How it works
We take on the cost and risk of planning. If permission is granted, we buy your land at a price agreed in advance.
This page sets out the whole arrangement: why it exists, each step, what you would receive and give up, who else is involved and how we make money. We would rather you read it before we speak than after.
Why this arrangement exists
Getting planning permission on your own is expensive, slow and uncertain
Land can be worth far more with permission to build homes than without it. But getting there is hard, and most of the cost comes before anyone knows the answer.
It costs money up front
An application usually needs drawings, surveys and reports on things like access, drainage, wildlife and trees, as well as the council’s fee. All of it is paid before a decision.
It takes time and know-how
From first advice to a decision often takes a year or more. It means managing consultants, answering the council’s questions and sometimes going to appeal.
It can be refused
Many applications are turned down, even careful ones. If you paid for it yourself, that money is gone, and your land is worth what it was before.
Our arrangement moves that cost and risk from you to us. In return, if permission is granted, we have the right to buy your land at the price we agreed at the start.
Step by step
What happens, from our letter to a decision
You can stop at any point before you sign. Most conversations end before step five, and that is fine. Everything before the signed agreement is subject to contract.
Our letter
We found your land using public maps and records, not a visit. The letter says which land we mean and how to reach us, or how to ask us to stop.
A first conversation
You talk to Max. We explain why the land caught our attention and ask what matters to you: what you use it for, what you want to keep and what you would never agree to.
A closer look by specialists
If you want to go on, we ask planning, legal and building specialists to look at the land in detail. Many sites stop here. If yours does, we tell you why, and you owe us nothing.
A proposal, in writing
If the land still looks worth pursuing, we put a proposal in writing. It gives the price, how long the agreement would last, who the parties are, who pays for what and what you would give up.
Independent advice, then your decision
You take the proposal to your own solicitor and anyone else you trust, in your own time. Nothing binds you until you sign.
We apply for planning, at our cost
We pay for and manage the planning work: the surveys, the design, the application and any appeal. We keep you informed and agree access to your land with you in advance.
The outcome
If permission is granted, we buy your land at the agreed price and the sale goes through in the usual way, with solicitors on both sides. If permission is refused, the agreement ends and you keep your land.
How long each stage usually takes
These are typical ranges, not promises. Councils and appeals set the pace, and every piece of land is different. From signing to a sale completing often takes between one and two years.
- First conversation and a closer look by specialists
- 2 to 6 weeks
- Written proposal and heads of terms (subject to contract)
- 2 to 4 weeks
- Solicitors agree and sign the agreement
- 1 to 3 months
- Preparing the application: surveys, design, advice from the council
- 3 to 6 months
- The council’s decision
- Target 8 to 13 weeks, often longer
- An appeal, only if refused and worth appealing
- Usually 6 months or more
- The sale completing after permission is granted
- 1 to 6 months
The agreement
What an option agreement is, and what it means for you
The written agreement is normally an option agreement. It gives us the right, but not the duty, to buy your land at a price agreed now, if planning permission is granted within a set period.
What you would receive
- A price agreed in writing at the start, which we aim to set above what your land would sell for today
- The planning work done and paid for by us, with nothing to pay if it is refused
- Your land stays yours, and in your use, until a sale completes
- A named person to call throughout
What you would give up
- For the length of the agreement, you could not sell that land to anyone else
- The agreement is normally noted on your land’s title at HM Land Registry
- You would allow surveyors onto the land, at times agreed with you
- If the value with planning turns out higher than expected, the agreed price still applies
The details are always in writing first
The length of the agreement, any payment when you sign, and who pays for your solicitor differ from one piece of land to another. We set each one out in writing before you are asked to agree to anything.
Who is involved
You deal with us. Specialists and funders work behind us.
Max is your contact from the first call to the end. You will not be passed to a call centre.
Specialists check the land before we propose anything, and do the planning work if you go ahead. They include planning consultants, solicitors, surveyors and builders. We will tell you who they are when they become involved.
Funders. We have teamed up with investors who fund the planning work and the purchase. That is how we can carry the cost and the risk instead of you.
The company you sign with. Sometimes an agreement is made with a company set up for a particular piece of land. If so, we name it, explain who is behind it and why, before it appears in any paperwork.
How we make money
We earn only if planning is granted and the land is sold
Land with planning permission is usually worth more than the price we agree to pay for it. That difference is how we are paid. It covers the planning work, the applications that are refused, our funders’ return and our own costs.
If permission is refused, we lose everything we spent on your land. You do not pay us anything, now or later.
We want the price to be fair to you and still leave room for that risk. We will explain how we arrived at it, and you are free to have it checked by a valuer or land agent of your own.
We are not independent advisers
We would be the buyer, so our interests and yours are not the same. That is why we ask you to take independent advice before you sign anything, and why we will never rush you.
What we cannot promise
Some things nobody can promise you, including us
- That planning permission will be granted. Only the local planning authority decides, and it can say no
- That we will make a proposal. Many sites do not survive a closer look
- That a sale will happen. It depends on permission being granted within the agreed period
- How long it will take. Councils and appeals set the pace, not us
What we can promise is that we will tell you what we find, including the bad news, and put every commitment in writing.
Contact
Ask us about your land
If you have had a letter, or you think your land might be worth a conversation, call or email. No account, no form, and no pressure.
Prefer to write? Send a messageOwn 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.