- Planning authority
- North Northamptonshire Council
- Postcodes
- NN8
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 38°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.5 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Northamptonshire
The local picture in Wellingborough
Some of the strongest conditional sales involve more than one garden. If your plot in Wellingborough is a little narrow, a neighbour’s garden beside it may make a better scheme possible, and the same is true in places nearby such as Rushden, Kettering and Northampton. North Northamptonshire Council would then judge one application for the combined site. Each owner can sign a separate conditional contract, linked so that none completes unless the scheme for the whole site is approved.
That needs careful drafting and patience, and it isn’t right for every street. When it does fit, it can turn two awkward plots into one good one.
From first call to decision
From first enquiry to exchange of contracts usually takes a few months, set mainly by the solicitors and any title questions. The planning stage then runs on its own timetable, depending on surveys and on North Northamptonshire Council. We keep you updated throughout, share the drawings before submission and tell you as soon as a decision is issued.
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.
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.
Planning application
We commission the surveys, prepare the drawings, seek pre-application advice where useful and submit the application, normally at our cost. You see the plans before they go in, and the council makes the decision.
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
- Once contracts are exchanged you are committed to sell if a satisfactory permission is granted.
- Capital Gains Tax timing on a conditional sale can differ from an ordinary sale; take advice from a tax adviser.
- You wait for a planning decision, and possibly an appeal, before you are paid.
Wellingborough: questions to ask
Do I keep my garden in Wellingborough if planning is refused?
Yes. Nothing is transferred until a satisfactory permission is granted, so a refusal leaves the land in your ownership. Depending on the contract, we may revise the scheme and reapply, or appeal, before the long-stop date. If that doesn’t succeed, the contract ends and our notice comes off your title.
What if I want to sell my Wellingborough 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 Wellingborough 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.
Do I pay for the planning application on my Wellingborough garden plot?
We normally fund the planning application, including surveys and drawings. Any recovery of those costs is agreed in heads of terms before you sign, for example as a deduction from the price at completion. You see the full position before instructing a solicitor, so there are no surprises later.
Other options in Wellingborough
- Sell part of your garden
- Combine gardens with your neighbours
- Corner and side plots
- Build a home for family in your garden
- Large rear gardens
- Bungalows on large plots