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Property in Essex
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tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 10:18 am Post subject: Property in Essex

As you all know I've been combing the Essex countryside for a property with not much luck so far, I'm after something that I can get to work on straight away but I know that people may have different circumstances so this is something that I viewed on Monday but isn't suitable for us:

Location:
Lower Dunton Road, Bulphan, Essex.

It's not terribly posh or anything but it's surrounded by lovely countryside, although it is on a fairly busy road. Easy access from the A127 & A13, I was there this morning and it took me 40 minutes to drive to work (Whitechapel) from there.

Property:
It's divided into 3 lots:

Lot1 ï¿½700,000 +vat
A grade II listed house that requires some pretty serious structural works and complete gutting internally, you'd probably be best trying to encourage it to fall down

47,000 sq ft of out buildings including a HUGE Essex barn

36 acres of nice level fields that are currently used for grazing

Unfortunately there's a barn of disputed ownership on the front boundary, directly facing the Essex barn (which would make an excellent house, the framework is intact but clad in corrugated iron)

Lot2 ï¿½55,000 +vat
A 9 acre field

Lot 3 ï¿½125,000 +vat
A 36 acre field, nice and level, used for hay at the moment. Opposite a nature reserve.

The reason we're not going for it is that I think it'll take at least 3 years to get the necessary consents etc for any of the proposals that we'd put forward. I've done extensive research myself and employed a planning consultant (who's down there right now) and these are my thoughts on the property:

1.
If you could face the prospect of living 20ft away from a barn that is on the verge of collapse in your front garden then the Esex barn would make a huge and excellent house, as I said earlier the existing house in my opinion needs to fall down.

2.
The local council appears to have quite a flexible policy on Green Belt usage so I think it would be possible to buy lot 3 and apply for permission to build on it. From my reading of the various documents, annexes etc it appears that the council would allow temporary accommodation for 3 years on production of a viable business plan, at the end of the 3 years if you can show that you've made a profit at least 1 year then you can convert the temporary permission to full consent for a permanent dwelling.

This obviously has a high element of risk attached, but it could be a very cheap way to get on the ladder if you are serious about it and don't mind living in a caravn for 3 years

I don't want to wait 3 years, but if I was a few years younger I think I'd have chanced it.

If anyone wants to know more please PM me, as I said I've got a planning consultant looking at the place today (I'd already booked him in before I decided it wasn't for us), anything that he comes up with will be free for any of you to use.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 10:26 am Post subject:
Gosh, I had forgotten just what the prices are like in the South East. The vat on the house alone comes to ï¿½122,500

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 10:29 am Post subject:
36 acres and significant development potential too. Obviously expensive but where I live now that buys you a 4 bed house with a 40x60' garden

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 10:34 am Post subject:
That really is scary.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 10:39 am Post subject:
I do live in an expensive bit of Romford, but yes it is extremely expensive in London nowadays. Luckily we bought our at the very depth of the last recession so we bought really cheap.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 11:18 am Post subject:
Why is there VAT on the properties? Isn't that just VAT on the fees?

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 11:21 am Post subject:
Sometimes properties are subject to vat, the property that we almost completed on had a 7 acre field behind it owned by the CofE that we wanted to buy, the land purchase was subject to vat. It's very rarely the case, but for some reason certain properties have vat on them.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 11:24 am Post subject:
Presumably because they have been owned by a business that is registered for vat.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 11:25 am Post subject:
No that's not the determining factor, there's some strange rule somewhere but I can't remember what it is.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 12:03 pm Post subject:

From the few discussions I've had with people a factor in gaining planning permission is also down to how you get on with the planners. That may simply be down to chatting with them in a friendly way, playing golf with them or something else.

I must admit the idea of buying several buildings with land with the prospect of either renting/selling off some is appealing as it's a way of funding the whole project and securing your own interests with covenants etc. But there's also the risks of being landed with the whole property for a long time.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 12:07 pm Post subject:
The reason I put it up here was that my reading of Thurrock councils interpretation of Green Belt policy indicates that there is a possibility of gainiing consent for a dwelling on a working farm. ï¿½125k for 36 acres withoout an agricultural tie is very cheap.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 12:47 pm Post subject:
Is it likely to go for that or more?

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 12:52 pm Post subject:

Depends. If there's a developer with "connections" in the planning dept they may get consent for say 3 or 4 houses (it's a v large frontage), if not then the serious purchaser like me that wants something with certainty attached is not going to buy it which means that it's either going to a farmer who won't pay much for it (I reckon less than asking) or someone that's preapred to devote themselves to it as a project over a number of years.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 2:39 pm Post subject:
The details are on the internet now: https://www.primelocation.com/uk-property-for-sale/details/id/SPip169926/

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 3:43 pm Post subject:
Tahir, What's a planning consultant? and what do they do for you? and how much do they cost? Peter.

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