Planning Permission for 12 Houses

darby1234

I recently spoke to a guy I know about the possibility of building a one off house. I brought him out to show him about the site and he told me I would get planning no problem.

Anyway, about a week later I got a phone call from him with the suggestion that I forget about building a 1 off house, as the site would have great potential as a development site and that I would easily get planning permission for at least 12 houses on the site! He is well in with all the planners in the local area, so I can trust what he is saying. The site itself is a green field site (about 17 acres) in a small village outside a large town just off a motor way and about 25 minutes drive from Dublin.

I know I will have to get professional advice on this matter if I want to look further into it, but I would just like to get some general feedback from you guys to see if this is a good idea or not.

I've briefly looked into rough costs of building, architects fees, taxes, building regulations, council contribution fees and it looks like a hugely expensive process! So would I actually make money on a project like this?

Any feedback posted here or sent to me by PM would be gratefully appreciated.

Thank You in advance

Gumbo

Engage local professional
Go to pre planning
Get costing
See if you can fund the project

The funding is the biggest problem for developers at present.

Poor Uncle Tom

What's the zoning of the 'site'?

mickdw

So you are telling us that you have been sitting on 17 acres with great development potential 25 minutes drive from dublin and you had no idea of this potential use for the land either now or during boom times.
Sounds like you should be able to retire on the proceeds of just selling this land so happy days.

Gumbo

mickdw wrote: »

So you are telling us that you have been sitting on 17 acres with great development potential 25 minutes drive from dublin and you had no idea of this potential use for the land either now or during boom times.
Sounds like you should be able to retire on the proceeds of just selling this land so happy days.

I would t say retire just yet.
The site value could only be about 500k.

There's a site in the middle of Phibsborough now, 6 possible 1 bed apartments and a retail front. Yours for 350k.

Panjandrums

This post has been deleted.

darby1234

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

What's the zoning of the 'site'?

Hi Tom,

The land is currently let to a farmer, but can be used as residential.

darby1234

mickdw wrote: »

So you are telling us that you have been sitting on 17 acres with great development potential 25 minutes drive from dublin and you had no idea of this potential use for the land either now or during boom times.
Sounds like you should be able to retire on the proceeds of just selling this land so happy days.

Mike,

TBH, I never would have seen myself as any kind of a 'property developer'

I finished secondary school in 2004 and went straight into the family business. So for the few years I spend in the boom times I was very much focused on growing the business.

My father was originally a farmer. He owns 100s of acres in the local area, but he never really looked at any of the land in the same way a property developer would look at land. Where a property developer might see a site with potential to build houses on, my father would see it as a field that grows a good crop!

My guy did suggest what u said - the idea of getting planning permission for the houses and then selling it on to a developer, but I'm just trying to see what the best option is for us. Either take the project on ourselves or sell it to a property developer.

What would u suggest?

Atlantic Dawn

As I see it you have 3 options in terms of ease, option 2 might give the best return for least effort and risk to your own finances...
Sell the land as is
Sell the land with planning permission for the 12 houses, could be circa 30k for planning permission and bird, wildlife study expenses etc etc.
Get planning permission, get financing for the houses and build and sell them, banks might insist on staggered build/sale, they are very unlikely to lend to you with zero previous property development experience so you might need to partner with someone.

Poor Uncle Tom

darby1234 wrote: »

Hi Tom,

The land is currently let to a farmer, but can be used as residential.

If the land is serviced, as the landowner you may be classed as a developer for Tax purposes so I would look into the tax implications of your options as well as taking planning advice, if I were you. Have you a housing need yourself? it is relevant.

Panjandrums

This post has been deleted.

sword1

Twelve houses on seventeen acres when there a housing shortage doesn't sound right. I am a bit sceptical of the thread to be honest, I am sure it will get interesting and you could have messages from investors . If you are legit I would be wary of selling someone an interest and then you end up applying for planning for a bigger development.

darby1234

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

If the land is serviced, as the landowner you may be classed as a developer for Tax purposes so I would look into the tax implications of your options as well as taking planning advice, if I were you. Have you a housing need yourself? it is relevant.

Yes, I would get planning permission through local needs.

darby1234

sword1 wrote: »

Twelve houses on seventeen acres when there a housing shortage doesn't sound right. I am a bit sceptical of the thread to be honest, I am sure it will get interesting and you could have pms from investors.

Hi,

I can assure u I didn't start the thread with any kind of agenda. I honestly just wanted to get some people's feed back and opinions

Angry bird

Go to pre planning with a person who knows the planning process. Do you want a house yourself out of the deal? I would get the planning and then either partner with a developer or sell on. On all aspects of this, get the best professional advice.

Dr Turk Turkelton

I'd say this lads next move is to tell you that he knows a lad will be interested in buying the site off you now that the acorn has been planted.
Next thing a developer will be in and building a hundred houses on your 17 acres.
He's taking the piss telling you 12 houses 25 mins from Dublin especially if he knows people in the planning department.

riemann

darby1234 wrote: »

Hi,

I can assure u I didn't start the thread with any kind of agenda. I honestly just wanted to get some people's feed back and opinions

Well my honest advice would be to sell up before planning.

This is based on the fact you think over an acre a site in semi rural area is a viable model for development,are are taking advice from a lad who is well in with the council.

Something isn't quite right here, I assume you're making the whole thing up based on your post history (or lack thereof).

Even giving you the benefit of the doubt, there is no such thing as a 17 acre field in a small village, so again I would question the veracity of your statements. Maybe your dad owns a bit of land between a village and a town and if so you would need to look into sight lines at any potential entrance, likelyhood of objections (pretty high I would say), wastewater, proximity to any national monuments and a raft of other specifications which an architect or other such professional would help you with. Development is no walk in the park so don't expect to wake up some day with a few extra zeros on your account balance.

Angry bird

Who actually owns the land? Who exactly is this guy well in with the planners, sounds like a BS artist looking to make a fee quid.

darby1234

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

I'd say this lads next move is to tell you that he knows a lad will be interested in buying the site off you now that the acorn has been planted.
Next thing a developer will be in and building a hundred houses on your 17 acres.
He's taking the piss telling you 12 houses 25 mins from Dublin especially if he knows people in the planning department.

He did say 'at least 12 houses'. I've looked at other close by small villages on maps and u can see housing developments with around 40 to 50 houses on similar sites to ours. I have no experience in property development, so I'm not really looking to do anything like that on a large scale, but we do want to look at all options available to us.


He has already told me that we could cash in on it and sell the site to a developer! But my father isn't overly keen on selling the land to a developer who will go on to do whatever he wants with it.

darby1234

Angry bird wrote: »

Who actually owns the land? Who exactly is this guy well in with the planners, sounds like a BS artist looking to make a fee quid.

My father owns the land. I'm not sure if it's wise of me to get into details on who exactly people are in this proposition on an open forum. That's why I didn't want to name the village or town I'm talking about. To answer the question from your other post - yes, I do want a house from the overall deal.

sword1

darby1234 wrote: »

My father owns the land. I'm not sure if it's wise of me to get into details on who exactly people are in this proposition on an open forum. That's why I didn't want to name the village or town I'm talking about. To answer the question from your other post - yes, I do want a house from the overall deal.

I see there is a project going ahead in lusk for 150 houses, it sounds more like what you should be looking at.

Cilar

Sell them as individual plots for self-builds. Huge demand and you can get more than selling the whole lot to a developer.

if the land and your post are genuine, a 17 acre plot within an easy drive to a motor way and 25 mins from Dublin. You would get at minimum 34 houses on .5 acre sites, well built 4 bed 2200sq ft houses which would be selling at 400K and above depending. And that would be being generous.
You would get maybe 50 3 bed 1300sq ft houses on this like Ballymore properties are building in Naas, all going for near 300K

As others have said, if you can, apply for your planning first but even deciding on what you wish to build would be fun, but if you go for a luxury development as above you would keep your small village nice and posh.

Not sure mind you of planning for local needs for a housing development.