Where to find building plots
Building plots turn up on specialist websites such as Plotfinder and PlotBrowser, as well as on the mainstream property portals. Local estate agents, especially in rural areas, handle plot sales from time to time. Auctions are another source, though they call for quick decisions and finance that is ready to go.
The Right to Build register, kept by local councils in England, lets you register your interest in self-build plots in your area. Where there is enough demand, councils are required to grant planning permission on enough plots to meet the registered interest within three years.
Do not write off word of mouth and local knowledge. Drive around the areas you like, keep an eye out for gap sites or land that could be developed, and chat to neighbours and local builders. Some of the best plots never make it to the open market.
Assessing a plot before you buy
Before you commit, look into the plot’s planning status, its access rights, the ground conditions, and whether the services are there: water, electricity, gas, and drainage. Any one of these can make a big difference to your build costs and your timeline.
Pay for a site survey and a ground investigation to check for problems such as contamination, flood risk, weak soil that will not bear the load, or underground services and protected species on the land. These surveys run to a few thousand pounds, but they can save you from buying a plot that cannot be built on or that would cost a fortune to sort out.
Check the planning history of the plot and the land around it. Has permission been granted or turned down here before? Are there restrictive covenants (legal conditions that limit what you can do with the land)? Is the plot in a conservation area or tied to other planning constraints? Your solicitor should dig into all of this before you exchange.
Financing a land purchase
Some self-build mortgages fold the land purchase in as the first stage release. Others expect you to buy the land on its own and then apply for a self-build mortgage for the construction. If you already own the plot, its value can count towards your deposit.
If you need to buy the land before a self-build mortgage is in place, your options include a land mortgage, a bridging loan, or your own savings. Land mortgages usually want a 50% deposit and charge higher rates than a residential mortgage, because land with no planning permission is treated as higher risk.
Land that comes with full planning permission is worth a lot more than land without it, and it opens up more ways to finance the purchase. If you are buying land without planning, build the cost and the risk of getting through the planning process into your total budget.