- Planning authority
- Test Valley Borough Council
- Postcodes
- SO51
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 39°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.2 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Hampshire
What shapes a plot in Romsey
Homes in SO51, 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 Test Valley Borough Council judges it on its own merits.
From first call to decision
Getting started in Romsey 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.
Choose the structure
We explain the options side by side: a share of sale proceeds, a share of profit, a home back for your land, or a land payment plus a share. You choose what fits your plans and appetite for risk.
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.
Worth checking early
- A joint venture takes longer than any sale: planning, then building, then selling or handover.
- You’ll live next to a building site, and the new home’s design affects your own house and garden.
- Tax can differ from a simple sale of garden land, so take advice from a tax adviser before you sign.
Your questions, answered for Romsey
Will a joint venture in Romsey 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.
Does my land stay in my name during a joint venture in Romsey?
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 Romsey?
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.
Who decides planning for a joint venture plot in Romsey?
Test Valley Borough Council decides, using the council’s Local Plan and national policy in the NPPF. We prepare and fund the application and deal with the council’s questions, but no developer can promise the outcome. If planning is refused, you keep your land, and in the usual structure the planning costs stay with us.
Other options in Romsey
- Planning promotion for your garden plot
- Build a home for family in your garden
- Build a new home in your garden
- Sell subject to planning
- Corner and side plots
- Garden plot option agreement