Land & New Homes

Selling part of your garden, an office block, public house or petrol station can be a very profitable exercise given the demand for new homes and the price they fetch.

There are three main ways that you can sell a plot of land: selling it without any planning permission, selling it on a "subject to planning" basis, and selling it with planning permission.

land and new homes

Selling a plot of land without planning permission

This is the simplest approach because you can simply list your land for sale and try to seek buyers without having to take additional steps. But it will make the land less valuable because if a buyer is looking to develop properties on your land yet there is no planning permission in place, there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to get it in the future.

Selling a plot of land "subject to planning"

Under this method of selling you would engage with a prospective buyer but the final sale would be conditional on the buyer securing planning permission for the land. This is a safety net for the buyer because if they fail to get the necessary permission then they can walk away from the purchase because of its conditional nature.

Selling a plot of land with planning permission

This approach is the most attractive to buyers because it shows them that there’s permission to build properties on the land. The simplest type of permission to get is what’s known as an outline permission that says property can be constructed on the plot but further specifics will have to be resolved in the future.


It’s important that you can prove ownership of your plot of land through legal documentation. This might be more complicated if your land is unregistered – meaning the details of the ownership are not kept as official records with the HM Land Registry, which keeps records of property sales and rights for England and Wales dating back many years.

Thankfully it’s still possible to sell your plot of land even without the right registration, if you are able to produce the title deeds to prove that you own it. It will require some time and effort, but there are several options available for getting these necessary documents to proceed to sale.

Ultimately it is determined by your personal circumstances and timescales you wish to work to and this is why we tailor our approach to you. Also given the fact we have been trading since 1983 our database of buyers for any development opportunity is unrivalled and means we can generate the optimum price by placing the correct developer to the correct opportunity.

For a confidential conversation irrespective of how early or how far down the line you are please get in contact with Brooke Pursey on 020 8845 2645 or email newhomes@robertcooperandco.com





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