Planning permission on someone else's land

Thinking of approaching someone who owns a plot of land to see if they'd sell it as a building plot.

There's no planning permission on it at the moment, and wouldn't want to buy it if planning isn't granted.

Now, if I could agree a price with the owner to buy it with planning permission if permission was granted, is there a way to legally secure the sale to myself at the agreed amount within a set time if I applied for planning permission myself, or am I open to the risk of doing the legwork for someone else only to have them sell the plot to someone else?
 
I would definitely have something drawn up by solicitors; something akin to a pre-nup.
Alternatively, submit a pre-app which is confidential and the land owner is not notified and if you get a positive response but the land and then apply for permission. I'd make it clear during the pre-app that you would only be buying the land based on the pre-app response, maybe the planning officer will give you a better steer knowing all the facts.
 

dannewhouse

Member
Location
huddersfield
a large housing organisation approached us about 10 acres on a similar sinario they gave 10k per acre upfront and per year before planning granted. they would pay to get planning passed but then deduct all the money they had spent from the price they pay us. the price they would pay us was always "market value" when we eventually beet a figure out of them it was 150k per acre

we could end up owing them money! (absolute worst case!!!)
if it took 5 year or so, they would have paid us 500k I don't know but rough planning 100k? there final figure would only be 1500k so payment of 900k we told them not to bother housing land is 500 - 750k per acre here!
 

dannewhouse

Member
Location
huddersfield
But they get to set the "market value", off the market, with your agent who will say "that is probably reasonable".
no they were trying to come to us direct who knows how much it will cost them to get it through planning (or how much they claim it did!)
as for market value it was them that suggested around 150k per acre when other land nearby has been sold for a lot more.
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
@GeorgieB82 surely the planning permission would be in @dannewhouse name so the owner could not just sell the land "with planning permission"?

Ok, chances are that if the LPA had g
granted pp to one person they would happily grant it to the overt as well but, surely, the owner would incur cost in getting pp as well?

Also, if it's for a house it could have a Ag occupancy condition on it which could restrict the market.
 

Nearly

Member
Location
North of York
@GeorgieB82 surely the planning permission would be in @dannewhouse name so the owner could not just sell the land "with planning permission"?

Ok, chances are that if the LPA had g
granted pp to one person they would happily grant it to the overt as well but, surely, the owner would incur cost in getting pp as well?

Also, if it's for a house it could have a Ag occupancy condition on it which could restrict the market.
Permission isn't to a person but on a piece of land.
Knowing a little of where Dan is it could be on the edge of a 'village' and £150k an acre would be cheap.
In fact put it on the open market without planning and it could fetch that!
 

dannewhouse

Member
Location
huddersfield
ye my 10 acres would put at least 160 houses of the size on the next street down but I think they would squeeze a few more in as they don't care about size just numbers/profit.

they were trying to "lock" you into an agreement that if they spent money gaining planning you would guarantee to sell to them nobody else.

mine is the opposite side of the argument to the opp he is the buyer of the land
 

David.

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
J11 M40
no they were trying to come to us direct who knows how much it will cost them to get it through planning (or how much they claim it did!)
as for market value it was them that suggested around 150k per acre when other land nearby has been sold for a lot more.
I was replying to the pitfalls of valuing land between the parties to an option agreement.
There have been some horrendously one sided options signed down the years, by landowners who get beguiled by what is basically an upfront loan.
A good promoter is a far better way forward, costs about the same in commission, they will also pay a bit of up-front premium; but most importantly, you get to sell on the open market with the benefit of PP to a range of potential buyers.
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
We have turned down a number of option agreements on Dad's place.

We were about to enter into a "joint promotion agreement" with hallam Land several years ago but they decided against at the last minute. This seemed much better. In essence they would fund all of the planning process as partners to ourselves and then we would jointly market the site with PP once granted. They offered a non-refundable agreement entry payment (not insubtantial) and then their PP costs were to be met from the final sale proceeds (but NOT their upfront payment to us) before the sale proceeds were split.
 

dannewhouse

Member
Location
huddersfield
we are basically waiting for the right time to apply for pp with a view to then marketing the land, at the moment the council as outlined it as potential but we will await further interest.

its no good to us selling 10 acre for a good bit more than agricultural price as we aren't going to be able to replace it very easy, better to sell a fare lump for a high price so we have the option to relocate away from the village or buy another farm possibly to run alongside?

know of plenty who have developed the old yard put up brand new buildings and basically built a hell of a farm to find residents complaining of noise and smells etc some now have stipulations such as working hours and when they can spread slurry ie wind and direction etc. who would have ever expected that sounds and smells of the countryside would be ... well, in the countryside?
 

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