- Planning authority
- Exeter City Council
- Postcodes
- EX1, EX2, EX3, EX4
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 39°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.1 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Devon
What the council will look at in Exeter
Homes in EX1, EX2, EX3 and EX4, like homes anywhere, may have neighbours weighing up the same choice about their gardens. If the plot next door could join yours, a joint venture on the combined land may give a better scheme, with one shared access and more space between old and new homes.
Each owner would keep their house and have their own solicitor, and the agreement would set out each person’s share. Where only a single garden is involved, we design for that plot and its neighbours alone, and Exeter City Council judges it on its own merits.
From first call to decision
Getting started in Exeter is straightforward. Tell us your address and roughly where the garden runs, and we check your title, access and the planning position from the desk, free of charge. If a joint venture looks realistic, we visit, then explain the structures side by side so you can choose before heads of terms are drafted.
Free plot appraisal
We look at your title plan, access, neighbouring homes and the council’s planning policies, then talk through what might be built and whether a joint venture or a simpler sale suits you better.
Heads of terms
The key terms go in writing: who funds what, your share or the home you receive, how your land is protected, deadlines, open-book reporting and what happens if planning is refused or the build stalls.
Development agreement
Your own solicitor and ours turn the heads of terms into a binding agreement. Your solicitor advises on the security that fits, such as the land staying in your name until a set stage or a legal charge.
Sale or handover
The new homes are sold and the proceeds are split as agreed through the solicitors, or your new home is handed over with its warranty, title and certificates in place.
Worth checking early
- Tax can differ from a simple sale of garden land, so take advice from a tax adviser before you sign.
- Your return isn’t fixed. It depends on build costs, sale prices and timing, unless you choose a structure with a fixed element.
- A joint venture takes longer than any sale: planning, then building, then selling or handover.
Questions about garden plots in Exeter
Does my land stay in my name during a joint venture in Exeter?
It can. One option keeps the land in your name until an agreed stage, with us building under a licence. Another transfers it earlier with a legal charge in your favour. Your solicitor advises which suits you, bearing in mind that a lender funding the build will want security too.
Can I take a new home back instead of cash in Exeter?
Yes, if the plot can support it. Under a homes-for-land joint venture, one of the finished homes on your plot, or the only one, is transferred to you with its own title and paperwork. The agreement fixes the specification and the timetable.
Will a joint venture in Exeter affect my tax?
It may. Sharing in the development and sale of new homes can be taxed differently from a simple sale of garden land, and Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) or VAT may arise depending on the structure. Take advice from a tax adviser on your own position before you commit.
Can I do a joint venture on my garden in Exeter without paying anything?
In the usual structure, yes. You contribute the land, and we fund design, planning, construction and sale. You may still have your own costs, such as tax or your mortgage lender’s charges, so ask your solicitor and tax adviser to go through them before you sign.
Other options in Exeter
- Build a home for family in your garden
- Large rear gardens
- Planning promotion for your garden plot
- Tandem and landlocked plots
- Bungalows on large plots
- Planning permission for a garden plot