New measures to help people to build their own home

The government is reviewing the planning system to make it as easy as possible for people to build their own home. 

There are currently about 15,000 of these types of homes built every year – an increase of 50% in two years. It’s estimated that the self and custom build industry is worth almost £4.5 billion to the UK economy.

Councils are currently required to keep a register of those who wish to build in their local area. And by 30 October each year – ‘Right to Build’ day – councils should have granted planning permission to enough suitable plots to match the demand on their register.

The review will examine how effectively these arrangements support self and custom building, including whether they increase land available to support these homes.

To improve transparency and to help understand how councils are meeting the needs of their communities, the data councils collect on self and custom build in their area will now be published annually.

The Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 (as amended by the Housing and Planning Act 2016), sometimes known as ‘the Right to Build’, requires relevant authorities to:

• keep a register of individuals and groups who wish to self or custom build in their local area
• have regard to demand on their register when undertaking planning, housing, disposal of land and regeneration functions
• grant permissions to enough suitable serviced plots to reflect the demand within 3 years.

The government has already put in place several measures to support local councils in meeting requirements around self and custom build, including providing £95,850 of new funding to each local planning authority since 2016 (totalling over £30 million).

The National Custom and Self Build Association’s ‘Right to Build Task Force’ has been commissioned to run online workshops with local councils to support the delivery of more self and custom build homes.

Please contact Eugene Pritchard or Dipak Odedra if you would like advice about the legal aspects of buying or selling a home.