Let’s talk about adding value. Not the kind where you slap a lick of paint on a wall and call it a day — we’re talking serious uplift. The kind that turns overlooked land or buildings into big financial wins.
Take this for example: someone’s got a house with a decent-sized garden. On its own, it’s nice, but not exactly valuable land — until planning permission is granted to build another house on it. Suddenly, that patch of grass is worth a whole lot more.
Or let’s say there’s a pub that’s been struggling for years. It’s losing money, can’t cover its bills, and is probably worth £400k tops, just for the bricks and mortar. Now imagine someone gets permission to convert it into a McDonald’s. With a 20-year lease and £60k a year in rent from a blue-chip tenant, investors would value that at around £1.2 million (based on a 5% yield). That’s an £800k jump — and all it took was a change of use.
But here’s the heavyweight example: farmland. It’s typically worth about £10k to £15k per acre. But if you get planning permission to build houses on it? You’re looking at closer to £1 million per acre. That’s not just adding value — that’s flipping the entire game.
So, if it’s that easy, why isn’t everyone building houses in their back gardens, turning pubs into burger joints, or snapping up fields?
One word: planning.
Any change of use needs planning permission. That means submitting proposals, waiting on the local council to assess it against planning policy, and possibly jumping through several frustrating hoops. It can be slow, political, and — for many — a total minefield.
But that’s where the opportunity lies.
If you can spot the potential and guide a site through the planning process, you get to capture the uplift in value. That’s what this course is all about — helping you identify off-market land without planning permission (i.e. land that’s not yet had its value unlocked), secure it via an option agreement, and then push it through the planning process.
Control the land, win the planning, and you’re sitting on something far more valuable than when you started.
So next time you’re out and about — walking the dog, visiting friends, heading to the shops — keep your eyes peeled. That house with the massive garden? Maybe there’s space for another one. That boarded-up building you pass every morning? Maybe it’s just waiting for a second life.
You don’t need to start with a farmer’s field. Even small plots can be goldmines — if you know what to look for and how to unlock their potential.