Backland Development
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Sell your garden plot subject to planning in Saddleworth

A sale subject to planning sits halfway between selling your Saddleworth garden plot outright and waiting to see what happens. It commits us from exchange, so you aren’t left with an offer that can quietly fade, but it doesn’t move any land until Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council has granted permission.

We’re a new brand within the S&K Group, so we won’t claim a long track record. What we can offer is a contract you can read, a price set before the decision, and a scheme designed carefully around the council’s Local Plan. Your own solicitor checks everything before you sign.

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Site plan and house elevation drawings on a kitchen table with the back garden beyond the window
Planning authority
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council
Postcodes
OL3
Noon sun, 21 March
About 36°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.8 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Greater Manchester

What the council will look at in Saddleworth

Neighbours in OL3 will receive notice of any application on your plot, and some will comment. Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council weighs those comments against planning policy rather than counting them, but a scheme that answers obvious worries about privacy, light and traffic before they are raised usually fares better.

Because you will still be living next door, we agree with you how and when neighbours hear about the plans. Some sellers prefer to speak to adjoining owners themselves before the application goes in; others leave it to the formal notice.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Saddleworth: about 36 degrees on 21 March and 13 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 36°, shadow 6.8 m21 Dec, noon: sun 13°, shadow 21.6 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Saddleworth: around 36° 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.

How we’d take it forward in Saddleworth

Getting started takes one message: your address and a rough sketch or description of the land you have in mind. From that we pull the title, look at the planning background and ring you with our view. If a conditional sale looks sensible, we come out to see the garden. Heads of terms follow, and your solicitor reviews them before anything is signed.

  1. Free plot appraisal

    We check your title, access, planning history and local policy from our desk, then talk it through with you. If a new home looks realistic, we visit the garden and tell you which route we think suits it best.

  2. Heads of terms

    We set out the price or price formula, what counts as satisfactory permission, the long-stop date, how any planning costs are treated and who pays which fees. You see all of it before instructing a solicitor.

  3. Exchange of conditional contracts

    Both solicitors agree the contract and the plan of the plot. On exchange, both sides are bound, subject to the planning condition, and our contract is noted on your title so the plot can’t be sold elsewhere.

  4. Completion, or you keep your land

    Once a satisfactory permission is granted and any challenge period has passed, the sale completes within the agreed time and the plot gets its own title. If permission is refused and the contract ends, the land stays yours.

Worth checking early

  • The plot can’t be sold to anyone else while the contract runs, even if another offer comes along.
  • You wait for a planning decision, and possibly an appeal, before you are paid.
  • Once contracts are exchanged you are committed to sell if a satisfactory permission is granted.

Questions about garden plots in Saddleworth

How long might a sale subject to planning take in Saddleworth?

It usually runs for months, sometimes longer. Exchange often takes a few months; surveys and drawings take a few more; and the Planning Portal says most applications are decided within eight weeks of being valid, though garden schemes can take longer. The long-stop date sets the outer limit, agreed with you at the start.

Who decides the planning application on a conditional sale in Saddleworth?

That is Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council’s decision as the local planning authority, made under the council’s Local Plan and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). We prepare the application, submit it and answer the council’s questions, but the outcome isn’t ours to control. That’s why the contract has a long-stop date and says what happens if permission is refused.

What if I want to sell my Saddleworth house during a conditional sale?

Tell us as early as you can. The conditional contract is noted on your title, so your house buyer’s solicitor will see it. The two sales can usually be arranged together, but the order matters for the legal work and possibly for Capital Gains Tax, so take advice from a tax adviser too.

Can I still use my garden in Saddleworth while the contract runs?

Yes. The plot stays yours until completion, so you carry on using it as garden. The contract will ask you not to build on it, fell trees or grant new rights over it without agreement, and to allow surveyors in from time to time, by arrangement. Your solicitor will point out anything specific.

Other options in Saddleworth

Subject to planning near Saddleworth

Find out what your garden could become

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