Land Registry search - any cheaper options

[Band]

I'm currently looking for a plot of land to self build, driven around and found a dozen or so potential plots, and after speaking to my local council who i registered with for "Right to build" they claim theyll assist to a slight degree.

But i'm on the govts Land Registry website and its £6 to get the boundary of the plot and ownership details ... wondering if anyone knows of cheaper options as i'd be looking to spending close to £100 for what will probably come to nothing.

Spent money on this in the past to contact land owners and most dont bother replying, but if you dont ask for sweeties you dont get none.

[sarahbell]

knock on doors. and ask. 

 

[Band]

1 hour ago, sarahbell said:

knock on doors. and ask. 

 

No doors on the land im looking at.

[Frank Hovis]

Come on Banned; for what you're going to have to spend on a self-build £100 is nothing.

[Band]

9 minutes ago, Frank Hovis said:

Come on Banned; for what you're going to have to spend on a self-build £100 is nothing.

Yes but ive already spent  money in the past and got no response, hence i dont like burning money (and i am as good as burning money elsewhere at the moment)... if i thought there was even a 50% chance of success i'd spend it.

Whilst on my travels Ive found a site advertised by a sign post its not on RM etc.. so have contacted the local council who i've been speaking to about "right to build" see if it'd be viable for planning and to see if theyd be interested in getting those on the self build register to join forces.

If it does get off the ground it could be ready this time next year when interest rates are shooting up and property prices are crashing.

 

[Frank Hovis]

8 minutes ago, Banned said:

Yes but ive already spent  money in the past and got no response, hence i dont like burning money (and i am as good as burning money elsewhere at the moment)... if i thought there was even a 50% chance of success i'd spend it.

Whilst on my travels Ive found a site advertised by a sign post its not on RM etc.. so have contacted the local council who i've been speaking to about "right to build" see if it'd be viable for planning and to see if theyd be interested in getting those on the self build register to join forces.

If it does get off the ground it could be ready this time next year when interest rates are shooting up and property prices are crashing.

 

Good luck!

I've been involved with a fair few developments and sinking £3k - £5k into preparatory work before deciding not to go ahead is fairly common across the sector.  There will typically be dozens of small sites where the write off is closer to £500 but it's up into the thousands for a bigger one.

I'm not unhappy with these write offs because the losses if you go ahead with something you shouldn't are huge.

[Band]

40 minutes ago, Frank Hovis said:

Good luck!

I've been involved with a fair few developments and sinking £3k - £5k into preparatory work before deciding not to go ahead is fairly common across the sector.  There will typically be dozens of small sites where the write off is closer to £500 but it's up into the thousands for a bigger one.

I'm not unhappy with these write offs because the losses if you go ahead with something you shouldn't are huge.

If its for a larger site i can imagine outlays being significant,  but  the prices id get a plot for at the minute with the build cost on top would not be that much cheaper than buying, if anything at all.

But i'll bite the bullet and pay the land registry their £6 per site., do believe theyre looking to change this in the future so its free.

Im quitting working in the oil industry due to having a kid so im just looking to do the first build as a learning curve to see if its a viable business to do long term, if it is viable i only need to make 25k a year to be content, any more would be a bonus.

Small builders have been decimated in the last decade, i believe this will change in the future to get an extra 30-50k houses built a year ... but i dont see this happening until prices drop dramatically as its too big a risk for small builders to buy land at the moment.

And i genuinely think prices are about to fall off a cliff, firstly due to credit tightening and secondly politically; no govt will win an election if they sustain prices at the levels they currently are .... though ive been thinking this for a long time!

 

[Frank Hovis]

Sounds worth a try, and with those skills there will always be work if you want it.

The one thing I don't expect is that prices will fall off a cliff; I expect there will be big price reductions but that they will happen in slow motion as in 1988 (the actual crash year) - 1996 (the year in which the full impact of the crash was finally reflected in prices).

I'm not saying it will follow that pattern purely because that's what happened last time but because there is huge inertia in the property market.  People become convinced that their house is "worth", say, £400k and will not accept a substantial drop from that figure when selling.

So they can't sell.

So they either don't move or, if they have to move, rent it out because they're not selling "a £400k house" for £250k.

Reality will eventually sink in but it takes years, last time it was eight years.

[Band]

21 minutes ago, Frank Hovis said:

Reality will eventually sink in but it takes years, last time it was eight years.

I was living in the south then had only recently moved from NE England and my parents house jumped from 60k in 1987 to neighbors selling for 110k by 1989, by 1992 similar houses in the street were back to 1987 prices and as you say continued falling or were stagnant until 1996/97. (dates approx) But the initial crash was short and sharp.

Differences this time are the amount of BTL who could be screwed if S24 is applied to all taxpayers which is probable imho, and/or higher rates of SDLT which is being touted in the press this week.  

To be honest its all guess work as the market is so rigged and so political ... a snap election and Corbyn winning would crash BTL imho, or even Johnson ousting May + the Blairites and bringing people such as JRM and Steve Baker to run the nations finances and changing the BoE's mandate.

Like a  broken clock i will be right eventually when calling a crash.

 

[sarahbell]

17 hours ago, Banned said:

No doors on the land im looking at.

Nearest house? Nearest farm?

[Democorruptcy]

Maybe we could have a whip round for the £6?

Put me down for 20p.

[Band]

1 hour ago, Democorruptcy said:

Maybe we could have a whip round for the £6?

Put me down for 20p.

You're the best!

[Green Devil]

Drive your caravan on the land and squat? bring a few mates. Chuck litter about. That will bring out the landowner to you!

[macca]

1 hour ago, Green Devil said:

Drive your caravan on the land and squat? bring a few mates. Chuck litter about. That will bring out the landowner to you!

Always the quickest way to out a land owner..

[spunko]

When you say land owners are you thinking of farmers with farmland or more small patches of land near houses? If it's the latter then go on the local council's planning website > find the local plan map (not always easy) > it will highlight who owns what. And it's free.

Doesn't extend to proper agricultural land though, only paddocks and gardens.

One thing to be aware of is that this method is used quite a lot, I get a couple of letters a year from businesses asking if my land (<2 acres) is for sale with no reason given.