Backland Development
0800 088 6248Free to call Free plot appraisal

Building in a large rear garden in Maidstone

If your back garden in Maidstone runs well past the patio and the lawn you actually use, the far end might be a building plot. Whether it is depends on four things: depth, a safe way in, what sits around it, and how a new home would affect the neighbours.

Backland Development looks at gardens like yours for free. If it looks workable, you can sell the plot and keep living in your house, or keep the land and have us design, get planning for and build a new home there. We’re a new brand within the S&K Group, and we’ll tell you straight if your garden isn’t a plot.

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Overhead view of three long, narrow back gardens with lawns, a greenhouse, vegetable beds and sheds
Planning authority
Maidstone Borough Council
Postcodes
ME14, ME15, ME16, ME20
Noon sun, 21 March
About 39°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.2 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Kent

Maidstone: light, access and policy

Every application for a new home in a Maidstone back garden is decided by Maidstone Borough Council, which weighs it against the council’s Local Plan, national policy and any local design guidance it has adopted. Those documents often set out separation distances, minimum garden sizes and how homes behind the street should relate to it.

We read the relevant policies for your address before suggesting a layout, and where it helps we ask the council for pre-application advice. That way the scheme you see reflects what is likely to be acceptable locally, not a generic drawing.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Maidstone: about 39 degrees on 21 March and 15 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 39°, shadow 6.2 m21 Dec, noon: sun 15°, shadow 18.3 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Maidstone: 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.

How we’d take it forward in Maidstone

Send us your address in Maidstone and a rough idea of what you’d like. We check the planning history around you and the policies Maidstone Borough Council applies, and look for anything in the title that could get in the way. If the garden passes those checks, we arrange a visit at a time that suits you and explain each route in plain terms.

  1. Free plot appraisal

    We look at your garden using maps, the title plan and the planning history around you, then talk it through with you. If it looks workable we arrange a site visit. There’s no cost and no obligation.

  2. Choose your route

    You decide whether to sell the plot outright, sell subject to planning, grant an option, team up with neighbours, or keep the land and have us design, get planning for and build a home on it.

  3. Planning application

    We prepare the drawings and reports, usually take pre-application advice, and submit. The council consults neighbours and decides. Small schemes often take a few months from submission, longer if surveys or amendments are needed.

  4. Sale or build

    If you sell, your solicitor handles the transfer of part and your lender’s release of the plot. If you build, we give a written quote after design and survey, then build and hand over the new home.

Worth checking early

  • A covenant, a mortgage, a public sewer or a protected tree can slow a scheme down or stop it altogether.
  • Cars passing beside your house to reach the new home bring noise and headlights; screening helps but doesn’t remove it.
  • Surveys and drawings cost money before any decision. On a subject-to-planning sale we normally fund them; on a build you do.

Your questions, answered for Maidstone

Can I sell the end of my garden in Maidstone and keep my house?

Yes. The plot is sold as a transfer of part and gets its own title at HM Land Registry. If your house is mortgaged, your lender must agree to release the plot. We can buy suitable plots with or without planning, always subject to survey, title and contract.

Will my neighbours in Maidstone get a say?

Yes. The council consults neighbours on planning applications, and they can comment or object. Their comments are weighed alongside policy, but objections alone don’t decide the outcome. A layout that respects privacy, light and access usually gives neighbours less to worry about, so we design with them in mind.

Can I build a house in my back garden in Maidstone?

Possibly, if the garden is deep enough, has a safe way in and a new home wouldn’t harm the neighbours or the character of the street. A new separate home always needs planning permission, and Maidstone Borough Council makes the decision. A free appraisal will tell you whether your garden is worth taking further.

Does it cost anything to have my Maidstone garden looked at?

No. The garden plot appraisal is free and carries no obligation. It starts with a desktop check and a conversation, and we arrange a site visit if your garden looks viable. You only commit to anything once you’ve chosen a route and seen the terms in writing.

Other options in Maidstone

Large rear gardens near Maidstone

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