Sale of development land for 34 new houses at Capel-Le-Ferne
We recently had the pleasure of acting for a family who had owned a small field on the edge of the village for many years. It had often been suggested that one day it might be suitable for development and after many years of plugging away at the planning process the family finally succeeded in getting a valuable outline planning permission for 34 new houses.
It was then that they contacted us and asked if we could help them with the finally part of the project, which was to find a good buyer at the right price. We duly obliged!
When I arrived at the field gate and looked over, I thought yes no problem we can certainly sell this little site for the right money.
The Site
You can see from the overhead photo this field sits at the edge of the village. It is 3.95 acres and slopes gently from back to front and has views over the adjacent farmland. It’s a very nice spot for some new houses. But then look again and there are other fields around it that could be equally good. The reason that this field made it through to the all important planning permission was perseverance on the part of the owners. They kept putting the land in front of the Council until finally it got noticed.
Proposed illustrative master plan
Planning Permission
The family used good architects and other specialist consultants to put together a well thought through and competent planning application. You can see from the plan above that the layout was well considered with an appropriate mix of housing. It was also presented well and this makes a big difference when it is being considered by both the Parish Council and the Local Planning Authority. They rightfully gained an Outline Planning Permission.
Small sites often benefit from detailed planning permissions when it comes to finding the right buyer. But as the sites get bigger then outline works best. It means that the potential buyers can evaluate the site with their own house types in mind. This opens it up to more buyers and better land prices.
Marketing and Sale
A site with permission for 34 houses is an interesting site to market and sell. It is too big for your local builders and developers and it is too small for the big national house builders. It falls in between and we are therefore looking for a regional developer. These tend to be businesses that started out fairly small but over the years they have got bigger and braver and taken on larger sites. We of course put the site out to the general market, using all the appropriate websites and advertising. But the real key to selling this sort of site is our bespoke marketing lists which are divided into appropriate groups of potential buyers who are matched with the sites that they are best suited to.
In this case that is exactly where we found the buyer. A local company with a firm growth plan, well funded and reliable to deal with. The sale, as they all do, had a few ups and downs along the way during the legal process and we had to deal with a horse grazing licence amongst other things, but nothing we haven’t seen before. And finally completion smoothly came about to the satisfaction of all concerned.
Other Professionals we worked with on this project
Hobbs Parker Property Consultants were delighted to work in conjunction with:
Bramley Associates
Dover District Council
Hume Planning Consultancy
Southern Water
Treeventures Ltd
