What to consider when choosing a land promoter

If you think your site is suitable for development and have decided that land promotion is the best way to realise its potential, your choice of partner becomes absolutely crucial. You may only have one chance to secure planning permission before the opportunity is lost, so it pays to carefully consider which land promoter you will be working with.

We have provided some helpful guidance on the questions you should be asking before making this important decision – after all, it can be a lengthy process so it’s important that you choose correctly:

How will they go about securing planning permission for your site?

A good promoter should have a well-defined strategy and be able to explain it to you clearly. This should include an understanding of how they will deal with any technical issues for your land – like delivering an access or drainage connections – as well as how they intend to approach the planning process and their reasoning for that.

The strategy should go beyond just securing planning permission. The objective isn’t just to secure permission – it is to sell the site too. Your land promotion partner should be able to tell you how your site will eventually be sold.

Do they have an established track record?

It is very important to understand the land promoter’s track record. They should be able to tell you about other projects where a similar strategy has been successful for them. That might be in the same local authority, although often it isn’t – it might be that the planning climate hasn’t been as supportive of new homes in your council area in the past.

You should also ask about any conflicts of interest. Is the promoter working on other sites nearby whose success could harm your own prospects? As well as understanding what the promoter is going to do, you need to understand how they will go about doing it.

Who will be running the project for you?

It is important to know who you will be dealing with on a day-to-day basis - not just their name but also their level of experience. Just because you’ve met a Director at an initial meeting, don’t assume they will be the person managing your site once you’ve agreed to work together. Working with a bigger land promoter with a large number of sites may mean that responsibility for your land is passed to a more junior person. Working with a smaller company is more likely to mean you have someone senior managing everything for you. For example, at The Strategic Land Group, our managing director runs every project and is the day-to-day contact for our landowner partners.

The planning process is slow and promotion agreements last for several years so you’ll spend a lot of time dealing with your project manager. That makes it important that you get on.  You don’t have to be best friends, but do you like them enough to speak to them regularly? And do you trust them enough to make decisions in your best interests?

How frequently will you receive progress updates?

Different promoters offer landowners varying levels of input once the project is underway. It is sensible to understand how often you will be updated and what control you will have over the process. There are several points where The Strategic Land Group asks our landowner partners for approval. For example, shortly after entering into a legal agreement, we provide a detailed planning strategy explaining what we will be doing and introducing the consultant team we will employ. Our landowner partners will approve this, and they can hold us to it as the project progresses. We also ask them to approve any layout before it is sent to the council, along with the planning application before it is submitted.

Are your interests genuinely aligned?

One of the key advantages of working with a land promoter is that your interests are supposed to be aligned – you both want to sell your land for the best possible price in the shortest possible period of time. It is imperative to check that your interests really are aligned. While some promoters appear to be independent businesses, they are actually owned by house builders or venture capital firms. Are you comfortable that they will make decisions with your interests at heart, and have a genuinely competitive bidding process once planning permission is in place?

Most importantly, take your time.

This is a big decision, and one you are likely to make once so don’t rush it. Ask questions and reflect on the answers. A good land promoter will be more than happy to give you the time to do that.

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Speak to us about starting work on your project.