10. Buying or Building a House without any Grant Assistance
10.3 Acquiring a site and building a house
Acquiring a site
Local knowledge is a considerable asset in finding and purchasing suitable sites on which to build. These will be advertised in local newspapers, the Solicitors' Property Centre, estate agents, solicitors and possibly in the Council itself. Some will have outline planning consent for housing, some will be serviced with water, electricity and gas, some will have neither planning consent nor services. Do not purchase until, at the very least, outline planning consent for housing has been obtained.
Taking the next steps and getting good professional advice
Anyone wanting to build a house has to overcome a number of official hurdles before they are allowed to proceed to the bricks and mortar building stage. Even before a potential house site has been identified, or as soon as possible afterwards, professional advice should be sought about the following essentials:
• Planning regulations and procedures
Planning officials are more than happy to help anyone who is thinking of building a house with specific advice on the requirements of the planning system and more general advice on other aspects of the building process. They have much useful experience and would far rather share it as early as possible to help the potential house-builder to avoid some of the pitfalls and delays that can arise from ignorance of what is needed to get planning consent.
The planning officials will explain the Council's policies on the siting and design and location of any new house to be built in its area. They will advise on the requirements for drainage from the house site, road access and water supplies and they will provide assistance with, as well as advice on, preparing applications for outline and/or full planning permission and for a building warrant.
• Legal advice
Good legal advice from a qualified solicitor should also be sought at an early stage, particularly by those who have not yet acquired legal title to the house site.
• Designing and building the house
Both the planning office and local solicitors can provide names and addresses of architects and building contractors. The Yellow Pages Directory also gives names of the manufacturers and suppliers of 'kit houses'. Some building contractors and all kit suppliers also provide a choice of house designs which, if suitable, may avoid or reduce the requirement to employ an architect. On the other hand an experienced architect will also greatly reduce the amount of time and effort that would otherwise be spent by the client on surmounting the hurdles involved in building a new house.
Any organisation or self builder interested in the promotion of or participation in a self build scheme should contact:
Community Self Build Scotland,
Queenslie Business Centre,
19 Blairtumnock Road,
Glasgow,
G33 4AN.
Tel: 0141 766 1999,
http://www.selfbuild-scotland.org.uk
