About us

We started LandKite because the country needs more homes, and every home starts with a piece of land.

LandKite is run by Max Derry. This page explains what we believe, why we do this work and how we want to treat the people we write to.

An illustration of green fields, hedgerows and a gate, with a few houses on the far hill

What we believe

The UK has not built enough homes, and the lasting answer is to build more

For decades, the country has built fewer homes than it needs. You can see the result in almost every family. Young adults live with their parents for longer. Renters spend more of their income on housing. Many people who work hard and save still cannot buy a first home.

There are many ideas for fixing this, and some of them help for a while. We believe the answer that lasts is simple: build more homes. When supply rises closer to demand, homes become easier to find and easier to afford. The government has set a target of 1.5 million new homes in England during this Parliament. Whatever you think of that number, it will not be reached without more land coming forward.

Every new home is a chance for someone. It might be a couple’s first home. It might be a family with room to grow, or a parent moving closer to their children. We want to help create more of those chances.

Where we fit

Much of the land that could take new homes belongs to people who never planned to build

It might be the land beside someone’s home, a paddock, a yard or a field at the edge of a village. Its owners are not developers. They have lives, jobs and families, and no reason to spend a year and a large sum on a planning application that might be refused.

That is the gap we set out to fill. We use public maps and records to find land where homes might be possible. Then we write to the owner and offer to take on the cost and risk of the planning process. If permission is granted, we buy the land at a price agreed at the start. That price is set with planning in mind, so the owner shares in what the land could become. If permission is refused, the owner keeps their land and pays us nothing.

We are a business, and we earn money when this works. We say so plainly, and we explain exactly how on how it works. We think the arrangement is fair because it only works if it is good for the owner too.

Who we are

The person you talk to

Max is the person you talk to. He is not a planner or a solicitor, and does not pretend to be. We bring in specialists who are.

Max Derry

Co-founder and managing director

Max founded Maxwell Mortgages, a mortgage brokerage based in Silverstone, and has been a self-employed mortgage broker for more than eight years. He helps first-time buyers, home movers and landlords, so he sees every week how hard it is for people to find a home they can afford.

In 2020 he co-founded Bucks Brothers Gin with his brothers, grew it into a Buckinghamshire distillery and sold it in early 2025. He owns land himself, and his family have taken land through planning, so he knows what it is like to sit on the owner’s side of the table. At LandKite he runs the business and leads the conversations with owners.

How we work

Six promises we can keep

We cannot promise planning permission. These are the promises we can make, and we expect to be held to them.

We are open about the model

How it works, who is involved and how we make money are all on this website before we ever speak.

We tell you what we do not know

If something could stand in the way, you hear it from us first. Uncertainty is part of the evidence, not something to hide.

What you want to keep comes first

A map cannot show what land means to a family. We ask before we propose anything.

Everything important is in writing

Price, length of the agreement, who the parties are and who pays for what, before you are asked to sign.

No pressure, no deadlines we invent

Take independent advice and take your time. Involve anyone you like.

Saying no is easy

Tell us once, with our stop letters form or by phone or email, and we will stop writing to you.

Read how the arrangement works

Contact

Talk to a person

Call or email. You do not need an account or a form. Ask us anything, including the awkward questions.

Phone07545 883304

Emailhello@landkite.co.uk

Prefer to write? Send a message Own land you think we should see? Tell us about it

Would you rather we did not write again?

Use our stop letters form, or call or email with the name and address on our letter and say so. We will stop, and we will not write to you again. How we handle a request to stop.