Inherited land/house dilemma

[JaffaBiscuits]

Very, very privileged to have inherited 1 acre of land, with a 2 bed cottage. The cottage itself is uninhabitable, location semi rural.

This is completely unexpected - DH and I have been saving up the past 15 years towards a dream house, we have decent cash savings.

Would you

1. spend all savings building on the inherited land
2. sell it as-is (worth £250k) to add to the savings pot
3. try and add value (apply for planning permission?) before selling
4. spend a portion of the savings to build a house/cottage to rent out
5. something else?

I'm overwhelmed and don't know which way to go. I don't even know if our savings would get us far building anything. I'd have to use a company to manage it all. I have no motivation, time, energy or knowledge for a self build! It's not a location DH or I would choose to live, either.

Would love to hear any thoughts!

@eveningbubble

would 1 acre of land without planning permission really get 250k?

Any house for redevelopment with 1 acre would be over £500k in this area unless it’s in an very unattractive area. Sell as it is, the demand is very high.

@Crazykatie
What area is the OP’s cottage in? Do we know? Prices vary a lot nationwide!

Thank you so much for the replies, I'm reading everyone's thoughts and advice through carefully.

The area the acre/cottage is in borders Wales, it's just sadly not an area we'd choose for a number of reasons - I think we'll have to make peace with selling, it's just with a heavy heart.

I realise what a privileged dilemma this is and hope it's not come across as ungrateful - this is life changing and it's felt quite overwhelming!

@TizerorFizz

They do not apply to all building sites! They are very specific.

No kidding. I never said it did. Given this post contains no real info on either the op's property nor yours I wasn't statingit applied to either them or all building sites. I was saying such a system existed, in case op was unaware of it, and it would be worth checking it out against what op had on her hands. But you know, you crack on with your refuting of a claim I never made. You just enjoy making arguments out of nothing?

@HaaaaaveyoumetTed

Just sell it.

Give first refusal to those that want to keep it in the family, but don't be swayed by them. PIL tried to do this (whilst alive), claiming they'd bought the house "for us" but if that were the case they'd have bought it closer to our work & kids schools and not in the exact location they liked.

This definitely. Bet they’re not so quick to want to keep it if they’d have to do the work.

get planning and then sell with planning