How it works
How Selling Your Land Under an Option Agreement Works
We agree the price with you first. We then pay for and manage every stage of planning, at our own cost and risk. You are paid on completion, and if planning is not achieved you keep your land and owe nothing.
The Six Stages at a Glance
From first conversation to payment, this is the path every site follows. Some stages take weeks and some take years, depending on the land and the council.
- Within days
Free Desktop Review
We look at your title plan, access, constraints, the council's housing position and local plan, and tell you honestly whether we think the site is worth pursuing. Nobody is contacted about your land without your agreement.
- Weeks 2 to 8
Heads of Terms and Your Own Advice
If the site looks promising, we propose terms: the price, any option fee and the option period. Your own solicitor and land agent review them, and we contribute to their fees.
- Once you are happy
Option Agreement Signed
The agreement is signed and protected on your title. You keep owning and using the land.
- Typically months 2 to 8
Surveys and Design
We appoint and pay for the consultants: highways, drainage, ecology and Biodiversity Net Gain, heritage, landscape and design. Access visits are arranged with you in advance.
- Varies by site
Planning Application or Local Plan
Depending on the site and the council, we submit a planning application, put the land forward through the local plan, or both. We handle the council, consultations and, if needed, an appeal. You are kept informed at each stage.
- After planning is granted
Completion and Payment
Once planning permission is granted, we complete the purchase and you receive the agreed price. If planning is not achieved within the option period, you keep your land and owe nothing.
Each Stage in Detail
What happens, what you do, and what we do.
Stage 1: A Free Desktop Review
You tell us where the land is, roughly how big it is and how it is used. We then look at it from our desks, using public information: the HM Land Registry title plan, Ordnance Survey mapping, flood maps, heritage and landscape designations, the council's local plan and its housing figures, and any past planning applications nearby.
You do not need to do anything except answer a few questions. Nobody visits the land, and we do not contact the council, your neighbours or anyone else. Within a few days we come back to you with a plain answer: whether we think the land has a realistic chance of planning permission, roughly how many homes it might take, and what the main hurdles would be.
Stage 2: Heads of Terms and Your Own Advice
If the land looks promising, we send you heads of terms. This is a short summary of the proposed deal: the purchase price, any option fee, the length of the option period, how your legal and agent fees will be covered, and any conditions. Heads of terms are not binding. They exist so that you and your advisers can see the whole deal before anyone spends money on legal drafting.
This is the point to involve your own land agent and solicitor. We contribute to their reasonable fees, so cost is never a reason to go without advice. Many landowners also speak to their accountant at this stage, because the timing of a sale can affect Capital Gains Tax and inheritance tax planning.
Stage 3: Signing the Option Agreement
Once the terms are agreed, the solicitors draft the option agreement. It gives the right to buy your land, at the agreed price, if planning permission is granted within the option period. It is registered against your title at HM Land Registry, which stops the land being sold to someone else while the agreement runs.
Signing does not transfer the land. You remain the owner and you keep using it exactly as before.
Stage 4: Surveys and Design
We appoint and pay for the specialists the council will expect to see. Depending on the site, that can include a highways engineer, a drainage and flood risk consultant, an ecologist, a heritage consultant, a landscape architect, an arboriculturist and an architect or master planner. Some surveys can only be done at certain times of year, bats and great crested newts being the usual examples, which is one reason planning takes time.
Surveyors will need occasional access. Every visit is arranged with you in advance, and any damage to crops, fences or gates is put right.
Stage 5: The Planning Route
There are two main routes, and many sites use both. The first is a planning application, usually in outline, which establishes that homes can be built without fixing every detail of their design. The second is putting the land forward through the council's local plan, so that it is allocated for housing. An allocation does not grant permission on its own, but it makes a later application far more straightforward.
Which route we recommend depends on where the council is with its local plan and how well it is delivering homes. We explain the reasoning to you before anything is submitted, and we keep you informed at every consultation, committee meeting and decision.
Stage 6: Sale and Payment
When planning permission is granted on acceptable terms, the option is exercised and we complete the purchase. The agreed price is paid to you on completion. Your solicitor handles the conveyancing in the normal way, and vacant possession is given on the completion date, not before.
Behind every agreement sits an established network of developers and delivery partners who are actively looking for land with planning permission. That means a site we have taken through planning has a ready route forward to completion.
If you have agreed to keep farming or letting the land in the meantime, that continues until completion. The agreement sets out how long the gap between exercise and completion can be, so you can plan the final harvest or the end of a grazing licence.
What You Would Sign
Every site is different, so the details are agreed individually. These are the main terms of our option agreements.
| Term | How it works with us |
|---|---|
| Purchase price | Agreed with you at the start, above what your land is worth in its current use, and written into the agreement. |
| Option fee | Agreed individually for each site and paid on signing, where one is offered. |
| Option period | Long enough to take the site realistically through planning, with a fixed end date that cannot be extended without your agreement. |
| Planning costs | Paid by us, in full, and on a larger site that can be up to £300,000. You never contribute, whether planning succeeds or not. |
| Your advisers | We contribute to the reasonable cost of your own solicitor and land agent. |
| Use of the land | Yours to farm, let or use as normal until completion. |
| If planning fails | The agreement ends, you keep your land and you owe nothing. |
| Surveys and reports | What happens to them if the option ends is set out in the agreement. Ask us, as they can be useful to you later. |
New to option agreements? Read option agreements explained, including the questions to ask before you sign.
What Planning Costs, and Who Pays
Landowners are often surprised by how much it costs to take a field through planning. These are typical figures for an outline application. We pay all of them.
| Site | Homes it might take | Council application fee (2026) | Typical total planning spend |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 acres (0.8 hectares) | Around 18 to 22 | £5,272 | £40,000 to £80,000 |
| 5 acres (2 hectares) | Around 45 to 55 | £13,180 | £100,000 to £175,000 |
| 10 acres (4 hectares) | Around 90 to 110 | £19,231 | £175,000 to £300,000, including an appeal |
The council fee is the smallest part. Most of the money goes on the specialists behind the application: transport and highways, drainage and flood risk, ecology and Biodiversity Net Gain, heritage and archaeology, landscape and trees, design, legal work and, if the council refuses, an appeal. None of it comes from you, and none of it is taken off your price.
The homes figures assume that about two thirds of the site can be built on, at 35 to 40 homes per hectare. The council fees are from the national schedule for outline applications in England from 1 April 2026.
How Long It Takes
The honest answer is that it depends on the site and the council. These are the typical ranges.
| Stage | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Desktop review | A few days |
| Heads of terms and legal agreement | Six weeks to three months, mostly depending on solicitors and title issues |
| Surveys and design | Three to nine months, depending on seasonal ecology surveys |
| Planning application to decision | Several months for a straightforward outline application, longer if the scheme is large or contentious |
| Appeal, if needed | Commonly six months to a year |
| Local plan allocation | Often several years, depending on where the council is in its plan |
| Exercise to completion | Set out in your agreement |
Small, well-located sites with clean access and a council that is behind on housing delivery can move quickly. Large sites, sites in the Green Belt and sites that need a local plan allocation take longer. That is why the option period is agreed site by site, and why we tell you at the start which route we expect to take. Our guide to how long planning really takes goes into more detail.
What Happens If Planning Is Refused
Refusals happen, even on good sites. A council's planning committee can go against its own officers' recommendation, and some decisions turn on judgement rather than rules. A refusal is not always the end of the road.
Where there is a realistic prospect of success, we may appeal to the Planning Inspectorate or submit a revised scheme that deals with the council's reasons. Both are paid for by us. If planning is not achieved by the end of the option period, the agreement simply ends. You keep your land, unencumbered, and you owe us nothing.
Because the planning work is paid for, a failed attempt costs you only time. That is the main reason landowners choose an option over funding an application themselves, where a refusal can mean losing tens of thousands of pounds or more.
What Makes a Site a Strong Fit
You do not need to know the planning rules to ask us to look. These are the things that make a site a strong candidate:
- It sits next to, or is well related to, an existing town or village.
- A safe access onto a public road is possible, even if it needs work.
- Most of the land is outside the highest flood risk zone.
- It is not covered by a strong designation such as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
- It is about 2 acres or more, or part of a larger holding.
- Everyone who owns it is willing to consider one clear, agreed price.
If your land does not tick every box, ask anyway. Many of the sites we take on have a problem to solve, whether that is access, drainage, a tenancy or an awkward boundary, and solving those problems is our job. See how our approach compares with the other routes.
Questions Landowners Ask About the Process
Do I have to decide anything after the first call?
No. The desktop review is free and carries no obligation. Many landowners take weeks or months to decide, often after talking it through with family.
Can I sell part of my land and keep the rest?
Yes. Agreements often cover part of a holding, with boundaries and access designed so the rest of the farm or property keeps working.
Will the council or my neighbours find out?
Not from us during the review. Once a planning application or local plan submission is made, it becomes public, and we will always discuss timing with you before that happens.
What if I die during the option period?
The agreement binds your estate, so your executors take over your position and the agreed price is paid to your estate on completion. Your solicitor will explain how this fits with your will.
Who pays if an appeal is needed?
We do, in full. An appeal is often one of the most expensive parts of planning, and like every other planning cost it is never passed on to you or taken off your price.
Find Out What Your Land Could Be Worth
A free, confidential desktop review of your land. No cost and no obligation.