Does anyone know more than me about selling land to developers?

nicklegnat · 2026-05-13T16:18:41+00:00

Part own a small plot of family land. Had various developers interested over the years but nothing has come to fruition. Land does not have PP at the moment and will be a tricky call I think. Developers interested in building a care home. Just wondered if anyone knows anything about negotiations, is a land agent, works for developer etc and could answer a couple of questions re how long to negotiate price and what’s a reasonable option agreement! TY

h0rsewithn0name · 14/05/2026 20:43

I've got very limited experience of this. We part own at 5 acre site which has an option on it. The total option is £10K for five years. We had three developers interested, and our land agent is working with our preferred developer to get planning permission (the other developers offered higher options but the overall agreement was less). Only once planning permission has been obtained will any purchase money exchange hands. I hope this helps.

Squirrelchops1 · 14/05/2026 20:55

I sold land to a developer this year for 6 houses via an option agreement. I was really fortunate that I had a close family friend who'd worked for big housing companies help me set a price. I however, upon crunching the numbers wasn't happy and renegotiated a 10% increase, all by myself! I had a survey done and that helped the negotiation massively. He also knew lots of local small developers and linked us up. I had a great relationship with my developer. All the costs including my legal were on him. To get to point of breaking soil the costs were nearly £200k but we were turned down planning x 2.

Currently early negotiations around selling another field but this time via a promotion agreement.

My advice...do not go on any social media etc in that area once the plans become known and ensure you are kept out of it as far as possible. The absolute bullshit that gets posted online by the NIMBY crew is horrific.

Squirrelchops1 · 14/05/2026 21:05

If you get a developer who is in with the local authority you're onto a winner....ie maybe a developer who is building a care home on behalf of the LA.

PuttyTat · 14/05/2026 21:07

I wish people would sell to farmers, instead.

Squirrelchops1 · 14/05/2026 21:12

We were the farmers. When it gets to a point you cannot make a living, what do you suggest happens? Unless you're either incredibly niche you need a farmer who has the money and capacity for 1000s of acres to make it viable.
I donated a not insubstantial amount to the local community to expand local facilities so I've done my bit.

Original poster

nicklegnat · 14/05/2026 21:57

PuttyTat · 14/05/2026 21:07

I wish people would sell to farmers, instead.

I dont think a farmer would want our small plot - completely unsuitable in the middle of other housing!

OP posts:

Original poster

nicklegnat · 14/05/2026 21:59

Squirrelchops1 · 14/05/2026 21:05

If you get a developer who is in with the local authority you're onto a winner....ie maybe a developer who is building a care home on behalf of the LA.

They are not doing that (for private care home) and the planning report theyve had done has identified several significant constraints. Developer feels they could be overcome though to achieve PP due to need in the area.

OP posts:

Original poster

nicklegnat · 14/05/2026 22:02

h0rsewithn0name · 14/05/2026 20:43

I've got very limited experience of this. We part own at 5 acre site which has an option on it. The total option is £10K for five years. We had three developers interested, and our land agent is working with our preferred developer to get planning permission (the other developers offered higher options but the overall agreement was less). Only once planning permission has been obtained will any purchase money exchange hands. I hope this helps.

Ours is just over 2 acres. There’s been years of looking at its potential and at the moment the chance of getting housing on there has diminished even more from the starting position of “not a chance”. Despite this we’ve had several approaches from care developers. They want an 18 plus 12 plus 6 months agreement which I think is excessive. They want to agree a land price upfront which I feel puts us in a poor position in that the land will surely be worth much more in 3 years time so anything we agree now is discounted in terms of real worth. I would prefer to have a revaluation at the point of sale but that doesn’t seem to be their model. Your five years make me feel perhaps three isn’t too bad!?

OP posts:

Original poster

nicklegnat · 14/05/2026 22:05

Squirrelchops1 · 14/05/2026 20:55

I sold land to a developer this year for 6 houses via an option agreement. I was really fortunate that I had a close family friend who'd worked for big housing companies help me set a price. I however, upon crunching the numbers wasn't happy and renegotiated a 10% increase, all by myself! I had a survey done and that helped the negotiation massively. He also knew lots of local small developers and linked us up. I had a great relationship with my developer. All the costs including my legal were on him. To get to point of breaking soil the costs were nearly £200k but we were turned down planning x 2.

Currently early negotiations around selling another field but this time via a promotion agreement.

My advice...do not go on any social media etc in that area once the plans become known and ensure you are kept out of it as far as possible. The absolute bullshit that gets posted online by the NIMBY crew is horrific.

Edited

They offered a price and we’ve managed to up it by about 10% but I still think it’s undervalued. Difficult with a care home as it’s not the same as valuing land for residential. My argument is that rather than selling houses once, they’re going to be sitting on a gold mine year on year with a care home. They are becoming an investors dream sadly.

OP posts:

PuttyTat · 15/05/2026 07:49

Squirrelchops1 · 14/05/2026 21:12

We were the farmers. When it gets to a point you cannot make a living, what do you suggest happens? Unless you're either incredibly niche you need a farmer who has the money and capacity for 1000s of acres to make it viable.
I donated a not insubstantial amount to the local community to expand local facilities so I've done my bit.

Edited

My friends and business associates are farmers. They are always saying they can't buy land being snapped up by developers. I'm not making accusations, I'm just saying that I wish developers didn't have first choice to land that's up for sale. I want to support UK farming as much as possible. Not sure how to do that when all of the land has been sold off for housing or care homes.

Squirrelchops1 · 15/05/2026 08:48

nicklegnat · 14/05/2026 22:02

Ours is just over 2 acres. There’s been years of looking at its potential and at the moment the chance of getting housing on there has diminished even more from the starting position of “not a chance”. Despite this we’ve had several approaches from care developers. They want an 18 plus 12 plus 6 months agreement which I think is excessive. They want to agree a land price upfront which I feel puts us in a poor position in that the land will surely be worth much more in 3 years time so anything we agree now is discounted in terms of real worth. I would prefer to have a revaluation at the point of sale but that doesn’t seem to be their model. Your five years make me feel perhaps three isn’t too bad!?

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No, unfortunately if you have an option agreement you're stuck to the figure.

The other way is a promotion agreement where you have someone do all the work to get PP then you sell to the highest bidder. This will work if you've a desirable bit of land.

My philosophy became 'at the moment I'm sat on 0% of nothing...do i wait years with no financial benefit in the hope I can sell or just go for it now and make the money work for me'.