Where to start when it comes to land for development.
Here at CB Homes, we acquire land for development for small and exclusive developments. We can carry out the process of buying and developing land from start to finish – from sourcing and purchasing the land, submitting planning applications to the actual build itself. We do this for private clients for bespoke homes, but we also work on wider projects, such as small and medium-sized housing developments, often in rural areas.
There has been much written in the media and industry press over the last few years over the development of land and its availability to developers. Some residents may see new development as an enriching positive for their community, leading to improvements in local amenities, investment and infrastructure, while others residents may feel they do not want a new development next to their property.
In this new series of blogs, we’re going to explore how we acquire land and the process we go through to develop it, including what sort of development is permitted and what is not.
Locating potential sites for development
We find out about land for sale in a number of ways – from seeing listings in online marketplaces, such as On the Market or Rightmove, by being informed by a landowner about areas of land we might be interested in, by one of our land team driving past a piece of land and seeing development potential, or by our land agent contacts. Regional online searches – for example searching for ‘Cheshire’ – of On the Market, will give an indication of land availability and price. https://www.onthemarket.com/for-sale/land/cheshire/
Who owns land for development?
All land in the UK is owned by someone, be it part of a wider country estate, landed gentry, the King or individual private ownership.
Land Law and ownership is a huge subject, but put simply, land can be owned by a single freeholder, or people can own land jointly. The law closely regulates the circumstances under which each may sever or sell their share of the land, and some land may be leased or licensed to other users and owners, for their own intentions.
Registered interests: title deeds
To find out who owns an area of land, it’s useful to consult the Online Land Registry. You will have to register to use it, but for us it’s an essential part of our research into finding suitable land for development.
Online Land Registry services are accessible 24 hours a day, every day of the week. They can be used by commercial public organisations and members of the general public too. You can request property title and land title deeds online, via Land Registry UK. Conveyancers may use the facility, for example, in the course of a house purchase that has land attached, to discover if the land has any covenants or rights of way attached.
To find out title deed information, you can select the land title deeds that we require, by entering the location details into the land registry. You will then receive electronic copies of the title deed documents via email, often as a same-day service.
What’s included in title deeds information?
Details included will cover documents outlining property boundaries, the present owner’s details, a physical description of the land and details such as restrictive covenants, wayleaves and easements.
Values and worth of development land
The value of land goes up and down, in exactly the same way as house prices and other commodities vary. They’re affected by demand, inflation and things like bank interest rates.
How is land for development bought?
Land is a commodity, and people buy it for investment as well as to use. Land can be bought in exactly the same way as you would buy a house, from an agent for an agreed fixed price. The value of the land will be improved if it already has planning approval or permission. For much more information on land acquisition, it’s worth heading over to the Online Land Registry to see the process for yourself.
If you have an area of land, in Cheshire or its environs, that you think might be suitable for development, then contact our team today to find out about selling your land.
