Hampshire Architects

Regarding home improvement, the idea of demolishing a home in its entirety and beginning all over again may not seem like the smartest move initially. Starting from scratch not only takes a lot of effort but seemingly would cost a fortune, right? Well, in many areas of the UK, knocking everything down and rebuilding actually saves you a lot more than you’d think. In parts where individual plots are scarce, it can actually be one of the best ways to get the home you feel you deserve. Let’s have a little chat about demolishing and rebuilding, discussing the good and bad along the way:

When Would One Look To Demolish And Rebuild In The First Place?

Typically, someone looking to demolish and begin a rebuild project would target older homes that were built to suit generations of years gone by. We’re talking about bungalows and detached houses that were built around the post-war austerity era and around the 1970s. These kinds of homes were never going to stand the test of time and were never going to last forever. People had different lifestyles, different energy efficiency, and different levels of comfort. It may not be that long ago, but so much has changed – and these properties can be pretty difficult to sell.

These houses of years gone by were built with much smaller rooms than what are expected in this day and age. These rooms also have no real versatility like the modern home of the 21st century. They’re also built with little-to-no heating and hardly any installation. Finally, and quite unfathomably, a lot of these properties were not built with a bathroom. An obvious necessity in this day and age.

The good thing about this kind of property, however, is that these locations tended to have a lot of land. This meant that you could build pretty much whatever you wanted on your own property – before certain laws and acts came in and blocked the right.

Are All Properties Able To Be Demolished And Redone?

Some will be more difficult than others, as you can imagine. For instance, terraced houses and semi-detached houses will likely be a non-starter as you’d have to secure consent to demolish and rebuild. This consent would need to be received by many, many parties. When it comes to older homes, you need to consider whether demolishing is even necessary as there is still a high demand and strong market for period houses. Rebuilding would be a much worse idea than a simple revamp or refurbishment.

Buildings that are marked as historical or have architectural significance have been protected by the listed buildings scheme. You will not be able to touch these properties even if you really pushed for it. There are plenty out there that are available, however. If you ever look to demolish a building, you’ll likely find out whether it’s illegible for this kind of thing or not as somebody or note will step in and stop the project in its tracks.

Planning Policies

When it comes to the actual planning and the regulations behind it all, you must ensure you have a pre-planning meeting to assess what is available and what isn’t. Due to many replacement projects involving so many small existing homes on larger plots, making the volume larger is usually allowed as long as you reach an agreement with local planners. When discussing a few items, you might be able to argue that the home you’re proposing to build will have a lower environmental impact than the smaller one it will replace.

In green belt areas, new work is typically not allowed. Replacement dwellings, however, are seen as more acceptable. There are strict policies on what can be allowed regarding increases in footprint or volume. Sometimes, if a property looks as though it is rundown and abandoned, it will be ruled unavailable for any further residential use. This will make it unsuitable for rebuilding. If you ever look to rebuild on a property, make sure you’re actually able to go through with it.

How You’ll Look To Benefit Financially From Replacements

If you take a little look at the value of building plots, you can see that most will cost as much as (or more than) the price of a current property on the market. This is due to the value of the land not being dictated by what is currently on it – but the potential it has, should it ever be properly worked on.

On the whole, demolishing a property is not that expensive. A few thousand would be the height of the fee involved and the main cost is mainly based on disposing of the wasted bits and pieces. In order to demolish, you’ll need to ensure you have building control approval – this will consist of the commissioning of environmental and asbestos surveys. If you’re borrowing at all, you must make sure that your lender is happy for you to demolish and rebuild a property.

Renovating And Rebuilding – The Difference Regarding VAT

Demolishing and rebuilding has one thing categorically over any kind of extension or refurb – and that’s the VAT. You can reclaim on materials used when building a new property and labour is zero-rated. Work on an existing structure is 20% VAT on both, however. The overall cost is significantly less at the end of the day, and you’ll happily end up with left over money once the job has been completed.

Extra Pros For Demolishing And Rebuilding

If you need any more positives and benefits, then here they are:

You’re going to be creating an entirely new home that fits the style in your mind’s eye and fits the comfort levels you’re expecting. An existing property is also likely to have access to the main services you’ll need, such as electricity, water, gas, and drainage. Finally, easements and wayleaves for managing this property will already be in place.