Co-purchasing £1-1.2m Rural House in Barnsley/Sheffield/Peak District

[Samwwisezambeezi]

Hi guys,

We're a late 30s child-free, professional couple, and have been looking for our next house move in the Barnsley/Sheffield area for over a year now, without having much luck finding exactly what we want.

We don't necessarily want a big house, but ideally it would be detached, rural or semi-rural, with garden and outdoor space, preferably surrounded by views and greenspace. Areas around the edge of the Peak District would be perfect.

We're looking to spend around £500-600k and, although we've found a couple of examples and made offers on them, in the end we've been unsuccessful, finding that they were undervalued/listed too low, and in the end, winning offers have been well out of our price range.

I'm wondering whether it might worth exploring the idea of finding a partner or partner couple who are in a similar position who might be interested in co-purchasing a bigger house in the £1m-1.2m range, that can then be split into two separate residences, effectively ending up with use living as neighbours in a big semi-detached.

I'm aware that this would be a somewhat more complicated process but I've seen a handful of stunning houses in this price range that tick all our boxes and that, without doing too deep a dive, look like both the house and the plot could be easily split into two, ending up with a house that's much nicer than what's available anywhere in the £500-600k price range.

Just wondered if anyone has any experience, thoughts/opinions or advice on the idea, and if anyone might be able to suggest where we might go about finding or looking for co-purchasing partners?

Thanks in advance

Sam

On paper this sounds fine but the reality is very different. The chances of finding strangers that you would get on so well with that you could make renovation decisions with that involved splitting a property are highly unlikely. Who gets the ‘better’ half? Who gets the more awkward layout? Who ends up resentful that they compromised? And you’ll have to be neighbours with these people for a long time potentially.
I think you’d be opening up a whole host of problems.

Sounds nice in theory but horrendous if things don't work out between you and the other couple.

What if one of the relationships break down and they, or you can't afford the mortgage on their own?

Personally, I am divorced with an adult child and an old gimmer and love living alone. Can do what I want, when I want and if I want. Which is travelling.

Hope it works out for you OP.

Nicely - there are a lot of houses in the peak District which meet this criteria and are 600k. There's more that fit this in the barnsley area. Barnsley is one of the cheapest areas around there. You need to compromise. I would suggest you widen your search area to be slightly further out from the city and then you shouldn't have a problem.

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I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/88167795
I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/162338636
I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/89248008
I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/173203304

How much outdoor space do you want? For that money you arnt going to get acres of land and you aren't going to get outbuildings close in to Sheffield.
You'll get more down Ashbourne way or up penistone way.

This was done near us (I think the 2 couples knew each other already though) but after purchase were denied permission to split the property into 2 dwellings. I’ve no idea what they had done beforehand in terms of sounding out the local authority, but do be aware it’s not always straightforward.

I think it sounds like a crazy idea. As PP has said, you can’t guarantee planning permission will be granted. I’d avoid like the plague.

No, that's a mad idea

Can you borrow enough to do the split yourself and then sell the second half?

Fair enough, thanks everyone for your comments and opinions. The search continues...

We're looking in similar area but budget is lower. Theoretically I think this sounds great if you found the right people but legally, financially and realistically a nightmare waiting to happen.

@Samwwisezambeezi you might want to look at Penistone and the surrounding villages - Thurgoland, Hoylandswaine, Wortley, Silkstone, Silkstone Common and Cawthorne.

And also the HD8 area (around Denby Dale), 20-25 ish miles N of Sheff and Peak District adjacent. Direct train from Denby Dale. It’s where we ended up when we could no longer afford the Peaks. 25 years ago! Has the benefit of not being overrun on sunny weekends. Also, excellent schools if that will ever be a consideration.

Terrible idea. Keep looking.

Definitely not, that's creating a whole host of issues that makes everyone involved lives more difficult. You can get some gorgeous houses in those areas with the budget you have.

Hi everyone, really grateful for everyone's feedback but just wanted to sound out the details... There's an absolutely perfect example currently for sale which is more or less already split. It's advertised as a 4bed main house and 3bed annexe. It's kind of an L-shape with two seperate wings, each already with their own stairs etc. It would literally want a single door blocking on ground and 1st floor and maybe some insulation adding to the party wall. Also, it's been for sale for over a year so the seller might be open to it.

Let's say we found someone who was happy with the layout, and we agreed how much £££ we would both pay for our halves. I understand that we could make an offer on the house subject to planning permission. My question is, how would this then differ from a normal house purchase? Does anyone have any experience with mortgages involving multiple parties?

Thanks again

I feel like this would make a great channel 5 drama. With a bit of partner swapping and/or murder thrown in.

I doubt anyone here can help with a hypothetical sale and splitting of house scenario. Why don't you wait until you have found someone who wants to buy the house with you and then speak to a solicitor?

Fair do's, thanks again.

I think its a bad idea, unless you can actually legally split the house and amend the land registry making it two separate dwellings.

And the property would have to lend itself to a clean "cut", you wouldn't want to complicate things by creating flying freehold or leasehold arrangements.