Advice for barn conversion finance?

[St Sussex Equine]

Hi all, I'm new to here. We have a small barn that we managed to get planning permission to convert to a small house. The barn is on our 20ac yard, and we're currently living in the mobile home on-site, that also has planning permission. We've been trying to arrange finance/ mortgage for the build, but are not having much luck. As we built the barn 20 years ago, we will be undertaking the majority of the conversion work, as it is structurally good, and requires more of an internal fit out than a full blown typical barn conversion.

The problem is not with the affordability, but with the fact that the barn is part of the 20 acres. The usual self build mortgage providers don't like the land, and as the yard is our private yard, and not run as a business, we are also locked out of commercial business finance aswell. Does anyone have any suggestions, that we may have overlooked, or been in a similar situation and managed to get finance? We have also approached the NFU/AMC, but as the land is equestrian, and not agricultural, they can't help.

Any advice, suggestions or help would be GREATLY appreciated. Many thanks.

 

[Abacus]

Is there a possibility of splitting the property such that 19.5 acres is separate, leaving half an acre around the barn for a garden? If they are held separately as titles then it may not be an issue on the finance side. I have no idea if this might work.

 

[blitznbobs]

There are self build mortgages out there based on the future value of the house but getting a mortgage on
Land is almost impossible…

 

[tda]

Not quite the same but we had a wooden frame 1940s bungalow we wanted to demolish and rebuild in stone, our current high street bank, despite being customers/mortgage holders with them for nearly 20 years were useless, we tried a few others also useless/not interested.
We ended up getting a stage payment self build mortgage from Melton Mowbray building society. All done online /over the phone
This was in 2014.
I think what Abacus said is also a good idea

 

[Polos Mum]

Local building societies can sometimes use their brains.

Any mortgage on any house with more than 10 ish acres does become difficult. (HSBC will go to 12 acres)

If there is any chance you might want to sell ever in the future - I would look into splitting the titles - easier for you and much easier should you ever choose to move as buyers will be able to get a normal high street mortgage.
Indeed if you get a self build mortgage now (presumably reasonably expensive) then when you come to re-mortgage you'd find that much easier with a house and 0.5 acre garden too - so accessing all normal high street lenders without any fuss.

Worth having a chat to tax specialist about inheritance tax - that might be the only wrinkle with having just land (the title with your home would be covered no problem)

 

[Jambarissa]

I second the local building society option. I found one where we were just 1 mile within their allowed area and you actually talk to a human.

Otherwise have you trued a mortgage broker? I generally dislike the idea but if you're having trouble let them do the gard work for you.

 

[Andie02]

Hi all, I'm new to here. We have a small barn that we managed to get planning permission to convert to a small house. The barn is on our 20ac yard, and we're currently living in the mobile home on-site, that also has planning permission. We've been trying to arrange finance/ mortgage for the build, but are not having much luck. As we built the barn 20 years ago, we will be undertaking the majority of the conversion work, as it is structurally good, and requires more of an internal fit out than a full blown typical barn conversion.

The problem is not with the affordability, but with the fact that the barn is part of the 20 acres. The usual self build mortgage providers don't like the land, and as the yard is our private yard, and not run as a business, we are also locked out of commercial business finance aswell. Does anyone have any suggestions, that we may have overlooked, or been in a similar situation and managed to get finance? We have also approached the NFU/AMC, but as the land is equestrian, and not agricultural, they can't help.

Any advice, suggestions or help would be GREATLY appreciated. Many thanks.

My OH has a colleague who is a very experienced Independent Mortgage Advisor. He has emailed him with the information that you have provided on here, he may not hear back from him until Monday though.

 

[Orangehorse]

If you buy one of the self build magazines there are usually advertisements in there from various self-build mortgage companies. I think you will have to go with a sort of broker, rather than the standard high street mortgage providers.

 

[EventingMum]

We were in this position when we built our house. Fortunately, because we had the proceeds of our previous house sale in the bank we were moved to a special account for those with big balances and our personal manager managed to get us a loan which was converted to a mortgage on completion of the build. This was with the Clydesdale Bank who are now part of Virgin Money, all the other building societies would not entertain us due to having too much land. It was a while ago now so don't know how it would be now.

 

[Art Nouveau]

I don't know if Swansea Building Society do self build mortgages, but they are my mortgage company and were really good for us as we're in an unusual situation (4 adults buying together a house with land and running a business here). They might be able to be flexible for you

 

[hock]

The advice we’ve had is the land and the buildings are split and effectively 2 different properties. However fingers crossed our planning permission will come under commercial. We also have planning for the caravan (3 years) and are just sorting out our plans now.

 

[Andie02]

@St Sussex Equine can you pm me please

 

[St Sussex Equine]

Hi, I'm new here and not sure how to send a pm? Thanks.@St Sussex Equine can you pm me please

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

@St Sussex Equine can you pm me please

Andie02 - you might find that new users cannot send or reply to a PM till they have made a number of posts, (perhaps 5 or more?) but worth trying x

 

[Andie02]

Andie02 - you might find that new users cannot send or reply to a PM till they have made a number of posts, (perhaps 5 or more?) but worth trying x

Thank you, yes I found that I could not pm the person until they had responded to me in their post above. I hope that they are able to receive and reply to my pm to them as I have info for them from my OH's colleague. At least you have highlighted this for them if my pm fails to them, and hopefully they pick this up x