Your land may be worth more than a field. We find out at our cost.
We pay for the planning. You stay the owner until you choose to sell. If permission is refused you lose nothing. A straight answer within about two weeks of a phone call.
What we do
Less money now or more money later. You choose.
Most land is worth what a farmer or a neighbour would pay for it. A small share is worth a great deal more because homes could be built on it. Getting from one to the other means planning permission, which costs money, takes time and is never guaranteed. That is the part we do, at our cost and our risk.
You stay the owner throughout. We hold only the right to run the planning application. If permission is granted you are paid on the uplift. If it is refused, we lose what we spent and you lose nothing: you will know for certain what your land can and cannot take, without having spent a penny.
If you would rather sell now, we can talk about that too. The choice is yours and it is the first thing we ask.
We read the title and the local plan, the planning history within a hundred metres, the flood maps, the trees, the listed buildings and the access. Then we telephone you. No visit, no cost, no commitment.
It means we looked at your land, not a mailing list. What the letter means and how to check us.
What we buy
Fields, paddocks, yards, large gardens and inherited land
A field or paddock
Beside or inside a village, from about half an acre. Grazing, hay, a pony paddock, an awkward corner of a farm.
Part of a garden
A long garden with a way in from the road. Or two or three neighbours' gardens together.
A yard or buildings
A builder's yard, a redundant barn, a former club, a workshop with land round it.
How it goes
Five steps. You decide at every one.
We give dates and we keep them. If we are going to be late we ring before the date, not after.
You get in touch
A postcode and a few words, here or by phone. Nothing is sent to anyone.
We do our homework
Title, local plan, flood, access, planning history, constraints. Public records, at our cost.
We talk
Fifteen minutes, at a time you choose. We ask what matters to you. We do not name a price; a number without the work behind it is a guess.
A straight answer
Whether we think the land can take homes, roughly what that could mean for you and what we propose. If the answer is no, we say no.
Terms, with your own solicitor
Written down, checked by your solicitor at our expense. You stay the owner until the day you choose to sell.
Why leave the planning to us
It costs more than people think and it is never guaranteed
A planning application for a handful of homes is not a form. It is an architect's drawings, a planning consultant's statement, ecology, trees, drainage and highway reports, the council's fee and often a year of answering questions. Done properly it costs between £25,000 and £100,000. Then the council can still say no. An appeal costs more and takes longer.
We carry all of that. The people we work with have done it before: planning consultants, architects, ecologists and highway engineers who know what each council will and will not accept, plus development partners who have taken sites from a field to finished homes. You get the result without the bill or the risk. The land stays yours until you choose to sell.
A refusal is a list of reasons. Many reasons can be answered: a different layout, a drainage design, an access moved, an appeal. We read the decision and tell you honestly whether it can be fixed. Withdrawn and lapsed permissions are often the easiest sites of all. What a refusal means.
The homes are built by development partners with the funding and the experience to see a scheme through to completion, so the permission we win becomes homes that get built, not a plan that sits in a drawer.
Where we buy
Monmouthshire first, then the English counties
Monmouthshire
Home ground. The new local plan is at examination and the county has a stated shortfall of homes.
South Cambridgeshire
Village backland and edge sites, where small schemes sell well.
Hart, Hampshire
A council found at appeal to be short of housing land. Village edges in demand.
Who we are
Local, named and checkable
The Land Buyer is run from Monmouth by Iain Forster, who reads every enquiry and makes every call himself. The company behind it, its number and its registered office are in the footer of every page so that you can look us up before you ring. About us.
Guides
Written for landowners, signed and dated
Questions landowners ask
Straight answers
Do I pay anything?
Will you tell me what my land is worth on the first call?
Can I keep using the land in the meantime?
What if planning is refused?
How small is too small?
Where are you based?
Free land review
Tell us about your land
Tell us the postcode. We do the checks at our cost and telephone you within ten days.