- Planning authority
- Guildford Borough Council
- Postcodes
- GU1, GU2, GU3, GU4
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 39°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.2 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Surrey
The local picture in Guildford
As the neighbour, you’ll live with the new home’s shadow. Picture the spring equinox in Guildford: at midday the sun climbs to about 39°, and a new home with 5 m eaves shades roughly 6.2 m of ground behind it. Near the winter solstice, with the sun at around 15°, that shade stretches much further.
In a joint venture you approve the layout before the application goes in, so we can show you where the shadow will fall on your garden at different times of year. Keeping the eaves low or setting the home further back can make a real difference.
What happens next in Guildford
Once you’ve chosen a structure, we draft heads of terms setting out who funds what, your share or the home you receive, deadlines and protections. Your own solicitor reviews them and the development agreement that follows. Only then do we commission surveys and design, agree the key layout points with you, and submit the application to Guildford Borough Council.
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.
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
- You’ll live next to a building site, and the new home’s design affects your own house and garden.
- We’re a new brand within the S&K Group, so ask for open-book reporting and check every protection in writing.
- Your return isn’t fixed. It depends on build costs, sale prices and timing, unless you choose a structure with a fixed element.
Questions about garden plots in Guildford
Can I take a new home back instead of cash in Guildford?
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 Guildford?
Guildford 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.
Can I do a joint venture on my garden in Guildford 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.
Does my land stay in my name during a joint venture in Guildford?
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.
Other options in Guildford
- Garage courts and yards
- Planning promotion for your garden plot
- Build a new home in your garden
- Plot feasibility and design
- Large rear gardens
- Garden plot option agreement