[Natalie95]

Hello all,

I'm quite new to this so Im sorry if it's a silly question.

Background:

I'm 25 and seems impossible to get on a property ladder. I work through a work agency with not a high wage (19k a year). Getting a mortgage will not work, as it would be for a small amount and on a high percentage.

Issue I have is that I have 2 big dogs I'm unwilling to part with. And it's very hard to rent a house. Currently I'm quite lucky to have found a house that accepts them, however it's costing me £750 a month just for rent (thank God for all the overtime at work).

The Question:

Im sure it's been asked before and my research suggests it's extremely hard to do this. However, is it possible to buy a piece of land and live on it ? I'm not talking about buying a house and getting a planning permission as this seems near impossible. I'm wondering if there's a loop hole anywhere, such us living in a caravan/log cabin/rv and have my post go to my mum's house?
I work from home so would be there pretty much 24/7 and would be looking to have the dogs inside with me.

I have found 3 different lands which would be within my limits of buying.

- 1.6 grazing land right at the main road
 
- 3 acres of land adjacent to a housing estate and a school ( the land has some trees on it, but I wouldn't want to remove them ).

- Grazing land, amenity woodland, redundant brick built water tower ( no roof on it currently and out of use, it looks like a little house and not a tower.)

Would love to build my own little house, my dad has done this before in a different country and it is a cute little place my aim eventually would be to do the same.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Anke]

If you are single, can work from anywhere, can you possibly live in a van/motorhome? Then you copuld sign up with one of the volunteering organisations and in exchange for working a set number of hours per day could have free accommodation? Especially if you can work in the evenings?


It would also allow you to save up some more money and scout out places you may find cheaper accommodation/land to buy etc in the future.


However if you buy land to live on it will be extremely difficult/expensive/time-consuming to find a -legal- way of living on it....

[Backinwellies]

I suggest it would be easier to move to whatever country you dad is in.   

If it was cheap and easy the British countryside would be no more.

If you can live anywhere ... why not move to a cheaper area where your rental would have a very large garden?  Wales, Scotland ??

[chrismahon]

The canals in England have more traffic on them now than they had when they were built. The reason is a boat is cheap accommodation. Find a marina near you and check out the annual mooring charges. Beware, buying a boat is full of pitfalls, so a survey and valuation is absolutely essential. You can get a loan on a boat and I doubt it will amount to £750 a month. It can be pretty miserable in Winter, but so is everywhere. Thought about this ourselves as we know plenty of people doing it, but it's important to establish all your costs first as you won't be on cheap natural gas for heating and cooking and will pay extra for a mains connection with very limited capacity. No problem with dogs though.

[Fleecewife]

Have you thought of joining a commune? They used to be all the rage back in the '60s and '70s but there are still some about.  I have also seen a scheme where a large piece of land has been bought then smaller areas of a few acres each sold on to others, with permission already in place to build a wooden house.  You would know that your neighbours were on the same wavelength as you are. Someone on TAS was asking if others were interested in joining something which sounded a bit similar.  It could be worth thinking outside the box.  Any 'loophole' will either already have been filled or closed and nothing is cheap.


Check out the islands such as The Western Isles, which have a crofting system and have much better broadband than we do in the south Scotland countryside, so working from home is a doddle, as long as you don't have to spend part of the time actually at work somewhere in England. .  There are also areas in Scotland which are now owned by the local community, and it could be possible to buy into one of those, I'm not sure but worth investigating.   I have no personal experience of any of these schemes as I'm a bit of a hermit, but there are plenty of TAS folk who do.

[juliem]

Unfortunately  besides the rent/morgage the next highest bill is council tax and that is set to rise over the next few years...so look at the exemptions for council tax....religious community? Parts of the country have schemes where you can share with elderly home owner(dogs might be a problem) and theres that one where you act as a security guard  in empty building...(London  based) Dogs might help.Good luck

[Steph Hen]

Would you try lodging with someone? When I had a dog and my tenancy was up I went door knocking on farms and about the third/forth one had spare rooms and kennel for my dog. Think we agreed £230 a month including all bills, though this twelve years ago and I helped out with baby sitting and gardening as well. I saved thousands compared to if I’d have rented a house on my own for years and we are still firm friends.

[DagobahSchooner]

Hey Natalie, housing co-ops are a good place to start for lower rents and more autonomy, they are all their own thing and change with the members quite regularly. I'm sure some would be OK with you dogs, yet not all a guaranteed though - you'll just have to check. You get urban and rural ones... Could be a good place to start for cheaper rent and you may well find people looking to tackle the same challenge you are. Here's a good resource to find one that could suite you: https://diggersanddreamers.org.uk/ best of luck!

[landroverroy]

I don't understand Natalie.
You say you can afford to buy various parcels of land which you detailed, so presumably you have access to something like at least 20k? This would be more than enough for a 10% deposit on a modest house and the repayments, at today's low interest, would be considerably less than £750 pm. In terms of interest rates there has never been a better time when interest rates were at  such a low rate. I bought my first house more than 50 years ago on a single modest wage at a borrowing rate of @10%.


On another subject - no it isn't possible to buy a small piece of land and live on it. People will tell you about long and tedious ways of possibly getting round it, but few actually achieve it. The strict planning rules  were evolved to stop the countryside being littered with random shacks and cabins. Sorry if that's blunt, but it's how things are and I don't think it would be fair to unrealistically raise your hopes.

[arobwk]

Well, @Natalie95 - very good cautionary advice offered from others so far, but it all depends, I would suggest, on how much you need to feel "settled".  Once upon a time a moto-home parked on a small plot would give one the economic (small) home freedom you are looking for, but that is no longer guaranteed without eventual hassle from "the authorities".

Some folk choose to park-up on a "caravan site" for a good part of the year, moving as necessary - of course one needs to invest in a decent-sized moto-home or towable caravan (allowing for large doggies) and have means of, or arrange for, relocation periodically.

BUT, if you can afford a small bit of available land (even if it does not offer all that you want) I would suggest you do not dismiss it lightly !!  (I can't - nor anyone really - offer any thoughts though on the 3 bits you mentioned.  Only you can decide on their usefulness/potential. )

landroverroy's post offered an interesting view on the affordability issue. However, while landroverroy's arithmetic might work on paper, lenders are increasingly cautious !  Again only you can really assess by contact with various lenders.

I'm not sure the above will help you to any useful degree, but I do wish you the very best of luck finding a way.

[Natalie95]

Still haven't found anywhere.
Buying a house is a nightmare. Yes I have 20k which is good for a deposit but I can only get a mortgage for 100k plus the 20k of my deposit.
That sort of money unfortunately won't buy me anywhere where I'll feel safe/ have enough space for my dog (unfortunately I had to put one of my dogs down due to an old age ).

Could you please advise what the 'TAS' is?
Many thanks

[Penninehillbilly]

TAS = The Accidental Smallholder 

[Backinwellies]

If you have £120K you have enough to buy if you change location 
Aternately look for cheaper rental (easier with one dog rather than 2) then save up what you save each month with view to getting enough for what you want.
You havent said what you do as a job ...  worth thinking of a retrain?

At 25 I wouldnt have been able to get a mortgage either (I'm 60 now!) ......it is not normal for a single person in their 20's to buy a house .....  and it never has been!

[Fleecewife]

If you have £120K you have enough to buy if you change location 
Aternately look for cheaper rental (easier with one dog rather than 2) then save up what you save each month with view to getting enough for what you want.
You havent said what you do as a job ...  worth thinking of a retrain?

At 25 I wouldnt have been able to get a mortgage either (I'm 60 now!) ......it is not normal for a single person in their 20's to buy a house .....  and it never has been!

However, it is an excellent idea to get onto the ladder as soon as you can.  My husband and I bought our first house at 25, not our ideal home, but it filled our needs at the time and got us onto the ladder.  We were skint for years (in fact we probably still are with the way national finance is going now) but we never regretted buying our first house.  As an endorsement, both our sons had also bought their first houses by the same age.
The thing is that it's 'either/or', you can't buy a house young then also go on exotic holidays, eat in restaurants and buy top end fashions; it's a compromise that many younger folk today are not prepared to make.
If you are prepared to go your own way @Natalie95 then I wish you loads of luck.  So sorry about your older dog too - losing our companions is so very hard.

[Womble]

When somebody who earns 2/3 of the UK median wage starts a thread like this, you know that the system is well and truly broken  .