Shall I just say screw it and buy a plot of land

[Lachanan]

My profession is being gobbled up by AI. Its all ive ever done. Ive been selfemployed my whole life.
My partner is a carpenter. Neither of us own property. We have a deposit. We are considering buying a plot of land and living off it somehow. AIBU to feel backed into a corner by AI + CoL and think: "screw it, let's try something completely new"?

You will need planning permission. Have you considered a boat?

One plot we have seen has permission already.
Id love a boat but sadly partners work means he needs storage/work space

I just feel nervous because obviously this is veering away from the traditional "buy a nice first home" model, but my trade has gone down the toilet and I'm wondering whether this is an opportunity not just to buy somewhere but embark on something new professionally.

I say go for it. What have you got to lose?

I don't fully understand. How will the plot of land replace your salary?

I'm not sure yet either. But my logic is at least with some land I could come up with something.
Whereas if we buy a house I will need to retrain and judging by my other selfemployed friends in other desk-based professions, I'm just not confident that any of them are AI-proof.

But you're going to have to build something to live in, or are you planning to camp? With no access to mains electricity, sewage etc?

Are you going to build a house? You would need a plot with planning permission or be able to get it. Are you thinking fruit and veg and maybe chickens? Or start your own carpentry business maybe making wooden objects for sale? Boarding kennels? Camp site? How big a plot could you buy? Are you tied to an area or could it be anywhere?

Why not give it a go.

We saw a great place for sale years ago a bit of a wreck of a house (in need of everything doing) on several acres with fishing rights on the river that bordered the property, we could have afforded it just, but would have meant giving up jobs and everything, I wonder sometimes if it would have worked out or been a disaster. Eventually we settled for a small house on a big plot in a place where we could keep our jobs. We still grow quite a lot of fruit and veg in the garden.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. There are a few options.

• Retrain in something more manual
• Retrain in something adjacent to my partners work and work alongside him
• Campsite/retreats
• Depending on the location, some kind of workspace

I hear you on what youre saying about "it would have required us to give up our jobs". I guess thats what Im thinking: Im being pushed out of my work, so its a case of do I try and cling to the cliffside somehow while buying a house, or do I just leap? Buying land would be more beneficial to my partners work.

In terms of my work, I am now getting more prestigious work, but much more haphazard. Whereas for the past 20 years I could accurately predict my income, I cant do that anymore. The work Im getting now is more interesting and high profile but much thinner on the ground. So I could still continue but it would shift from being my primary focus.

My biggest worry is what if it doesnt work out and we have to sell and cant. Im guessing you can always sell a house, but not so land.

We are looking at plots that have derelict houses on them so at least there is sometimes eg water/electricity. We also have vans.

You need to ask your question why this land hasn't been gobbled up?

Planning permission to build or to live on the land? Because the second one is like hen's teeth and the first one means you have to build a house to live in, which will cost a fair bit. You could buy a couple of caravans and throw some wood and bricks around and pretend you're building a house and see how long you get away with it...
We own a winnebago and a converted horsebox and are desperate to do this but my goodness it's hard to do it legally

As someone who is just about to do this can I advise you to look into the costs extremely carefully. Build costs are rising as we speak, and any cost per square metre of a build will not include architect fees, costs to connect to electricity, water etc.etc. We’ve just paid a small fortune to assess drainage, septic tank, digging a pipe up to the main road, Building Control application, the list goes on. And that’s before we’ve even started building! Don’t get me wrong, I’m really excited about doing this as there are no houses we can pretty much afford in the area we want to be in, but the finished house won’t be worth much more than it costs us. This is fine as we won’t be moving again probably, I love both the immediate area and the general location, but it’s not a cheap option. We have employed a project manager who is worth his weight in gold, my husband has some experience in the building trade but this guys experience and knowledge will save us both time and money .

Where are you finding these plots for significantly cheaper than a house?? Maybe very rural Wales I guess

A lot of money !

Oooh I didn't realise there was a difference between planning permission to build a house and permission to live on the land (as you can tell, we are right at the beginning of this investigation!).

We have vans

Thats amazing you are doing this, congratulations!
I know you probably won't want to give actual figures but would you be able to say roughly what percentage of your total costs have been the land purchase vs the building a home costs?
We are casually looking at places with derelict houses where the bones are okay

We had initially planned to live in a static caravan while we build. Some councils require planning permission, not all . You still need services - electricity, plumbing, drainage put in. The cost of just moving the static from the yard was huge and may have required police escort and road closures! It was nuts so we gave up on that idea. Still own a static caravan if anyone wants one !

If you're self-employed could you WFH in the new place, keep some wages coming in while you retrain?

The planning permission will be very specific. It will permit exactly what is worded on the decision notice. If it’s been given permission for one 3 bed dwelling, you can’t build a 4 bed without applying again. Nor can you stick a caravan on it, tent etc. It won’t stretch to commercial permission either so no good thinking I could open up ‘X’ business and run it from home. You’ll need permission for that too.

Be very very careful about what you want to achieve and get all the necessary permissions to do it before you buy the land

Don't just buy a piece of land and expect to get planning permission. Find it first and speak to your local council and look at the planning policies for the area. In most of England you can only get permission for a new house of mobile home in the countryside in exceptional circumstances, for example if you need to live on site full time to care for commercial breeding youngstock (and the 28 days you can live in a caravan without permission is insufficient), this is vigorously tested. You are more likely to get permission close to a settlement and outside a protected landscape. Converting an existing barn or replacing a derelict house are also more likely. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it...

Yes, I could do that. My earnings have plummeted in the past 3 years and I estimate I have another 2 years of scraping by.

I know there are major hazards and risks involved here, and loads we havent even considered (as I say, we are just at the researching stage) but part of me likes the idea of just rolling the dice and trying something totally new because it doesnt feel like I have much to lose.
Like I say my concern is what happens if it goes tits up and we cannot sell.

We were initially quoted £2100 per square metre for the house build, but some materials are going up rapidly so I think we will be lucky to achieve that now. Also as I mentioned above there have been lots of costs on top of that figure. I would say roughly plot 1/3 house build 2/3. Perhaps a bit less on the build.

Thank you very much for your comments on the specifics of permission, I am saving these points in a doc.

Just in the abstract, whats the logic there with controlling what you can and cant do on land you've bought so tightly? What's the idea behind it, why are they so strict?

This mine and my husbands 5 year plan and we have a house and kids! Right now our mortgage is crippling us and feels like a life sentence rather than an ideal of one day we'll own our home.... yeah when we are 75 and feeling absolutely exhausted with life! So yeah, we will use the equity in our house to buy some land, build a small sustainable cabin (we are considering the boat idea too), so we can work less now and not just waiting for retirement. So if you are in a position to do it, then do it! Life is for living and enjoyment too.

If you want to do it do it. Someone near where I live bought a plot of land with two stone agricultural buildings (with planning permission to renovate) the land also had a static caravan. They paid 30K at auction. There are still opportunities if you look for them.