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Have you considered selling your land to developers?

By November 4, 2014August 7th, 2018Firm news

Do you own your business premise? Have you considered selling your land to developers? You may be sat on a small fortune that is crying out for a developer.

We have all read the press and the outcry about the shortage of housing across the country. Developers want your land, even if your land is classified as a brownfield site, land that has had a previous development on it. Constraints determined by the green belt and the local authority planning process means there is a shortage of developable land. Indeed, many local authorities will prefer to develop existing brownfield development than touch the green open space or the protected green belt.

Nevertheless, many local authorities are way behind on their targets for housing supply and each authority should have a Local Plan that identifies developable housing areas. However, since 1980, only once has the recognised building target of 200,000 housing completions been achieved and that was way back in 1988. In 2013 only 110,000 houses were completed, just over half the recognised target.

How can we help?

You may own the site your premises are based or you may own some land that you think has the potential to be developed there are a number of matters you should consider. We can provide you with guidance about factors to consider in order to make your land attractive to prospective developers.

You need to consider the following:

  • Planning– Depending upon your intentions for the land i.e. maximising its financial potential, a view needs to be taken at an early stage as to the likelihood of a particular future use subject to a planning application being successful. Glaisyers can assist with this through its network of planners we work closely with.
  • Location – It really is location, location, location that sells. Location affects a sites desirability on resale and its location could bring up other constraints, for example the availability of sufficient infrastructure to support the new use for the land. These are issues that will be at the forefront of a developers mind and the key is to negate as many of the disadvantages as may affect the land as you can.
  • Current use of land – This may affect how the land can be developed and may dictate the type of development that the land is suitable for. The lands current and past use may mean that the land would be designated as “contaminated” by virtue of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 this in turn would mean that due to the expense of cleaning up the land this could seriously affect the viability of the site and it could be cost prohibitive for a developer to take it forward through the planning process.

Part of the Site suitability work undertaken by Glaisyers will include a review of the title to the land to ensure that there are no constraints within the title which would affect its saleability for re-development and also whether the land is subject to any tenancies whether formal or informal or other third party rights which need to be addressed as part of the sale process.

Glaisyers development team work with Land Agents and Landowners, including, farmers, businesses and private individuals to assist in matching their land asset to our bank of developers. Working with anyone from developers interested in building one-off luxury homes to smaller scale developments of 5-10 houses to larger developments with hundreds of plots.

If you have some land you are thinking of developing we would be pleased to guide you through the entire process to ensure you or your purchasers achieve your aspirations for your land.

Contact Us

If you would like any more information about the services offered by our Development team, please get in touch on 0161 832 4666 alternatively please email David Burrows [rot13 email=”djb@glaisyersllp.co.uk”]

Ray Arnall

Author Ray Arnall

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