"The Government’s Action Plan marks a significant milestone in the level of support which the Government is offering to anyone who wants to build or commission their own home."
The scheme will enable people to custom build a new home with just a 5% deposit alongside a Government-backed equity loan, similar to the Help to Buy scheme.
As part of the Government's self-build 'Action Plan', it has also announced funding for local authorities to develop public land for custom and self-build housing, alongside a review into how delivery of custom and self-build housing can be increased and accelerated.
The Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF) is designed to support local authorities to bring forward their brownfield sites for housing development and self and custom-build serviced plots. The fund makes up to £25 million capital grant available to eligible English local authorities to support the release of brownfield and greenfield sites they own, for self and custom build developments. The Fund, which will be administered by One Public Estate, must be utilised before March 2022. Funding is for capital works, to release local self and custom-build plots by the end of March 2024 and must address a local market failure. Priority will also be given to projects which align with the Government’s ambition to level up the housing market and the degree to which projects will support deprived areas of the country.
Alongside the report on unlocking sector growth, the Government has also committed to reviewing Right to Build legislation, to ensure councils provide enough land and take proper consideration for these homes when making planning decisions in their area. Changes to law could be put forward as early as the autumn, as part of potential new planning reform legislation.
The Government has also announced it will continue to fund the Right to Build Task Force, to ensure councils, landowners and industry have access to technical support to bring forward more opportunities for self and custom build housing.
Mario Wolf, director of planning and strategic engagement at Custom Build Homes, commented: “The Government’s Action Plan marks a significant milestone in the level of support which the Government is offering to anyone who wants to build or commission their own home.
“The Plan shows that the Government is serious about truly diversifying our housing market. By offering low-cost mortgages akin to Help to Buy, targeted funding for public sector land and commissioning the preparation of a report into the scaling up of self-build and custom build housing we can expect demand and supply for this form of housing to rise to new heights in the very near future. At Custom Build Homes we are ready to play our part.”
Raymond Connor, CEO of BuildLoan, added: “We are extremely supportive of the Help to Build scheme and have been advocating this for a long time. It is similar in nature to the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme and will be a real boost to the self and growing custom build market.
“This scheme opens up self build to more people as they only need a 5% deposit instead of typically 20%. We know there is pent up demand for people wanting to build their own home as evidenced by 55,000 people signed up to local authority Right to Build registers.
“Volume house builders dominate the new build market but this scheme will open up opportunities for SME property developers to expand the custom build sector.
“This announcement demonstrates the Government’s commitment to the diversification of housing in the UK by supporting self and custom build.
“In anticipation of this announcement, BuildLoan has been developing products to support the Help to Build scheme and we are working with lenders ready and willing to lend.”
