Purchasing land is a great investment and can be used for many different purposes. Some people buy land to develop houses, start businesses, or for their own personal enjoyment. Whether you are a developer, investor, agricultural business owner, residential homeowner or self-builder, let our specialist land conveyancing solicitors take care of your needs.
At Bird & Co, our team of approachable and highly skilled lawyers have in depth legal knowledge and years of practical experience with transactions involving plots of land. We will aim to progress your transaction swiftly and cost-effectively, working carefully in accordance with your project’s time frames.
We represent clients from all backgrounds, from individual homeowners looking to buy the slither of land at the end of their garden to large regional and national developers. Our commercial sensitivity and meticulous insight into the residential, commercial, and agricultural property markets make us the perfect legal professionals to assist with your land purchase.
For further information or to set up an initial consultation with one of our land purchase solicitors, give us a call at one of our offices in Grantham, Newark, or Lincoln.
Alternatively, please email us at enquiries@birdandco.co.uk or fill in our online enquiry form for a prompt response from a member of our team.
Our land conveyancing & purchase solicitors’ expertise
Our conveyancing services cover all types of land purchase, from small plots to land adjoined to your home to large plots for residential, commercial, or mixed use development projects, to agricultural land.
While the conveyancing process will be similar to standard property conveyancing, land purchases often present unique challenges, including access, drainage, contamination (where the land is a brownfield site), boundaries, and planning permission.
We will help you navigate and deal with each issue effectively, giving you the best possible chance of achieving a positive outcome within a reasonable timeframe.
Our expertise includes purchases of:
- Residential development land
- Commercial development land
- Mixed use development land
- Agricultural land
- Self-build home projects
- Small parcels of land/amenity land
- Investment land and woodland
Our extensive expertise also includes the legal aspects of:
- Auction conveyancing
- Boundary issues
- Site assembly advice for development projects
- Access and rights of way
- Rights to light
- Public highways and access
- Water and drainage issues
- Contamination issues
- First registration of unregistered land
- Title splitting
- Uplift, overage and clawback provisions
- Environmental and nature conservation issues
If you are planning on purchasing land or have issues with the land you plan on purchasing such as the ones listed above, contact our expert land conveyancing solicitors today.
Our fees for land conveyancing
We understand that financial certainty is likely to be important to you so we keep our fees clear and transparent. For the vast majority of our clients, we offer fixed fee conveyancing for which we will provide a quote at the beginning of your case. Assuming your land purchase progresses as expected, the price we quote you at the start of your case is what you will pay at the end.
You will also have to pay some third party costs such as Land Registry fees. However, we will estimate these costs at the start of your case and always inform you before incurring any additional costs so you can stay fully in control of your overall spend.
Online land conveyancing
One of our core values is convenience and accessibility for all. We have developed a niche in online conveyancing, meaning you can conduct the entirety of your land purchase from the comfort of your own home (although you are, of course, welcome to visit us at our offices if you would prefer). Our remote communication methods include phone calls, email, FaceTime, and video chat.
We are Cyber Essentials certified and can exchange important and confidential documents online with no risk to you.
What is the process for buying a piece of land?
Typically, when someone wants to buy a piece of land, they find a plot they are interested in and contact the estate agent. If they don’t have a specific plot in mind but know the type of land they’d like to purchase, they can contact multiple estate agents and ask if they have any available.
Alternatively, someone interested in buying land could check the government registry to see if they are selling land that meets their requirements.
Once they have a piece of land in mind, the purchaser should hire a surveyor to produce a valuation report that will give an idea as to what the value of the land should be and what kind of surveys will be needed.
A land conveyancing solicitor will then be instructed to handle all the paperwork related to the purchase of the land. The purchaser can then apply for a loan, if needed, and make an offer on the land.
Solicitors will then be required to draft the land conveyancing paperwork for the sale and all the purchaser needs to do is sign on the dotted line.
Development land
We work with a wide range of developers and investors in relation to the acquisition and assembly of land for the purpose of residential, commercial and mixed use development projects. Our speciality is aligning our advice with our clients’ goals and commercial strategy in order to help them maximise value.
Whether you’re looking to buy land and develop on it immediately, hold it as an investment for the future, or are looking for land with planning permission already in place for potential developers, we can guide you through the land conveyancing process.
Agricultural land
We have extensive experience guiding clients through all types of rural and agricultural land purchase, including farmland, investment woodland, and landed estates.
Rural land is unique in that it often doubles as both a business asset and a family home and inheritance. Without the assistance of a specialist agricultural law solicitor, purchases of rural land can be fraught with problems which could result in future issues for your business and your family.
We will carefully conduct our due diligence and expertly navigate various issues including planning permission, rights of way, overage, agricultural tenancies and environmental conservation to achieve the best result possible on your behalf.
For further information, please visit our Agriculture page.
Self-build homes
We advise clients looking to purchase land in order to build their own home. We help you to explore and resolve a number of unique matters, including rights of access, sewage, electricity, water, and access to the public highway.
We can also help you purchase brownfield or greenfield sites to build on and obtain the necessary planning permission, or find land that already has self-build planning permission. There are lots of sellers who obtain planning permission to build on a site before they sell it and advertise them as self-build plots.
On top of that, we have experience in dealing with self-build mortgages which release funds in stages throughout the building process.
Small parcels of land
You may wish to purchase a small parcel of land for any number of reasons such as investment purposes or to expand the boundaries of your property. However, just because the plot is small or relatively low value, does not mean the process will be easy. We can guide you through the land conveyancing process, including advising on rights of access, rights of way, restrictive covenants, overage agreements, boundaries, and environmental concerns.
Investment land and woodland
Woodland can be a lucrative opportunity for many investors. Not only can you achieve good returns with the right piece of woodland, it is an asset you can personally enjoy.
Whether you’re buying woodland for commercial purposes such as timber production, paintballing, outdoor courses or forestry schools, or for non-commercial use such as conservation or personal leisure, we can help you through the process.
We can provide clear, practical advice about purchasing woodland and other investment land as well as handling the entirety of the land conveyancing process on your behalf.
Auction conveyancing
Buying land at auction gives you a good chance of bagging a bargain but the term “buyer beware” takes on fresh meaning with many title defective and problematic plots on the market.
We can deliver specialist advice on the auction conveyancing process as well as reviewing legal packs on your behalf prior to auction and providing advice on the suitability and viability of your land purchase.
It is critical to get appropriate advice ahead of an auction. If you agree to purchase at auction you will be contractually committed to purchase regardless of the issues that you may discover prior to completion.
Change of use
Changing the use of land, for example, from commercial to residential, will generally require planning permission. This is the case even if you aren’t making any physical changes to the property.
At Bird & Co, we can provide advice on when change of use is necessary and help you apply for change of use planning permission.
Boundaries and rights of way
Boundary and right of way disputes can be lengthy and expensive to resolve. It is therefore important to take all possible steps to establish the boundaries to your land and to check for any public or private rights of way.
We deal with examination of title for boundaries and existing rights of way and provide advice on this. If necessary, we also can liaise with your surveyor in relation to boundary investigations and enter into negotiations with any interested third parties (such as a neighbour claiming a right of way).
First registration
Nowadays, all land and property must be registered at the Land Registry when it is transferred. However, where land has not changed hands for a long time, it is likely to be unregistered. Purchasing unregistered land will trigger first registration. We can handle this process on your behalf, including applying to search the Land Charges Department, investigating the title, obtaining the original deeds, and completing all relevant documentation accurately.
Uplift, overage and clawback provisions
Uplift, overage and clawback agreements are common in land conveyancing, particularly where there is a potential for the land to be further developed in the future. They create a contract requiring you to pay vendor party (usually the original vendor) an amount of money (in addition to the original purchase price) once you have triggered certain conditions (which typically reflect an uplift in the land’s value).
In many cases, the trigger condition is the grant of planning permission. It could also be the sale of the land with planning permission, the development of the land, or the change of use for development.
We can provide advice on these kinds of provisions. We will keep your best interests at heart at all times and negotiate on your behalf to achieve terms which are favourable to you. We can also provide advice on any Stamp Duty Land Tax implications of making further payments to the vendor.
Do you need a solicitor when buying land?
As land is a valuable asset, and the process of buying land tends to be long and complex, it is always a good idea to instruct a solicitor to guide you through the process. They will make sure you buy a plot of land that meets your intended purpose, pay the right price for it, and put in place all the paperwork you need to undergo a successful land transaction.
To help make this transaction even smoother and more precise, it is important that the solicitor you instruct has extensive expertise in land conveyancing and has helped sell land successfully in the past.
Get in touch with our land conveyancing and purchase solicitors
For further information, or to set up an initial consultation with one of our land conveyancing solicitors, give us a call at one of our offices in Grantham, Newark, or Lincoln.
Alternatively, please email us at enquiries@birdandco.co.uk or fill in our online enquiry form for a prompt response from a member of our team.