Sell your land to The Land Buyer

Four ways to sell, what we need from you, what we do with it and who pays for what.

By Iain Forster, The Land Buyer. Last reviewed 2026-10-05.

In shortYou can sell land four ways: as it is, subject to planning, with planning already granted or under an option or promotion agreement where we win the planning at our cost and you are paid on the uplift. We do the last two. The checks are free and you keep using the land meanwhile.

Four ways to sell
What we need
Who pays
Free land review

Four ways to sell

Which one suits you

Way	You get	You wait	Suits
Sell as it is	Today's value, agricultural or amenity	3 to 6 months	Someone who needs money now and does not want the planning risk
Sell subject to planning	An agreed price, paid only if planning is granted	12 to 24 months	Owners who want certainty of price and a clean exit
Sell with planning you obtained	The full developed land value, less your costs	12 to 30 months	Owners with £40,000 to £150,000 to spend and the stomach for refusal
Option or promotion agreement	A share of the uplift, planning paid for by us	12 to 24 months	Most private owners. No cost, no risk, a bigger number than today's value

We work the fourth way and sometimes the second. What an option and a promotion agreement are, in plain words.

What we need from you

Four things, none of them hard

Where it is. A postcode or the name of the field and the nearest road.
Roughly how big. Acres, hectares or "the paddock behind the house". We measure it ourselves from the title.
How you get into it. A gate onto the road, a track or only through your own garden.
Whether it is yours alone. Other owners, a tenant, a mortgage, a right of way. None stops a sale; all change the plan.

What we do with it

Ten days, at our cost

We read the title and the plan. We check the local plan for whether the land is inside, beside or far from a settlement boundary. We read the planning history within a hundred metres. We check flood zones, protected trees, listed buildings and conservation areas. We look at how a road into it would work. Then we put it against the requirements we hold and come back to you with an honest answer. If it is no, we say no and why.

Who pays for what

Everything until the sale is ours

Cost	Paid by	Typical amount
Desk checks and site visit	The Land Buyer	Our time
Your solicitor, for the agreement	The Land Buyer	£1,500 to £4,000
Surveys: ecology, trees, drainage, highways	The Land Buyer	£8,000 to £25,000
Architect, planning consultant, council fee	The Land Buyer	£20,000 to £60,000
Appeal, if we need one	The Land Buyer	£15,000 to £40,000
Your tax on the sale	You	Ask your accountant; see our tax guide

Questions landowners ask

Straight answers

Will you buy my land outright today?

Sometimes, where the land already has planning or a buyer we hold wants it as it is. Most of the time the better outcome for you is an agreement under which we win the planning and you receive a share of the much larger figure that follows.

What if I only want to sell part of a field?

That is common and often the best plan. A village edge strip can take homes while the rest stays farmed. We draw the line with you.

Do you need exclusivity to have a first conversation?

No. Nothing is signed until you have had the written view of value and your own solicitor has read the agreement at our expense.

How long before I see money?

Under an option agreement, when planning is granted and the land sells, usually twelve to twenty four months. Some agreements include a modest payment on signing. We say which in writing before you sign.

Free land review

Tell us about your land

Tell us the postcode. We do the rest at our cost and come back to you within ten days.