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"?

How much have you got to spend @Lachanan ? You might be better off buying a decrepit hovel with a bit of land than trying to start from scratch.

Also bear in mind land or barns with planning permission can generally command a much higher price than land without, so if it was possible then the vendor probably would’ve got PP to maximise profit.

No, really do not. High power line work is very dangerous and can cause major health issues in later life.

Costs of building a site aside, you would need a couple of acres of land just to raise and grow enough food for both of you, if you want meat and diary in your diet. It's hard work and will gobble a lot of time, and if the weather goes against you, you might have to buy food in anyway. Personally, I would retrain in a trade and buy a country property that you would have an outside income stream that you could put into it. That's what we did. We have an equestrian property where our ponies live out in a herd and where we brought our kids up. I have no regrets but we have looked at ways to make this place bring an income in and honestly, everything was such a headache with such low profit margins, it wasn't worth it.

This makes sense now. It makes sense why this one plot we are looking at seemed overpriced to us.

Sorry to be a downer but please do your research on this. My DH is an architect and this subject came up recently, he said that the costs involved - from the cost of the land, getting all the permissions, the legal fees, all the different type of surveys required (eg due to newer laws/regs about the environment) and the cost of building materials, etc - are so high now that housebuilding can only work on a large scale. Which is why many of the smaller house building companies have gone under, and (in his view) it's basically impossible to build your own house unless you're prepared to lose a significant amount of money on it. There's just too many fixed level costs involved to do it for one property.
On social media there's loads of groups for people who want a simpler life and want to buy a bit of land, or want to rent a bit of land off a farmer etc, but it's not really possible, assuming you're in Eng/Wales at least. There will be other parts of the world it's much easier of course, depending on what trade offs you can make.

At at least £2100 per square metre for the build without architects fees, services connections etc etc you’d be lucky to build a 50 square metre house for £100000 !
Not sure what you mean by prefabricated houses but timber frame houses are common these days by both self builders and housing companies, fast to construct, well insulated, efficient, modern homes. I’m building one !

I’d agree with this. We’re just about to start ours, when the Building Warrant finally comes through ! I must admit I’ll be holding my breath a bit until it’s finished, cost of materials is rising rapidly. I reckon it won’t be worth too much more than it costs us- which is fine for us, it’s long term. But it’s quite scary!

This brings something else to mind for you to look into. I see you have a deposit, would you need a mortgage? Derelict properties may very likely be unmortgageable. If you need a mortgage to build you will need a specialist self build mortgage which is released in stages throughout the build which will be checked before the next stage is released. Not usually from a high street lender. Look up Self Build mortgages

Yes we would definitely need a mortgage and now im thinking I need to research whether a self build mortgage is harder to secure than a standard one

It’s not necessarily harder but does require more planning. They’re not lending you money against existing bricks and mortar. The lender isn’t just going to give you £300000 for example and say “ go and build a house” . The money is released in stages, as each stage is completed so that the lender can see where their money is going.

Has that continued? I thought it was a Covid thing.

Don't...just make a careful calculated next move. Consider retraining (not easy of course)

Yes it was made permanent

🥳

So can I just call or email the council sending them a link to the ad for the plot and tell them what we are thinking and ask whether that's possible? Would it be that simple/is there anything wrong with doing that?

If you buy a house you may be able to rent out a room. Use a spare bedroom as office space. Find a contracted job and WFH. Dog walk or board. Child minder. I think that your idea of living the goodlife may be misplaced.

Unless your council takes calls you'll need to email them your query. Some charge, some will give you a quick opinion on the phone. Generally better to speak to the planning policy team as they are less likely to charge and more likely to give you a policy steer.

We did it and I would advise against it, also have a plot with planning permission. Unless you have loads of money spare and are willing to not work for 1 year plus…..

Yes it is. And higher interest.

My husband made millions buying and selling 2 pieces of land. He owns 2 more..has refused 40 million for one of them, because he thinks it will be worth double. Hes had a property deal since we divorced but I don’t know how it went. Already had a house and planning for more .

I know it depends on the location and things but land , he says, is always good, especially if you can get services to the plot: power, water, drains, and there’s no restriction on access,
because they can’t make more of it.
He likes gap sites, too
I’d go for the land. If I were younger, I’d go for land

We keep saying we will do this and buy a German flat pack house/ A frame. I bet your partner could build one being a carpenter.

Someone near me owned a house and bought a large plot of agricultural land consisting of a two acre paddock with a brick barn, and woodland. Put a touring caravan in the paddock, sold the house, moved into the caravan. Challenged over lack of residential planning permission, applied retrospectively and was refused, ordered to quit living there and to remove the caravan from the site (the planning inspector was sure it would be used as living accommodation again if left there. Failed to comply, bailiffs removed the caravan, owner is now living there in a van and the next challenge will be forthcoming… beware!

Many years ago I worked in agricultural mortgages, a lot has changed since then but there are still some basics that are the same. Getting a mortgage on land is different to getting a mortgage on a house, it can get very complex and sometimes a consultant is needed which makes it more costly so do check into that because each piece of land can ber totally different sometimes even if they are next to each other. You would also need to check with the council on agricultural ties and what that constitutes for the area because sometimes it's keeping a couple of goats, growing some veg, and a handful of chickens and having farm gate sales, sometimes it's full time agriculture.

Property/Land covenants may crop up, these say what you can and cannot do with your own land even down to what you can grow or keep there. So these may say you can't spend a night there or use it for commercial use etc. Other land covenants mean you might have to maintain boundaries or allow access to land beyond yours to someone else. There are Rights of Way to be aware of too as well as Wayleaves which allow utility companies to cross or dig up your land, you may be paid for this access or the previous owner may have had an upfront payment but again it's something to find out.

So there is a lot to consider before buying a piece of land and it can really differ across the UK and even within small regional areas.

If I may offer some advice here, you might be best off having a plan or two of what you want to do with the land and have some flexibility in those plans as nowhere will be a perfect fit, well rarely anyway. It might save you a lot of work and stress.