Backland Development
0800 088 6248Free to call Free plot appraisal

Build a home for family in your garden in Walton-on-Thames

Two households, one plot: that’s the idea behind a family home in a Walton-on-Thames garden. Done well, each has privacy and a front door, yet help is a few steps away. Done badly, it can strain relationships and leave a building nobody can use when circumstances change.

The difference lies mostly in the planning route and the layout. Backland Development is a new S&K Group brand offering design and build to homeowners in Walton-on-Thames and the surrounding area, and each project begins with a free plot appraisal that weighs an annexe against a separate home for your family.

Get a free appraisalCheck my garden
Single-storey garden home with wide glazed doors and a covered porch at the back of a family garden
Planning authority
Elmbridge Borough Council
Postcodes
KT12
Noon sun, 21 March
About 39°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.3 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Surrey

How it plays out in Walton-on-Thames

Access usually decides what a Walton-on-Thames garden can take. An annexe can often share your drive because it is used with the house, but a separate home needs an access Elmbridge Borough Council will accept for a dwelling in its own right, with room for cars, bin collection and emergency vehicles. We cover homes in Walton-on-Thames and around Sunbury-on-Thames, Weybridge and Esher, and on every plot we measure the drive width, the view along the road where the access joins it, and how far bins would need to travel, before anyone draws a plan.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Walton-on-Thames: about 39 degrees on 21 March and 15 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 39°, shadow 6.3 m21 Dec, noon: sun 15°, shadow 18.4 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Walton-on-Thames: around 39° of sun at midday in late March and about 15° 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.

From first call to decision

From first call to keys, a family home in Walton-on-Thames follows a clear order. Free appraisal and site visit; measured survey and design around the person moving in; a planning application to Elmbridge Borough Council; approval under the Building Regulations and any CIL exemption claimed before work starts; then the build, with you living next door throughout. You receive a written quote after design and survey, and we keep the household updated at each stage.

  1. Free plot appraisal

    We look at your plot, access and the planning picture from the desk, talk through who will live in the new home, and visit if it looks viable. There’s no cost and no obligation.

  2. Annexe or separate home

    We set out both routes for your plot, covering what each means for planning, ownership, council tax, CIL and VAT, so you can decide with your family and advisers before design starts.

  3. Survey and design

    A measured survey, then a design built around the person moving in: step-free routes, a ground-floor bedroom if needed and privacy for both households. You get a written quote after design and survey.

  4. Planning and approvals

    We prepare and submit the planning application and manage it with the council, which makes the decision. Before work starts, approval under the Building Regulations is in place and any CIL exemption has been claimed.

Worth checking early

  • Planning is the council’s decision, and an annexe is not a way round the rules that apply to a new house.
  • CIL exemptions are lost if work starts before the claim is made, and can be withdrawn if the home is sold or let within three years.
  • An annexe tied by planning condition usually can’t be sold or let separately, which limits flexibility later.

Your questions, answered for Walton-on-Thames

Is CIL payable on a family home in Walton-on-Thames?

Only if Elmbridge Borough Council has adopted the Community Infrastructure Levy, which its website will confirm, and we check it for you during the appraisal. Where it applies, self-build and residential annexe exemptions exist, but both must be claimed before work starts and can be withdrawn if the home is sold or let within three years of completion.

Will an annexe in Walton-on-Thames put up my council tax?

It might. Annexes can be banded separately, but exemptions exist for annexes lived in by certain dependent relatives, and in some cases a discount applies where family live there or the annexe is used as part of the main home. Who qualifies depends on the relative’s circumstances and how the annexe is used. Elmbridge Borough Council’s council tax team can tell you how the rules apply to your household.

Can I reclaim VAT on a family annexe in Walton-on-Thames?

Often not. HMRC’s guidance gives an annexe that can’t be used or sold separately from the main house as an example of work that can’t be zero-rated, and the DIY housebuilders refund scheme asks the same question. A separate dwelling is usually treated differently. Take advice from a tax adviser before you settle the planning route, because the wording of the permission matters.

Can you design a home in Walton-on-Thames for a relative who uses a wheelchair?

Yes. The design can include a level approach and threshold, turning space in each room, a wet room, wider doors and worktops at a usable height. Where Elmbridge Borough Council requires a particular access standard through planning, the design meets it; otherwise it’s your choice how far to go. Input from your relative’s occupational therapist is well worth having.

Other options in Walton-on-Thames

Family home in your garden near Walton-on-Thames

Find out what your garden could become

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

Get my free appraisal 0800 088 6248