If you are thinking of buying a serviced plot of land (a plot that has access to a public highway and connections for electricity, water and waste water) in Royal Greenwich to build your own home, read the criteria and if you qualify, register your details with us.
What is self-build and custom housebuilding
Self-build is where someone builds their own home on a vacant plot of land.
Custom housebuilding in where someone contracts a builder to design and construct a ‘custom-built’ home for them.
Individuals can organise into self-build groups, which buy a larger plot of land and subdivide it to allow each individual to build their own home. These groups also provide valuable support and shared expertise.
A more detailed legal definition of self-build and custom housebuilding is set out in the Housing and Planning Act 2016:
“The building or completion by individuals, associations of individuals, or persons working with or for individuals or associations of individuals, of houses to be occupied as homes by these individuals… [but] does not include the building of a house on a plot acquired from a person who builds the house wholly or mainly to plans or specifications offered by that person.”
The purpose of the register
Our Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Register is divided into two parts:
- Part 1: keeps track of local demand for self-build and custom housebuilding. This must be met via the grant of sufficient development permissions for serviced plots of land
- Part 2: keeps track of general demand for self-build and custom housebuilding, with no requirement to grant sufficient development permissions for serviced plots of land to meet this demand
How to apply
We maintain our own register, which is the only official self-build and custom housebuilding register for the borough. We do not currently recognise registration on any other list as an expression of interest in self-build and custom housebuilding in the borough.
Demand for self-build and custom housebuilding in the borough will only be measured using our own list.
Eligibility
Eligibility for Part 1 or Part 2 of the register is dependent on submission of appropriate information required by regulations and to address local eligibility conditions. Local eligibility conditions include:
- A requirement to demonstrate a ‘local connection’, which applies to all applications for Part 1 of the register (an exception applies to persons in the service, or who have been in recent service of, the regular armed forces of the Crown); and
- A requirement to demonstrate sufficient financial resources to purchase land, which applies to Parts 1 and 2 of the register.
You can find more information about local eligibility criteria in the guidance note:
Read through this note in full before you submit your application. We may refuse your application if you do not provide the necessary information.
These criteria are in addition to the national statutory criteria, which must be met by all applicants for both Parts 1 and 2.
Applicants must be:
- aged 18 or older
- a British Citizen, a national of an EEA member state, or a national of Switzerland; and
- seeking (either alone or with others) to acquire a serviced plot of land in the relevant authority’s area for their own self-build or custom housebuilding project
Payment
If you are accepted, you must pay the fee or we will remove you from the register.
What happens after you register
Once you are on the register, we may be in contact with you from time to time with updates about self-build and custom housebuilding. We will review the register annually, at which point we may ask you for evidence to make sure that you continue to meet the local eligibility criteria.
We will also charge an annual fee to remain on Part 1 of the register to cover the costs of assessing your evidence.
Information and details we may ask for later
As this initiative is fairly new, we may update the application form and may ask for further information. For example, more evidence about eligibility of households.
The register will not be made public. Although we may report headline data in the Annual Monitoring Report (headline data could include the overall demand for self-build and custom housebuilding in the borough).
Royal Greenwich is one of the most densely populated boroughs in the country and there are severe pressures on land available for development.
With a limited supply of land and competing development needs, finding extra plots of land in the borough that can be used for self-building is likely to be challenging. The data collected through the register will be used to help inform the overall need for housing in the borough.
Contact us
If you have any queries about self-build and custom housebuilding in Royal Greenwich. Or if you have any issues accessing or submitting the application form, email self-build@royalgreenwich.gov.uk.
Contact us as soon as possible if you:
- are currently on the register and your details change and you wish to move from one part of the register to another. For example, if you change your address or your circumstances change
- wish to be moved from the register entirely