Land without planning permission wanted in Reading
If you own land without planning permission in or around Reading, we would like to hear about it. We buy directly and give a free, no-obligation appraisal.
Land without planning permission is land that has no current consent for development but may be able to get one. Most of the land we are offered falls into this group, and we assess whether a planning route is realistic before suggesting how a sale could work.
- Size
- Any
- Planning
- None yet
- Areas
- England & Wales
- Ways we buy
- Conditional, option or JV
Is your land in Reading the kind we want?
Near Reading, land without planning is worth discussing where it adjoins existing homes or has been put forward to the council's plan. As the county town of Berkshire, Reading anchors the area we cover here, along with Wokingham, Crowthorne and Yateley.
- Fields and paddocks next to existing settlements
- Plots within towns and villages that have never been built on
- Land where a previous application was refused for reasons that could be overcome
- Land of any size, including single plots
Berkshire is a string of large towns along the Thames Valley, including Reading, Slough, Bracknell, Maidenhead and Wokingham, with Newbury and smaller villages to the west. The east of the county is heavily constrained by the Metropolitan Green Belt, while the west falls partly within the North Wessex Downs National Landscape. Sites that come forward are often brownfield and town-centre land, edge-of-settlement fields and possible grey belt on the Green Belt fringe.
Before we make an offer in Reading
Who pays for planning
Applications, surveys and reports cost money; on conditional and option deals we normally pay for them up front, and any costs deducted from the price are agreed and capped.
Timescale
Getting permission can take months or years; we are honest about that from the start.
Your involvement
You can sell now, sell subject to planning, or grant an option; each asks a different amount of you.
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.
Some land in Berkshire is designated Green Belt. If your land is within it, it may still qualify as grey belt or previously developed land under national policy, subject to the Golden Rules.
Our base is in Great Barr, Birmingham, about 85 miles away, and we buy land throughout England and Wales.
Ways to sell land without planning permission in Reading
Outright purchase
We agree a price and buy the land, with no planning condition attached.
Outright purchaseSubject-to-planning contract
We agree a price now and complete once a satisfactory planning permission is granted.
Subject-to-planning contractOption agreement
Suits bigger sites or longer timescales; you are paid a premium and keep the land meanwhile.
Option agreementJoint venture
For owners who want a bigger share of the upside in return for more risk.
Joint ventureThe next steps
Get in touch
Tell us where the land is and what you know about it.
Site review
We look at the land, its planning position and anything that could affect it.
Proposal
We put our proposal in writing, with no obligation to accept.
Exchange and completion
If you go ahead, contracts are exchanged and the sale completes on the agreed terms.
Your questions answered
Who pays for the planning application?
On a subject-to-planning contract or an option agreement, we normally pay for the application and the reports that go with it. Under an option, agreed costs may later be deducted from the price; any deduction is capped and set out in the heads of terms.
Can I keep using the land while planning is sought?
Usually, yes. Farming, grazing or other current uses can generally continue until completion, subject to what we agree.
Is Reading too far from our Birmingham base?
No. We are based in Great Barr, Birmingham, about 85 miles from Reading, and we look at land right across England and Wales.
Can an agent introduce land in Reading to you?
Yes. Estate agents, land agents and planning consultants can introduce sites with the owner's consent. Any fee is agreed in writing before details are shared, confirmed by the owner in writing and paid only on completion.