Building, or commissioning your own home might be something that you dream about when watching Grand Designs on TV, but a self-built home might not be as out of reach as you might think. And you won’t necessarily need to roll up your sleeves and start laying bricks either,
says Alistair Millar, partner at Tallents Solicitors in Southwell.
He says,
The government is committed to driving up the housing supply in England while also supporting self-build and custom house building.
However, at present, as a nation we are too reliant on a small number of volume house builders. Currently 10,000 self-built and custom-built homes are built each year by individuals and small developers, and the government would like this to double by 2020.
What are the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Regulations 2016?
As such, the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding (Time for Compliance and Fees) Regulations 2016, if approved, will come into force on 31st October 2016. They have been written to enable more people to live in homes that were designed by them to meet their specific needs.
Alistair comments:
One thing preventing most people from building their own home is finding a suitable building plot. If approved, the Regulations will be critical to increasing the availability of land for self-building and custom house building in England.
Self-build and custom housing registers
Individuals and associations of individuals will be able to register their interest in acquiring serviced plots of land for self-build and custom housing developments with their local council.
Under the new Regulations, councils will be required to grant enough planning permissions to meet the demand on their self-build and custom house building registers, within three years of the year in which the entries were put onto the registers.
This will ensure that serviced land is made available for self- and custom-builds in a timely manner and will allow authorities sufficient time to identify suitable consented land, or land that will receive consent for self- and custom-built homes.
Accelerated Construction Scheme
Alistair continues:
There’s more good news for small building developers too.
The government is also pledging £5 billion of public money to boost the house building industry, having announced the launch of the Accelerated Construction Scheme.
The Scheme will fund making public land with planning permission available to builders, as well as loans to stimulate new building projects where tight finances are delaying the build.
Local authorities have expressed concerns about pressure on resources and funding to meet their obligations to maintain and update the register under the Regulations. The government has indicated that it will provide funding but no details have been confirmed as yet.
Tallents Solicitors has years of experience in advising clients on self-build and construction projects and their experts are on hand to help people understand how the new Regulations might help them build their dream home.