Caught between rock and hard place re:planning

Ginger83

We have an option of buying a piece of land, it has site potential.

A planner said both he and a senior planner would support a house being built here but as our kids are very young we don't have a current local need.

Should we walk away?

mickdw

Have you got connections to the area.
I know councils differ so what do you need in your area to prove local needs?

Ginger83

mickdw wrote: »

Have you got connections to the area.
I know councils differ so what do you need in your area to prove local needs?

Hi we live beside the site, i was hoping to invest in it for the future for a daughter.

mickdw

Oh I get you now. You already live there and kids are too young to need a house.

Any relative that would satisfy the local needs that could apply on it?

You would need to be careful though. What is a site now might not be a site in next development plan. With that in mind, if planning was got now, could you afford to built on it within the duration of the planning permission.

Ginger83

mickdw wrote: »

Oh I get you now. You already live there and kids are too young to need a house.

Any relative that would satisfy the local needs that could apply on it?

You would need to be careful though. What is a site now might not be a site in next development plan. With that in mind, if planning was got now, could you afford to built on it within the duration of the planning permission.

Yes thats right they are too young.

No i'm afraid not.

Yes this is the bit i'm uncertain of, i'm not well and hoped to leave something behind for a daughter but it may not be worth the risk.

Metric Tensor

Depends on price and your financial status OP.

Is it being sold as farmland or is the seller pricing it as if it's a site?

Apologies if I missed it I'm the OP but are you definitely in an area with restrictive planning rules? (often referred to a little inaccurately a local needs areas) If not then planning permission may be obtainable in anyone's name including your own. This would leave you with an easily disposed of site for at least 5 years.

I would advise you to pay a local planning professional for an hour or two of their time to discuss your options. It'll cost f all in the greater scheme of things and you'll find out a lot more than we can surmise here when we don't know the specifics.

Ginger83

Metric Tensor wrote: »

Depends on price and your financial status OP.

Is it being sold as farmland or is the seller pricing it as if it's a site?

Apologies if I missed it I'm the OP but are you definitely in an area with restrictive planning rules? (often referred to a little inaccurately a local needs areas) If not then planning permission may be obtainable in anyone's name including your own. This would leave you with an easily disposed of site for at least 5 years.

I would advise you to pay a local planning professional for an hour or two of their time to discuss your options. It'll cost f all in the greater scheme of things and you'll find out a lot more than we can surmise here when we don't know the specifics.

Thank you for your reply.

We are in Cavan so not sure on the restrictive part. No agreed price as of yet.

We contacted a planner who said he would support a house there but we dont have a local need.

happywithlife

Ginger83 wrote: »

Hi we live beside the site, i was hoping to invest in it for the future for a daughter.

How yiung exactly is "young"? If you don't mind me asking.
If still a child for example I don't think I would tbh --- why tie any child down like that to live next door to their parents forever more? I say that as a mum to 3 btw

On the other hand if young is say mid-late 20's and they've a fair idea they know they want to live next door than yes seriously consider it as a helping hand to get on the ladder - but with the advice previously stated per legalities etc

Ginger83

happywithlife wrote: »

How yiung exactly is "young"? If you don't mind me asking.
If still a child for example I don't think I would tbh --- why tie any child down like that to live next door to their parents forever more? I say that as a mum to 3 btw

On the other hand if young is say mid-late 20's and they've a fair idea they know they want to live next door than yes seriously consider it as a helping hand to get on the ladder - but with the advice previously stated per legalities etc

Yes she is only a child. I never thought of it like that, I only had the intention of leaving her a headstart.

Calahonda52

Ginger83 wrote: »

Yes thats right they are too young.

No i'm afraid not.

Yes this is the bit i'm uncertain of, i'm not well and hoped to leave something behind for a daughter but it may not be worth the risk.

OP, sorry to read this


As an accountant, it seems that you are trying to provide for your daughter in some shape or form, so deciding what you can afford is the first step and then selecting the right asset, or assets is the next step.

There is no point in financial strangulation at this juncture, with a piece of land, which may end up only having farm value if the local dev plans/ local needs/etc go against it's development as a house.

Metric Tensor

Ginger83 wrote: »

We contacted a planner who said he would support a house there but we dont have a local need.

If you mean a planner working for the council they can answer your questions but can only talk in generalities and will not necessarily give you advice on how best to maximise your benefit wrt the way the system is set up. That's why I suggest talking to someone who carries out planning permission applications in the area regularly.

I echo what the others have said also though. A domestic dwelling in rural Cavan might be a more challenging asset to give your daughter than some other things. If she follows a career route that has little or no presence in Cavan then a site or dwelling that she doesn't use becomes something that she has the pressure to sell, or worse, that she feels she can't sell because her parents specifically got it for her adjacent to their own house.

august12

Ginger83 wrote:

We have an option of buying a piece of land, it has site potential.

If you are farming, then yes, this might be a good purchase, if you don't, then this piece of ground could come under the government's new proposal of charging people for not developing sites, it's an annual charge as far as I know, personally, I wouldn't do this unless you are also hoping to stop any future development next to you, then that is another story, I would be more inclined to put a savings sheme in place,

Metric Tensor

august12 wrote: »

then this piece of ground could come under the government's new proposal of charging people for not developing sites

From what the OP has described that's EXTREMELY unlikely.

Ginger83

Calahonda52 wrote: »

OP, sorry to read this


As an accountant, it seems that you are trying to provide for your daughter in some shape or form, so deciding what you can afford is the first step and then selecting the right asset, or assets is the next step.

There is no point in financial strangulation at this juncture, with a piece of land, which may end up only having farm value if the local dev plans/ local needs/etc go against it's development as a house.

Thank you for your reply.

Ginger83

Metric Tensor wrote: »

If you mean a planner working for the council they can answer your questions but can only talk in generalities and will not necessarily give you advice on how best to maximise your benefit wrt the way the system is set up. That's why I suggest talking to someone who carries out planning permission applications in the area regularly.

I echo what the others have said also though. A domestic dwelling in rural Cavan might be a more challenging asset to give your daughter than some other things. If she follows a career route that has little or no presence in Cavan then a site or dwelling that she doesn't use becomes something that she has the pressure to sell, or worse, that she feels she can't sell because her parents specifically got it for her adjacent to their own house.

Thats actually a very good point.

ustari

My parents did exactly this when I was 8 or so. I have now built a house on the site over 20 years later.

They bought for a few reasons:
protected development next to home house
change of it being available again in future quite slim
gives super head start to child (me) for building in the future


If you can afford it then I would be of the opinion to go for it.
Even if it is just to protect your house from an unwanted development/new neighbour in the short/medium term.

Can play it by ear then in the future, can sell if needs be or daughter makes it clear they do not want to live next door. If you can afford it, best to be looking at it than looking for it imo.

Calahonda52

OSI wrote: »

You mention you have "kids" ie multiple, but talk about building to leave something for your daughter? That seems like a fast track to creating massive family issues, no?

No legal requirement to leave anything assuming they are all adults so timing here is critical

TomOnBoard

Put the cost of the site into a fund for her. Call it the Sarah to Mary Education Fund(substitute names as appropriate) By the time she's 18, it'll help pay for her College as it will have grown substantially if you set it up properly. Best present you could leave her. It'll liberate her rather than tie her down. And she'll always remember your generosity and the gift you gave her.

Be well. Be pain-free.