- Planning authority
- West Devon Borough Council
- Postcodes
- PL19
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 39°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.1 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Devon
The local picture in Tavistock
For homes in PL19, a garden plot with planning permission doesn’t have to sell to a buyer from the same street. A promoted plot can be offered to builders and self-builders from Tavistock or nearby places such as Saltash, Plymouth and Newton Abbot, and from further afield, through an agent agreed with you. The aim is enough interest to test the price properly, rather than one quiet offer.
You see every offer, approve the buyer and keep the protection of a minimum price. If we want to bid ourselves, the price has to stand up against the open market, for example through an independent valuation.
The next steps, locally
From first call to completion, a promotion in Tavistock runs in clear stages: free appraisal, heads of terms, agreement, planning application, marketing and sale. You decide at the points that matter most, signing the agreement, setting the minimum price and approving the buyer. Timing depends on the council’s workload, any extra reports it asks for and the buyer’s solicitors, so we give a realistic range rather than a promise.
Free plot appraisal
We check your title plan, access, the surrounding gardens and the policies in the council’s Local Plan as a desktop exercise, then talk it through with you. If it looks viable, we visit. No cost and no obligation.
Heads of terms
We set out the deal in writing: the term, how our fee works, the cap on planning costs we can recover, the minimum price, the marketing approach and the cap on your reasonable legal fees that we cover.
We apply for planning
We commission the surveys and drawings, take pre-application advice where it helps, submit the application and deal with the council’s questions. You pay nothing at this stage, and the decision is the council’s.
Marketing and sale
With permission granted, the plot is marketed as the agreement sets out. You see the offers and approve the buyer, and the plot can’t be sold below the minimum price without your written consent.
Worth checking early
- You can’t sell the plot to anyone else while the agreement runs, so the term length matters.
- On a single small plot, fixed costs and our fee take a bigger share of the sale price than on a larger site.
- The plot’s price isn’t known until it’s marketed with permission; it depends on location, size, access and the permission itself.
Questions about garden plots in Tavistock
Do I pay anything upfront for planning promotion in Tavistock?
No. We fund the surveys, drawings and planning fees. Those costs are recovered from the sale proceeds, within a cap set in the heads of terms, only if a sale with planning happens. Your reasonable legal fees for the agreement are also covered up to an agreed cap.
Is planning promotion available for a single garden in Tavistock?
Yes, if the plot is suitable, though promotion is more usual on larger sites. On one modest garden, the fixed costs of planning, legal work and marketing take a bigger share of the sale. After the free appraisal we’ll tell you whether promotion, a sale subject to planning or an option suits your garden best.
Does a mortgage on my Tavistock home stop a planning promotion?
No, but your lender has to be involved. The lender’s charge covers the garden, so it must agree to release the plot before it’s sold, and some lenders want to approve the promotion agreement too. We raise this at the start so it doesn’t delay a sale later.
Who decides a planning application for a garden plot in Tavistock?
West Devon Borough Council decides it, using the council’s Local Plan and national policy in the NPPF. Nobody can promise the outcome. Under promotion we prepare and submit the application at our cost and deal with the council’s questions, but the decision is the council’s, and it can grant, refuse or ask for changes.
Other options in Tavistock
- Sell subject to planning
- Tandem and landlocked plots
- Combine gardens with your neighbours
- Large rear gardens
- Corner and side plots
- Garage courts and yards

