is identified, not before. The cost of my solicitor to me is £1,100 + VAT, plus search and other fees of about £320, plus stamp duty, plus land registry fee of £270. I sought 3x quotes before choosing. In my case, there is some complexity as I have an unadopted access road to contend with and some other issues. I imagine that your cost could be lower if the situation is simpler.

 

I would say that is somewhat too definitive depending on the circs.

 

There are arguments for not splitting before marketing eg avoid up front costs or tax strategy.

 

But there are reasons the other way too eg to change the ownership to a Ltd company for risk management reasons, or if the garden plot is over the size that makes the Revenue think Developer. I think that threshold is not totally defined but is around 1-2 acres.

 

Ferdinand