Backland Development
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Sell your garden plot subject to planning in Ewell

Selling your garden plot in Ewell subject to planning means agreeing the price now and completing only once permission is granted. Contracts are exchanged at the start, so both sides are committed, but the plot stays in your name until the condition is met. If Epsom and Ewell Borough Council refuses and the contract ends, you keep your land.

We normally fund the planning application, with any cost recovery agreed in heads of terms before you sign. That lets you benefit from a price informed by planning without paying for drawings, surveys or fees yourself. Our free appraisal tells you whether the plot looks right for it.

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Site plan and house elevation drawings on a kitchen table with the back garden beyond the window
Planning authority
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council
Postcodes
KT17
Noon sun, 21 March
About 39°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.3 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Surrey

Before you decide in Ewell

Neighbours in KT17 will receive notice of any application on your plot, and some will comment. Epsom and Ewell 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 Ewell: about 39 degrees on 21 March and 15 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 39°, shadow 6.3 m21 Dec, noon: sun 15°, shadow 18.4 mExistingNew home
Noon sun in Ewell on 21 March sits about 39° above the horizon, so a typical two-storey eaves line (about 5 m) throws a shadow of roughly 6.3 m. In December the sun is only about 15° up and shadows stretch much further. Drawn for a garden facing north, where it matters most.

From first call to decision

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. 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.

  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

  • Once contracts are exchanged you are committed to sell if a satisfactory permission is granted.
  • The definition of satisfactory permission and the long-stop date decide how certain the sale really is; read both closely.
  • You wait for a planning decision, and possibly an appeal, before you are paid.

Ewell: questions to ask

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

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.

Do I keep my garden in Ewell 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.

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

That is Epsom and Ewell 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.

Is a sale subject to planning in Ewell better than an option?

It depends on the plot. A conditional sale binds both sides from exchange and suits a single plot with a clear scheme. An option gives us a right to buy rather than an obligation, and suits plots where the outcome is less certain or the timescale is longer. We’ll recommend one after the appraisal.

Other options in Ewell

Subject to planning near Ewell

Find out what your garden could become

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

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