Sell part of your garden in Hastings

We’re Backland Development, a new brand within the S&K Group, and we’re looking to buy garden plots from homeowners in Hastings and across East Sussex. The idea is simple: you keep your home and sell us the part of the garden that could hold another one. We take on the planning risk, the design and the build; your side is mostly a conversation and a solicitor.

Whether you have permission already or not, we’ll make a written offer if the plot works and explain how we arrived at it. Location, size, access and planning all affect the figure, which is why we don’t guess at prices before seeing the title and the site.

Long back garden with a string line and marker pegs across the lawn showing where a plot could be split off
Planning authority
Hastings Borough Council
Postcodes
TN34, TN37, TN38
Noon sun, 21 March
About 39°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.1 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
East Sussex

Hastings: light, access and policy

Garden plots don’t stop at the edge of Hastings. We look at land in nearby Bexhill-on-Sea, Hailsham and Eastbourne in exactly the same way, and sometimes the strongest plot is one where two or three gardens back onto a single lane or share one access.

If yours is too narrow on its own, a neighbour’s garden might complete it, and selling together can produce a better scheme than either garden could alone. We can talk you both through how that works. Wherever the land sits, the planning authority for that address decides any application, whether that is Hastings Borough Council or the one next door.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Hastings: about 39 degrees on 21 March and 16 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 39°, shadow 6.1 m21 Dec, noon: sun 16°, shadow 17.8 mExistingNew home
Noon sun in Hastings on 21 March sits about 39° above the horizon, so a typical two-storey eaves line (about 5 m) throws a shadow of roughly 6.1 m. In December the sun is only about 16° up and shadows stretch much further. Drawn for a garden facing north, where it matters most.

The next steps, locally

Here is what happens if you contact us about a garden in Hastings. We ask a few questions about the house, the garden and any mortgage. We run the desk checks and call back with a view, good or bad. If it’s good, we visit and make a written offer to buy the plot outright. If you accept, heads of terms set out the price, the boundary and who pays what before solicitors start.

  1. Free plot appraisal

    Tell us about your garden. We check the title plan, access, local policy and planning history from our desk, then talk it through with you. If it looks viable, we arrange a site visit, with no cost and no obligation.

  2. Solicitors and lender

    Your solicitor prepares the transfer of part and asks your mortgage lender to release the plot. Ours checks the title, covenants, rights of way and searches, while surveys of trees, ground and drainage run alongside.

  3. Exchange and completion

    Once both sides are satisfied, contracts are exchanged and a completion date is fixed. On completion the money passes through the solicitors and HM Land Registry registers the plot under a new title of its own.

  4. After the sale

    Any boundary fence or access works agreed in the transfer are carried out as set out. If the plot still needs planning, we apply as the new owner, and you can see and comment on the plans like any other neighbour.

Worth checking early

  • Selling the plot after you have sold or moved out of the house can change the tax position; take advice from a tax adviser.
  • Lender consent, old covenants or access disputes can slow a sale, and occasionally stop it.
  • Your house keeps a smaller garden, which some future buyers will welcome and others won’t.

Hastings: questions to ask

Can I sell the plot and keep living in my Hastings house?

Yes, that’s the whole point of a plot sale. You keep the house and the rest of the garden, and the boundary is drawn where you agree. The transfer can include rights and covenants that protect your home, such as who builds the new fence and limits on windows facing your property.

Can I sell part of my garden in Hastings without planning permission?

Yes. We buy suitable plots with or without planning, subject to survey, title and contract. Without permission, we take on the risk that Hastings Borough Council refuses an application, and our offer allows for that. If you’d rather sell only once permission is granted, a sale subject to planning is the alternative.

Who decides whether a new home can be built in a Hastings garden?

Hastings Borough Council decides, as the local planning authority, using the council’s Local Plan and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Neighbours and consultees can comment, and the council weighs their points against planning policy. Nobody, including us, can promise the outcome, which is why an outright sale without planning is priced for that uncertainty.

Do you buy garden plots in Bexhill-on-Sea, Hailsham and Eastbourne as well as Hastings?

Yes. We cover England and Wales, including the places around Hastings. The process is the same wherever your garden is, although planning policies depend on the council for your address, so our desk check always starts by finding out which one that is.

Other options in Hastings

Sell your garden plot near Hastings

Find out what your garden could become

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