Mortgage to buy plot but want to amend the consented design

[eekoh]

I’ll need a self-build mortgage to fund the purchase of land as well as to finance the build. To fund land purchase the plot needs to have planning consent but that means my mortgage offer would be based on someone else’s design, which of course I will want to amend - or potentially even scrap completely depending on the plot. Im sure this must be a common issue for those of us who don’t already own the land, so a few questions I hope someone here will be able to answer.

 

If I use the mortgage to buy a plot with full planning consent where I’ve had no input to the design...

Will a mortgage lender subsequently allow me to change the design and amend or apply for a different planning consent? 

Would they need to approve the amended design before I seek amended/new planning consent or do I go to the LPA first? (I can see it potentially being tricky if they don’t agree on what is suitable.)

Or am I just stuck with someone else’s design and therefore missing out on a significant aspect of why I want to self-build in the first place?

 

[Thedreamer]

Hi @eekoh can you just put in outline planning?

[Alex C]

Have you managed to find a lender that will lend on the plot as well as the build? There was someone trying to do that a couple of weeks ago without success as there was not enough equity for the lender.

[PeterW]

Melton BS do land and build as do the Mansfield BS. 

 

Mansfield is direct I think, Melton has to go via a broker 

 

[eekoh]

The plot I'm interested in already has full planning consent which was granted under PD for reuse of an agricultural barn. Unfortunately I don't have sufficient ££ to buy the land outright so I would need a mortgage offer based on the existing planning consent in order to get a sale agreed with the vendor before it goes to auction (which they are open to).

I don't have a specific lender yet, but from my research there seem to be plenty who advertise they will lend against both the land and the build and I have a decent deposit so provided I can get land at the right price the numbers do all stack up.   The main issue at the moment is that this plot has come up about 6 months too early and I've still got a fair bit of work to get all my ducks in a row! But its a good one so seems worth trying to bring things together now to make an offer.

 

 

[Mr Punter]

I am not sure of all the rules with agricultural PD rights but you will often be obliged to retain a fair amount of structure so there is no guarantee that your proposal will gain consent. It can also take ages, so factor in an additional 6 months.  If the current consent would work for you as a fallback you may be able to start work on some of the basics while you wait.

[eekoh]

It’s not so much the structure of the house itself on this one (a conversion is always going to be more limited than a new build because of working with an existing structure) although I’d probably want to alter the plans slightly to accommodate some eco technology features more easily. But even if I miss out on this plot, because I’m not a cash buyer I’ll have the exact same situation whatever plot I end up with because it will need to already have planning consent before I could get a mortgage to buy it.  I can’t be the first person to think of this surely?