The government have released their policy paper on the self and custom-build action plan which aims to assist and maximise the delivery of new housing within this subsector. We wanted to touch on the main points raised and provide the information to help any current or future self-builders.

Essentially, the government recognises the demand for self and custom-build housing and wants to look at ways to help scale up this delivery of new homes. You can see more on the action plan and suggested timetable here.

What is the difference between self and custom-build?

• Self-build: Doesn’t mean physically building yourself, unless you want it too. It means that you are in charge, from searching for the plot, hiring your team, deciding on brick colour, everything. It means that you get the house you want.
• Custom-build: The difference with custom-build is that you are purchasing a serviced plot with outline planning permission. As with self-build you can choose your level of involvement.

The history of self and custom house building from the government so far:

• November 2011: The government published ‘Laying the Foundations: A Housing Strategy for England’, a national strategy for promoting self-build housing.
• March 2014: Government announced consultation on the new ‘Right to Build’ which looked to help provide land to custom builders from their local council.
• October 2014: The government produced ‘Right to Build: Supporting Custom and Self Build’, a document which explained how it would help aspiring self-builders in their local area, this led to the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act (2015).
• April 2016: Remaining provisions of the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 came into force, the main one being local authorities requiring a register for demand of all self and custom-build requests in their area.
• October 2016: ‘Home Building Fund’ announced to help developers with a short term loan for custom built housing.
• December 2020: ‘Help to Build’ funding announced to help individuals with a loan for their self-build projects.
• April 2021: Policy paper for self and custom-build action plan released.

What’s new and what to do right now?

• The government are stepping in to help support the three main hurdles it comes to when looking to self or custom-build, they are: access to finance, access to land and a gap in expertise.

Mortgage Finance

• The government have announced the ‘Help to Build’ scheme, similar to the ‘Help to Buy’; this scheme should make it more affordable and easier for people wanting to build their own homes. On 24^th April 2021, they confirmed the funding package at over £150m, they then hope to have the prospectus published soon with applications opening late summer 2021. We’ll update the blog once we have more information.

Land

• Join your local council’s register, to do so search for ‘custom and self-build register’ followed by the name of your local council and follow the steps from there.
• In 2020, the government announced the Brownfield Land Release Fund, this aims to release land owned by local authorities so it can be used for housing development, they are offering up to £75m in funding to help support the release of the sites, applications are currently underway. This means, the authorities gain funding and therefore release unused plots to be provided for self and custom-build projects rather than sitting empty and unused. As soon as information about sites become available we’ll let you know.

Expertise

• A ‘Right to Build Task Force’ has been established with funding to be confirmed soon. The aim of the task force is to help provide support to local authorities, communities and organisations for any self and custom-build projects. Utilising the experience and knowledge from various parties, providing advice, online resources and bespoke individual support to those in need. Again, once information becomes available we’ll update this post.

Update your brief

• While the government is finalising the details, update your brief so when land is identified you can rapidly assess if it meets your requirements and be ahead of the pack. If you would like a copy of our briefing template get in touch and we’ll email you across a copy.
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