Planning promotion for garden plots in Liverpool

We’re a new brand within the S&K Group, and planning promotion is one of several routes we offer garden owners in Liverpool and across Merseyside. It suits owners who want the plot sold with permission, can wait for planning and a sale, and would rather not fund the application themselves.

You keep your house throughout. We prepare and submit the application to Liverpool City Council, and after permission the plot is marketed through an agreed agent. When the sale completes, sale costs, our planning costs within the agreed limit and our fee are deducted, and the rest is yours. We also pay your solicitor’s reasonable charges for the agreement, within a limit written into the heads of terms.

White architectural model of a house at the front of a plot with two new homes at the end of the garden
Planning authority
Liverpool City Council
Postcodes
L1, L2, L3, L5, L6
Noon sun, 21 March
About 37°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.7 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Merseyside

Liverpool: light, access and policy

For homes in L1, L2, L3 and L5, 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 Liverpool or nearby places such as Birkenhead, Wallasey and Litherland, 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.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Liverpool: about 37 degrees on 21 March and 13 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 37°, shadow 6.7 m21 Dec, noon: sun 13°, shadow 21.4 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Liverpool: around 37° of sun at midday in late March and about 13° 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.

The next steps, locally

The first step for a Liverpool garden is a conversation and a desktop check, at no cost. We then send written heads of terms covering the term, minimum price, cost cap and fee. Once the agreement is signed, we commission surveys and drawings, take pre-application advice from Liverpool City Council where it helps, and submit the application. Marketing starts only after permission is granted.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Completion and payout

    On completion, sale costs, our capped planning costs and our fee come out of the proceeds in the order the agreement sets. The balance is paid to you through your solicitor.

Worth checking early

  • You’ll live next to whatever is built, so the layout, windows and new boundary affect your house too.
  • Promotion takes longer than a straight sale: planning, then marketing, then completion, and each stage can run on.
  • The plot’s price isn’t known until it’s marketed with permission; it depends on location, size, access and the permission itself.

Liverpool: questions to ask

Does a mortgage on my Liverpool 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.

Is planning promotion available for a single garden in Liverpool?

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.

How is a promoted garden plot in Liverpool sold?

After permission, an agent agreed with you markets the plot to builders, developers and self-builders. You see the offers and approve the buyer. The plot can’t be sold below the agreed minimum price without your written consent, and any offer from us has to stand up against the open market.

Who decides a planning application for a garden plot in Liverpool?

Liverpool City 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 Liverpool

Planning promotion near Liverpool

Find out what your garden could become

Free garden plot appraisal. No cost, no obligation, and a straight answer if it won’t work.