Backland Development
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Build a new home in your garden in Falmouth

Building a second home behind your own in Falmouth is a construction project with one unusual feature: you live beside the site from the first spade to the last coat of paint. That shapes how we plan it, from the fence that separates your garden on day one to where deliveries park.

The route covers everything between an idea and a finished house. We survey and design, prepare and submit the planning application, arrange Building Regulations approval and the structural warranty, organise new water, drainage and electricity connections, and then build. You keep ownership of the land throughout.

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Timber-frame house under construction with scaffolding at the bottom of a back garden, seen from the patio
Planning authority
Cornwall Council
Postcodes
TR10, TR11
Noon sun, 21 March
About 40°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.0 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Cornwall

Falmouth: light, access and policy

In Falmouth, applications for a new home in a garden are decided by Cornwall Council, which weighs them against the council’s Local Plan and national policy. Officers look at access, privacy, daylight, parking, bins, drainage and how much garden is left for each house, and neighbours can comment during consultation.

We read the local policies and any design guidance before drawing a line, and check the planning history of nearby plots for decisions that show how the council has applied them. If the policy picture is uncertain, pre-application advice lets us test the scheme with officers before the formal application goes in.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Falmouth: about 40 degrees on 21 March and 16 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 40°, shadow 6.0 m21 Dec, noon: sun 16°, shadow 17.0 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Falmouth: around 40° of sun at midday in late March and about 16° at midwinter. It shows why the gap between your house and a new home behind it is about light as well as privacy. Garden assumed to face north.

What happens next in Falmouth

If your Falmouth plot already has planning permission, we begin by checking the approved drawings and conditions against the site. Some permissions need detailed design, discharge of conditions or a minor amendment before they can be built. We then prepare the technical drawings, arrange Building Regulations approval and the warranty, apply for utility connections and give you a written quote to build.

  1. Free plot appraisal

    We check the title plan, access, constraints and planning policy from our desk, talk the plot through with you, and visit if it looks viable. There’s no cost and no obligation.

  2. Survey and design

    A measured survey records levels, boundaries, trees and neighbouring windows. We then design a layout and house that suit the plot, the street and your budget, and decide whether pre-application advice is worth seeking.

  3. Planning and approvals

    We submit the planning application and manage it to a decision, then deal with conditions, Building Regulations approval, the structural warranty, any build-over agreement and the new utility connections.

  4. Handover

    You receive the completion certificate, warranty documents, Energy Performance Certificate, manuals and utility details, so the new home is ready to move into, let or put on the market.

Worth checking early

  • Planning can be refused, and money spent on surveys, design and the application isn’t recovered if it is — which is why we start with an appraisal.
  • You fund the build and carry the cost risk; ground conditions, sewer diversions or supply upgrades found later can move the price.
  • Building and selling a new home can change your tax position compared with selling only your house; take advice from a tax adviser first.

Falmouth: questions to ask

Do you visit gardens in Falmouth before giving advice?

We start with a desk review of the title plan, access, constraints and planning policy, then talk the plot through with you. If it looks viable, we arrange a site visit to see the access, levels, trees and neighbouring windows for ourselves. The appraisal is free and carries no obligation.

Can the new home in my Falmouth garden connect to the main sewer?

Usually, yes, but the route and depth decide how easily. The new home needs its own foul connection, agreed with the water company, and gravity drainage is simplest where the sewer sits lower than the new floor. If it doesn’t, a pumped connection may be needed. Where a public sewer runs under your garden, a build-over agreement or diversion may also be required.

Can I build a house in my Falmouth garden and then sell it?

Yes. You keep the land while the home is built, then sell the finished house. Before building starts, the plot should be given its own title through a transfer of part at HM Land Registry, and if your house is mortgaged your lender must agree to release the plot. Selling a home you’ve built can change your tax position, so take advice from a tax adviser first.

Do new homes in Falmouth need a structural warranty?

If the house will ever be sold or mortgaged, in practice yes. Mortgage lenders usually expect a 10-year structural warranty on a new home, though some accept an architect’s or surveyor’s certificate, and a warranty provider inspects the work at stages during the build, so it has to be in place before construction starts. Building control approval is separate and also required; a buyer’s solicitor will ask for both.

Other options in Falmouth

Build in your garden near Falmouth

Find out what your garden could become

Free garden plot appraisal. No cost, no obligation, and a straight answer if it won’t work.

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