Forming group to buy self-build sites

B

babylon

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Ive been trying for a while to find a site to build the family home but sites in my area are rare and very expensive. I am considering trying to get a group of like minded individuals together and between us buying a development site. Say five other people to purchase a 3 acre site where each person gets a half acre site. Has anyone done anything similar to this? Does it work out any cheaper? What are the legal issues? Would we need to set up a co-op or limited company? Any advice, suggestions,etc appreciated.
 
Anything more than four may lead to a section 5 problem and you will have to allocate 20% of the housing for social and affordable. This would not apply if you each own your own site but would apply if you form a company or partnership.
If you buy it as a partnership and maybe get the vendor to agree to make the contract assignable you could then take ownership of individual sites without having to pay stamp duty twice and each apply for your own planning permission.
Maybe if you talk to the local authority they may allow you to buy out of your section 5 duties at a very low price because of the circumstances.
 
Probably the neatest way to do this would be to sign a contract with a specialist contract to construct the main roads, utilities, infrastructure and boundaries with each homebuilder being individually responsible for obtaining PP for their own plot and proceeding to construction with their own design. Sounds like a good idea in principle but I think that unless the group of people have a very clear common goal such an idea will never get beyond the paper stage. It's a bit like these "dream paradise island" communities who think they share a common vision, but once human nature comes into the equation the whole thing falls apart.
 
We are involved in something similar - although that was not our intention - the developer simply has no interest in completing work on services. It's not working for the reasons Carpenter outlined above. While we all ultimately want to build on the sites - we are all at very different stages, have different priorities and different limits on the risks we are willing to take.
 
Ok. Thanks for the opinions. Sounds like it could be a bit of a mine field. Back to the drawing board I guess...
 
babylon said:
Ok. Thanks for the opinions. Sounds like it could be a bit of a mine field. Back to the drawing board I guess...
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Pity. It would be great if it could work. Maybe there is a business opening there for someone to set up and control this.
 
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