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Anyone have experience of speculating on land

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    #11
    No experience of buying farmland, but a couple of years back I found a small plot through the local council. Most councils publish lists on their website of dilapidations, long term voids, plots, old buildings, (eg disused public toilets) and sometimes commercial stuff. The dept that deals with it is asset management, IIRC.

    The site did not have planning and had an infestation of japanese knotweed, which, had I known at the time, I wouldnt have touched with a bargepole.

    Bought it through the company, paid 15k for it. The plot itself was on the edge of a commercial district just off a high street, so was a prime spot for development.

    I eventually got planning about 2 years later after spending a fair few quid on architect fees, and having a couple of schemes refused.

    The knotweed cost around 22k to remove (I couldn't wait another 2 years for chemical disposal which would have been a fraction of the cost).

    The upside is the company got 150% land remediation tax relief on the knotweed and site preparation (knotweed infested land is deemed contaminated, so HMRC grant a dispensation - you need a specialist tax advisor to prepare the reports as your accountant wouldnt have a clue how to tackle it). Also got Capital allowances on the build, part commercial and part residential and the building is now worth about 225k conservatively.

    Well worth doing if you take a long term view, plotsearch/buildsearch and those type of sites are ok but the land is usually overpriced as they sell with OPP - ok for self build but not for investment.

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      #12
      One avenue to pursue is buying up tulipehole properties at auction. Ones that have been empty for at least 6 months, in need of renovation.

      Buy it cheap at auction and the council will give you a grant to develop it into a liveable home, they will then pay you rent and place a family on the waiting list to live there.

      I think you have to agree to do this for at least 10 years.

      This is driven by a deal to reduce to number of empty houses.

      Worth calling the council to get the details.

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        #13
        Originally posted by DimPrawn View Post
        One avenue to pursue is buying up tulipehole properties at auction. Ones that have been empty for at least 6 months, in need of renovation.

        Buy it cheap at auction and the council will give you a grant to develop it into a liveable home, they will then pay you rent and place a family on the waiting list to live there.

        I think you have to agree to do this for at least 10 years.

        This is driven by a deal to reduce to number of empty houses.

        Worth calling the council to get the details.
        The urban regeneration scheme?

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          #14
          My Grandad always used to say, you should always Invest in land because there not making anymore

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            #15
            Originally posted by Support Monkey View Post
            My Grandad always used to say, you should always Invest in land because there not making anymore
            I own most of the moon.

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              #16
              Lot of info here. Investing in land is a brilliant idea but the only one demerit is that, it's not easy to liquidate in urgent cases.

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                #17
                Originally posted by powdajohn View Post
                Lot of info here. Investing in land is a brilliant idea but the only one demerit is that, it's not easy to liquidate in urgent cases.
                This is very true, especially in a falling market.

                Try selling a villa in Spain for example

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                  #18
                  Originally posted by MarillionFan View Post
                  Such as buying plots of land without planning permission(which may look like a good bet) and then putting in applications over the years.

                  Seeing some interesting plots £50/£60/£100k which don't have permission, have tried previously, but there is a chance in the future.

                  Anyone done this? Pointers? Experience?

                  (Adding to that, has anyone bought any woodland at any point?)
                  Sounds like a great idea: Land Banking Scams - What you must know | LearnMoney.co.uk
                  "A life, Jimmy, you know what that is? It’s the s*** that happens while you’re waiting for moments that never come." -- Lester Freamon

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                    #19
                    One of the items on my 'ideas list' is buying some land or dilapidated building in north of france for renovation or development, then commute to SE England via the chunnel. High speed rail link to London may mean it's quicker than commuting from the M4 corridor!

                    Prices seem a lot more reasonable than in the UK. Just not sure if France has a safer, less corrupt, legal system than say Spain when buying property or land, so needs plenty of research.


                    Another item on my list, to circumvent the 'you can own land but you can't live on it' problem in the UK, is to buy a couple of acres and dig out a big pond suitable for homing rare species of wildlife. Then plonk a flat bottomed boat in the pond to live on, and stick two fingers up to the authorities and NIMBYs. Not sure if this idea would float though.

                    If the idea of building your own pond is too daunting. Maybe buying some floodplain land (which should be cheap as it's pretty useless) and waiting for the rain/flood is a possibility. Noah.
                    Feist - 1234. One camera, one take, no editing. Superb. How they did it
                    Feist - I Feel It All
                    Feist - The Bad In Each Other (Later With Jools Holland)

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