Selling Land Without Planning Permission
Plenty of land in and around Nottingham gets sold every year without a scrap of planning permission, and it still changes hands for real money. If you own a field, a paddock, a redundant yard, or a plot that a builder keeps knocking on your door about, you do not need consent in place before you talk to me. What you do need is a clear head about what the land is genuinely worth today, and an honest explanation of how a buyer prices in the planning risk. That is what this page is for.
Why land without permission still has real value
A buyer is paying for potential. Even with no consent, a well placed plot carries hope value, which is the market's view of how likely it is that homes will be allowed there one day. The stronger that case, the more the land is worth right now. Two things drive it: planning risk, meaning the odds that permission is granted at all, and time, meaning how many years and how much money it takes to get there. A site sitting inside a local plan allocation with decent road access is a very different proposition to an isolated field in open countryside, and the price reflects that. I do not dismiss un-permissioned land. I price it properly, with the risk built into the number rather than pretended away.
Your options, and the honest trade-offs
There are three main routes, and each suits a different owner.
Get planning yourself, then sell. You fund an application, and if it succeeds the uplift in value can be significant. The catch is that it costs money up front, it can take the best part of a year or longer, and it can still be refused, in which case you have spent that money for nothing. This route rewards owners with a strong policy case and some appetite for risk.
Sell subject to planning, through an option or promotion agreement. Here a developer or promoter takes on the planning cost and risk in exchange for the right to buy, or a share of the eventual uplift. It removes your out of pocket risk, but it can tie your land up for years and the terms often favour the buyer. It suits owners who want the upside without funding the fight themselves, provided the agreement is fair.
Sell as it stands to a developer or land buyer. You take a clean price now for the land in its current state. It is quicker, simpler, and certain, and there is no waiting on committee decisions. The trade-off is that the buyer, not you, keeps the planning upside, because the buyer is the one carrying the risk. This is the route I usually offer, and for a lot of owners the certainty is worth more than a maybe.
How I assess un-permissioned land
I use the residual land value method, the same approach professional developers rely on. In plain terms, I work out the likely value of the finished homes, take away every cost of building and selling them, take away the profit a developer needs to make the scheme worth doing, and what is left is what the land can bear. For land without permission I run that calculation with the planning risk and the waiting time discounted from the result, because a buyer cannot pay a permission price for land that has no permission. I will always show you the workings: the gross development value, the build and infrastructure costs, the fees, and the margin. You will see exactly where the number comes from, and you are welcome to get your own valuation to check it.
Red flags to watch for
Not every offer is a good one, even when the headline number looks tempting. Be wary of option agreements that lock your land away for many years with little or no payment while you wait, and read the price formula closely so you know what you will actually receive at the end. Watch out too for buyers who agree a strong price to secure the deal and then try to chip it down late in the process, once you are committed and it feels too awkward to walk away. A fair buyer sets out the number and the reasoning up front and sticks to it. If someone will not show you how they reached their figure, that tells you something. If you want a straight, transparent read on your land, that is exactly what I offer.
Common questions
There is no fixed percentage, and anyone who quotes you one is guessing. The gap depends entirely on how likely planning is to be granted, how long it will take, and how much it will cost to get there. A field with a clear policy allocation and good access is worth far more than one with a real chance of refusal. The honest way to price it is the residual method run twice, once assuming permission is won and once for the land as it stands today, with the planning risk and the waiting time discounted from the figure. That is exactly how I work it out, and I will show you both sets of numbers.
Sometimes, but not always. Winning a good permission can lift the value considerably, but the process costs money, takes many months, and can still be refused, which leaves you out of pocket. If your site sits in a clear policy allocation the case for applying first is stronger. If it is a marginal site, a promotion or option agreement can put the planning cost and risk onto a specialist instead of you. I am happy to talk through which route fits your land before you spend a penny on a planning application.
An option agreement gives a developer the right to buy your land later, usually once they have secured planning, at a price or formula agreed now. It can work well because the developer funds the planning push, but the downside is that your land can be tied up for years while you wait, and the terms can be weighted heavily in the buyer's favour. Read the length of the option and the price mechanism very carefully, and always take independent legal advice before signing. If you would rather have certainty now, a straight sale is usually the cleaner path.
If you sell the land as it stands to a buyer like me, the legal work is much the same as any land purchase and most deals complete within 8 to 12 weeks, depending on your solicitor and your circumstances. If instead you go down the subject to planning route through an option or promotion agreement, the timeline stretches to however long the planning process takes, which can be one to three years or more. I aim to give you an initial assessment within 48 hours so you know where you stand quickly.
Want to know more about splitting off a smaller piece of land? See my guide to selling a garden plot or part of your garden, or head back to the home page to see how I value land.
Find out what your land is worth
Call me, Ryan, on 01158 716 385 or use the form on the home page. No fees, no obligation, and I will show you the workings.