Backland in the news again

Here on the Chase Estate in Epsom, what we call backland development crops up from time to time. That is to say the conversion of one or more plots - unusually large by today's standards - from one or more houses to a block, a cluster or even a close. Conversion which usually involves demolishing the existing house or houses. Demolition which is occasionally fire-assisted - but I dare say insurance companies are getting more difficult about that sort of thing.

The time has come again, with the arrival on our door mat of the plan snapped above. It seems that someone has bought a bungalow, sitting on an enlarged plot - that is to say a plot which started quite modestly but which has been enlarged by buying the back of a couple of adjacent back gardens - with a view to replacing it with five new dwellings.

The story appears to be that the buyer is the owner of the next but one plot, No.40, but that the owner of No.42 is holding out, thus blocking the development of all three plots into something rather more sensible. Perhaps an older person who does not like change and likes moving even less. Couldn't give a toss about the money.

Which brings me to the sums. Suppose I buy the bungalow for £500,000. Perhaps a bit more. Knock it down and build five dwellings for a total of £1,000,000. Sell the dwellings for around £400,000 a go - the sort of money which might buy you a two-bedroom flat a bit nearer town. Profit £500,000.

Not that unreasonable given all the risks & uncertainties and having one's money tied up for a year or more while all this happens.

But not all that clever from the point of view of other residents who like things as they are and would much prefer any development to be somewhere else. On which see, for example, reference 1.

We wait, with interest, to see how this bit of backland gets on. Or not, as the case may be.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/09/an-easier-way.html. The relevant bit is towards the end.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/search?q=express+prefab. For a rather different sort of development - one which must have cost a great deal: one for one, one for me, rather than one for many.