To sell our house because of new developments

[Yorkie88]

We love our house and have only been here a few years. It's a great location for school, work and I think we got a bargain.

However we are in the countryside and there are plans to build 400 houses behind us and 300 houses in front of us. Planning permission not applied for yet but it feels inevitable. Big companies. Rubbish council.

Is it unreasonable to sell quickly? I feel bad selling a house that us surrounded by countryside with the knowledge that it will become surrounded by houses in years

Also is it even OK to be upset about housing developments? People need homes. But the thought of living in the middle of two huge building sites isn't great

With the current inflation/COL issue...is it a stupid idea to move? I don't really understand the implications but houses seem v expensive

Potential buyers will have to be informed about these future plans I think, so they will know the circumstances.

It’s a hard one! The developments will probably come up in searches by prospective buyers - so it might stop them from moving, but we recently didn’t buy a house as we thought the land behind it was very likely to be developed.

Sell it now before they apply for planning permission. Otherwise you’ll be required to disclose it to the buyer and then you’ll be trapped because nobody will buy your house.

Don't just blame the council. The conservative government brought in planning policies that are very pro development. It is an incredibly high bar to refuse development. But people don't realise this so they attack their local council rather than the Tory MPs

It will come up on searches if anything is in the planning stages anyway, so people can make their own minds up.

You probably got a bargain because local people were already aware of the likelihood of building.

If the plans are public knowledge then any astute buyer will find out about them too.

OP, I trust if you move you buy a place that's at least as old as your current house?

Move if you want, someone will buy it even with that knowledge. But to avoid it in future you'll have to leave that council area from the sounds of it. Sounds like mine, any green area is suitable for building and gets sold off for more houses. No plans for anything else of course, but we've got plans for about 3000 new homes surrounding the city and nearby villages over the next few years. You'll not escape it unless you leave completely.

We bought our house and then discovered 700 houses were going to be built in countryside nearby. We should have pulled out. The houses are up now and it’s horrendous. Sell now is my advice.

So do future buyers have to be informed? Planning permission has not been applied for and I only know because people in the village are talking about it. Nothing official yet. It feels sneaky. If we have to tell people about it then we are already screwed because the plans are huge and will take years to complete

It will come up on local searches
Have you even looked at the plans and how they are laid out in relation to your house? Bit of NIMBYism otherwise OP

I would move, sounds like hell.

I suspect the plans were in place long before you bought, and that's why it was such a bargain.

I feel bad selling a house that us surrounded by countryside with the knowledge that it will become surrounded by houses in years

Any potential buyers will know about the plans, and the price will reflect this. That's probably why it was a bargain when you purchased it.

This does happen and most people would know it’s a possibility if you are near open land. They are building hundreds of houses in my area and it took years, probably about seven, to begin the actual building after the rumours and planning etc. If you are selling up, I’d do it now.

It’s the same everywhere; local towns are literally encircled by huge new developments round here.. Southam, Leamington Spa, Rugby. Plans afoot for some villages too.

I’d sell asap before owning is applied for. You don’t have to say anything-it will be up to buyers solicitors to do proper searches.

It may already be allocated for building in the local plan. There may be an option agreement over the fields already. There are lots of ways to find out.

I also tend to just assume that fields near houses are likely locations for development

Oh I definitely think there is NIMBY going on and I don't feel great about any of it. It sounds like we aren't going to be able to sell anyway.

This is one of the reasons I won’t move rurally. Anywhere that is near enough to the main town or the satellite communities to be easily commutable or a useful location is prime development land. At least our city centre conservation area won’t be further developed and has protected green space nearby

Two ways of looking at it, are you happy in your home? Would you have considered moving if it hadn’t been for the plans? Think carefully, where you move too you could find yourself in the same situation. And yes I agree plans will come up in searches, unlikely to keep it a secret.

Someone will buy it but I think the point is wherever you, this is a risk, unless you go somewhere super rural and isolated.

There is already a development down our road underway so we already have building site in view. Probs 1000 houses in tiny village with no shop and dentist down road has 2.5 year waiting list. I hadnt been sharp enough to question why it felt like a bargain. I'm nit someone who just wants quiet and understand homes need to be built but living next to 3 building sites sounds pretty grim.

You can sell your but if you know of the plans others will too and this may effect the value.

Also depends what is available and in your price range, many areas are having development.

The same thing could happen anywhere in the district/LPA area if there isn’t a local plan in place with an identified five-year land supply for housing. This happened where we are: developers bought parcels of land at either end of the town, and applied for PP. The LPA refused because of the sensitivities of the locations, but the developments were allowed at planning appeal because the LPA didn’t have enough other sites identified to accommodate the number of new homes they needed to supply under the local plan.

So you could encounter the same thing anywhere, really. I would always go into any purchase imagining that land around is likely to be built on. If having open land around you is a deal breaker, the only way to manage it is to buy that land yourself. There aren’t any guarantees otherwise.