- 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.
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.
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.
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
- Large rear gardens
- Garden plot option agreement
- Tandem and landlocked plots
- Planning permission for a garden plot
- Sell subject to planning
- Sell part of your garden

