- Planning authority
- Adur District Council
- Postcodes
- BN15
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 39°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.1 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- West Sussex
Lancing: light, access and policy
On many backland plots, access matters more than size. A long garden in Lancing may have no route to the road wide enough for cars, bins and emergency vehicles, and Adur District Council will look closely at the effect of a new drive on the homes either side of it.
For homes in BN15 we look at access first: the width beside the house, visibility at the pavement, and whether a strip of land owned by someone else sits in the way. If access only works by joining with a neighbour, we’ll say so, and promoting the combined site may be the better route.
From first call to decision
Here’s what happens after you contact us about a garden in Lancing. We start with a free desktop appraisal of your title plan, access and the policies in the council’s Local Plan, then talk it through with you. If it looks viable, we visit. If promotion fits, we send heads of terms, and your solicitor reviews them, with reasonable legal fees covered up to an agreed cap, before anything is signed.
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.
Agreement signed
Your solicitor and ours turn the heads of terms into a promotion agreement. It’s usually protected by an entry on your title, and if your house is mortgaged, your lender is asked to consent early.
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.
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.
- You can’t sell the plot to anyone else while the agreement runs, so the term length matters.
- Planning may be refused. You keep your land and owe nothing for planning, but the months spent can’t be given back.
Lancing: questions to ask
Does a mortgage on my Lancing 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.
Can neighbours in Lancing combine gardens for a planning promotion?
Yes, and promotion often works better that way. Adjoining gardens can share one access and allow a better layout. Each owner keeps their house, signs an agreement setting out how proceeds are shared, and takes advice from their own solicitor. We can appraise the combined land as one site first.
Who decides a planning application for a garden plot in Lancing?
Adur District 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.
Is planning promotion available for a single garden in Lancing?
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.
Other options in Lancing
- Sell part of your garden
- Tandem and landlocked plots
- Planning permission for a garden plot
- Bungalows on large plots
- Build a new home in your garden
- Build a home for family in your garden