How much is a square metre of garden land worth?
How much is a square metre of garden land worth?
How much a square metre of your garden is worth will depend on its development potential, as well as a whole host of other factors.
A garden with no development potential essentially can only be used as a garden, so will be worth less than a similar piece of land that could be built on.
The location of your property, access and the value of your home can also affect how much your garden is worth.
Five signs your garden could have development potential
Knowing whether your garden has potential for development can be tricky – here are five signs that it might…
1. It’s a large plot
If your garden is big enough to comfortably fit in a house in keeping with others on the street, you could have a plot with genuine development potential.
If your garden isn’t big enough to fit a property on, though, it’s development potential will be minimal.
Planners will look at the current stock of housing on your street and generally they’ll expect a house of similar size and build to be constructed on the plot.
Essentially, much of the planning department’s consideration will come down to whether any new property fits into the context of the street and doesn’t appear too cramped on the plot.
2. No privacy or overshadowing issues
If your garden doesn’t suffer with overlooking from neighbouring properties, it could be a good plot for development.
Privacy is an essential consideration for planners, and they’ll take into account how any new property on the site may overlook neighbouring homes.
Some local authorities also have minimum separation stipulations for new homes.
Overshadowing, where a new property blocks light into a neighbouring home’s garden or interior, can also be a major issue with some garden plots.
3. A lack of trees
If your garden is an open plot with very few trees, that can make it a good site for development.
Removal of trees for development can cause problems with both the local authority and neighbouring properties, while trees with preservation orders attached to them may require a specialist survey.
4. Good access and parking
The best garden development plots are ones with direct access to roads, so if your garden has this, it could be a good site for development.
Planners will consider parking pressures, too, so if your garden is spacious enough for any new property to have off-street parking, this will go down well at the Town Hall.
5. A lack of wildlife
The removal of protected species like bats, newts or other reptiles can be an issue for some garden plot developments.
Ideally, for the purposes of selling your garden for development, it will either have a lack of wildlife or you’ll be able to present a solution that preserves it alongside any new property.
However, if wildlife is present, it will more than often than not mean you need to have an ecological survey.
Garden development planning permission
If you’re able to obtain full or outline planning permission for your garden land before you look to sell it, this can increase its value.
However, before you look to obtain planning permission, you should consider:
• If your property is in a designated land area like a conservation area, or Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, as this could mean you have to overcome stricter planning rules
• Whether your existing property’s value would be hit by any new development on your garden land
Firstly, you should apply for outline planning permission (OPP), which, if approved, lets you know that it would be permittable to build on your garden plot.
Selling your plot with OPP is usually enough to increase the value of your land, but you could also look to obtain detailed planning permission (DPP), which outlines exactly what type of property could be built.