Land with planning permission wanted
Sites with outline or full permission for homes, including permissions close to expiry. England and Wales.
Land with planning permission is a site where the council has already granted consent for new homes, either in outline or in full. We buy consented sites across England and Wales, including those where the owner does not want to build out the scheme.
- Size
- Any number of homes
- Planning
- Outline, full or reserved matters
- Areas
- England & Wales
- Ways we buy
- Outright or conditional
What land with planning permission do we want?
A site with planning permission already has the council's approval for development, so much of the planning risk has gone. If you have consent but no plans to build, or the permission is approaching its time limit, we would like to hear from you.
- Outline permissions, full permissions and approved reserved matters
- Permissions that are close to their time limit to start work
- Consents with a Section 106 agreement or Community Infrastructure Levy liability
- Sites where some pre-commencement conditions are still to be discharged
- Single plots with consent for one or two homes
- Larger consented schemes where the owner does not want to build
What decides whether a site works?
Planning permission turns land into a development site with a defined scheme. We are buyers for consented land of all sizes, from a single approved plot to larger outline permissions, and we review the conditions and legal agreements in detail before making an offer.
Time limit
Permissions normally have to be started within a set period, so the date the consent expires matters a great deal.
Conditions
Pre-commencement conditions, such as drainage or ecology details, must be dealt with before work can lawfully start.
Planning obligations
Section 106 contributions, affordable housing and any Community Infrastructure Levy all affect what the land is worth to a builder.
Scheme design
Some approved layouts are hard to build or sell; others can be improved with a fresh application.
Title and access
Consent does not cure title problems, so rights of access and covenants still need checking.
Is it different in England and Wales?
England. Where an English council cannot show a five-year supply of housing land, or its Housing Delivery Test result falls below 75%, the August 2026 NPPF can give policy support to suitable housing outside settlement boundaries.
Wales. In Wales, planning decisions are guided by Planning Policy Wales and Future Wales: the National Plan 2040, with land for housing identified through each council's Local Development Plan, including candidate site stages when plans are reviewed.
What should I have ready?
None of this is essential to get started, but it helps us give a firmer view sooner:
- The decision notice and approved drawings
- Any Section 106 agreement and CIL notices
- Details of conditions already discharged
- Title documents and access rights
How we buy
Ways to sell land with planning permission to us
Outright purchase
The usual route for consented land: an agreed price and a straightforward sale.
Outright purchaseSubject-to-planning contract
Used where a fresh or amended application would improve the scheme.
Subject-to-planning contractOption agreement
Rarely needed once permission exists, but possible for phased sites.
Option agreementWhere
Land with planning permission wanted by area
Choose your county to see what we look for locally and the towns we cover.
England
- Bedfordshire
- Berkshire
- Bristol
- Buckinghamshire
- Cambridgeshire
- Cheshire
- Cornwall
- County Durham
- Cumbria
- Derbyshire
- Devon
- Dorset
- The East Riding of Yorkshire
- East Sussex
- Essex
- Gloucestershire
- Greater London
- Greater Manchester
- Hampshire
- Herefordshire
- Hertfordshire
- The Isle of Wight
- Kent
- Lancashire
- Leicestershire
- Lincolnshire
- Merseyside
- Norfolk
- North Yorkshire
- Northamptonshire
- Northumberland
- Nottinghamshire
- Oxfordshire
- Rutland
- Shropshire
- Somerset
- South Yorkshire
- Staffordshire
- Suffolk
- Surrey
- Tyne and Wear
- Warwickshire
- The West Midlands
- West Sussex
- West Yorkshire
- Wiltshire
- Worcestershire
Wales
What happens next
Send the basics
A postcode or plan and a few lines about the land are enough to start.
We do the homework
We check planning history, policy, flood maps and access at no cost to you.
We explain the options
You get a written proposal covering price, structure and timing.
Agree and proceed
Once you are happy, solicitors are instructed and the deal moves forward.
Questions
Land with planning permission: common questions
My permission expires soon. Is it too late?
Not necessarily. Depending on the time left and the conditions, it may be possible to make a lawful start, apply again or vary the scheme. Tell us the expiry date as soon as you can.
Do I need to discharge the conditions before selling?
No. Many sites are sold with conditions still outstanding. We look at what is left to do and allow for it.
Will the Section 106 obligations transfer to the buyer?
Planning obligations usually run with the land, so they bind whoever owns it. We review them as part of our due diligence.
Can you buy if the approved scheme is not one you would build?
Yes. Sometimes we buy on the basis of the existing permission and then seek changes through a new or amended application.