Landowners Warned Over Local Plan Changes
Landowners need to be aware of changes to the planning acts which will see Scottish local authorities allocate land for development for periods of up to 15 years rather than the traditional five years.
Local councils are now extending the lifetime of Local Development Plans and in Aberdeenshire, for example, the finishing touches are being added to the Local Development Plan which runs until 2023 and will detail development hotspots for up to 72,000 new homes.
But leading property experts warn that if landowners who are considering selling land for development are not already included in those plans, they may have missed the boat and will find it difficult to get their land listed.
John Buchan, partner with architects Michael Gilmour Associates in Aberdeen, said: Landowners thinking of releasing land must get in early to ensure their land is properly assessed by the local authority within the consultation process for inclusion in the new Local Plan.
Aberdeenshire is well advanced with its new plan and if your land is not already included you will face an uphill struggle, but the good news for landowners in Moray and Angus is that those local authorities will not start taking notes of interest until the end of this year.
Assuming landowners have lodged their intention to make land available for development in time, that is only the start of what can be a lengthy and complicated process, warns commercial property expert Angus MacCuish.
Developers prefer to secure options over ground rather than face the capital outlay of buying land upfront and in some cases it wont be unusual for landowners with desirable land to be pursued by three or four competing developers.
Mr MacCuish, managing director of commercial property consultants FG Burnett, said: The deals struck between landowner and builder can vary greatly so it is vitally important that landowners seek professional advice from at the outset of discussions with developers.
For example, some developers will pay an upfront option fee (others will not) on the basis that they will do their utmost to gain planning consent for a defined plot of land and once that is granted they can exercise an option to purchase the land on a predetermined basis.
For the landowner, the attraction is that the third party developer will manage the often lengthy process of gaining all planning consents, taking care of the paperwork and dealing with bureaucracy, while the owner is assured of being duly rewarded further down the line, should consents be approved.
Mr MacCuish added: It sounds straightforward but other factors should be considered before signing any option agreement. Landowners should seek a provision for a minimum price per acre and establish how many acres of the plot will be developable. It should be clear what deductions, if any, the developer will apply and also establish if the planning application efficiently maximises the land value.
With Aberdeen and the north east of Scotlands economy holding up favourably compared to other parts of the UK, planning applications for residential use will continue to rise and that has already been witnessed in renewed activity by several major housebuilders which had temporarily pared back their Aberdeenshire operations.
Allocating land over a longer period of time suggests a more strategic approach by local authorities to future development but unless landowners keep up with changes in legislation they may find themselves boxed in to a corner and unable to realise the full potential of their land, concluded Mr Buchan.
FG Burnett Ltd was founded in 1960 and the practice has now grown to become the largest firm of chartered surveyors and property consultants based in Aberdeen and Glasgow.
FG Burnett provides Scotland-wide coverage for a range of services including sales, lettings and acquisitions; building surveying; development consultancy; investment consultancy; property management; rating consultancy, rent reviews and commercial valuation and compensation.
The majority of FG Burnetts technical staff are members of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and using state of the art Information Technology, delivers professional expertise and intimate knowledge of the market place.
Website: www.fgburnett.co.uk