Demolish and rebuild - Why/How do they do it???

As you've said yourself they can sell the new build for a massive profit its a no brainer.

Round here they pull down really nice older houses and build three or four on the site.

It is done because the houses are usually on big plots in pleasant non-estate roads. They can probably done up for around £100,000.

We have one locally; bought in March 2014 for £367,000, doubled in size with those must have features, a huge kitchen/living room with folding sliding doors opening onto the good sized garden and plenty of en-suite bathrtooms. Now selling for £715,000.

Around here, big comfortable family homes are bought and sold, and in their place arises a block of apartments.

Monica I live on a pleasant estate road . It's a cul-de-sac at that <flutters eyelashes>.

We live very near Man Utd players and their WAG's preferred area.
It has been their custom in recent years to buy property in lovely villages and small towns and demolish to build very modern " trophy houses" with cinemas, indoor pools etc.

This is exactly what was happening where we lived, untIl recently. It crept to our road, two storey. Edwardian detacheds had their roofs removed and another floor put on, bungalows demolished, excavated and rebuilt as houses with cinemas, pools etc.

The majority of viewers for our house mentioned the alterations and building works they would do! The eventual buyer started her re modelling immediately and we occasionally drive past to see what's being done.

The house served us well, as a family home, was well maintained and modern, but we felt it was time for it and us to move on.

What is interesting is that an architect friend has told me that houses are built with a 30 year obsolescence. It is iniquitous - but no new buyer is told this. Buy a building over 40 years old and stick with it!!!

I think that's soooo tactless, when potential buyers traipse round telling you what they would like to alter in your house.

Sites for new dwellings are hard to come by, especially in good locations.

If you want a modern energy efficient home and buy run-down house with a view to extending, altering it to suit your family and installing all the energy saving features, you may then discover that it would be cheaper to demolish and rebuild.

This is partly because for alterations and extensions you have to pay VAT at 20% on top of the construction cost, whereas new build is zero rated.

An architect will them, sometimes reluctantly, advise her clients that they will not only get exactly what they want, but at a lower cost, by going down that route.

The architectural profession has been campaigning for many years for "flat vat" -ie the same rate, say 5% on both new build and work to existing buildings.

There would of course be a down side to this as it would raise the cost of new homes, which is perhaps why it hasn't happened.

There is a name for it, "bungalow grabbing". They are standing on large plots of land so it must be cost effective.

Quite a few cottages on the edge of the golf course here have been bought, demolished and much bigger houses built in their place. You couldn't buy a plot there as all the surrounding land is owned by the club. The views will be spectacular, right over the course to the dunes and the sea. It is a pity though to see some of these 100 + year old properties being torn down.

This is the view they're paying for

I think you get tax relief on new builds where you don't on renovating an old property, something which the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings are rightly miffed about

Yes, you can reclaim VAT on new builds I believe.

Katek

I agree about it being a shame, but some of these old properties are not cost effective, being cold and damp. It would be nice if they could retain some of the character though.

A bungalow near to me was inherited and sold on to a builder who demolished it and built three five bedroomed houses on the plot.

Gardens? Negligible, but they say who needs gardens nowadays?

They say people are too busy earning money to pay the extortionate mortgages these days to even have the time to admire the garden let alone work in it !

Yes it is tactless commenting on how you would alter someone's home! We decided earlier on that we would not sell to those people. But the 'lovely little family' who we thought we'd sell to, didn't appear! It showed us how the market had changed in 30 years!

Planning laws allow for the 'bungalow grabbing' etc. there has to be a strong case for it not to happen.

You can reclaim VAT on new builds.

The only work to existing buildings which does not attract 20% vat is alterations (not repars) to listed buildings where these alterations have Listed Building Consent.

Almost all alterations to Listed buildings, even internal alterations such as changing a staircase, require LBC and therefore no vat is charged.

All other work to existing buildings attract vat @ 20%

Really interesting replies, thank you, makes much more sense to me now. I love the view KateK, is this your view also, I think it looks a bit like Southport. We are ready for a move, but dont know where to go to, but we need an adventure, I wonder if a 'developer' might offer us a nice price and knock it down and start again. We would like a bungalow, but havn't got the cash to knock our house down and rebuild to specification. I am not sure I fully understand the obsolesence thing though???

J52 I think the phrases "bungalow grabbing" and "garden grabbing" were coined by the popular press to engender dislike.

I do not necessarily agree that it is always a bad thing to redevelop an underused site in a good location. The resulting new homes are mostly much better than those replaced, although I do agree that some gardens are too small.

Planning laws involve strict conditions and nieghbours, the parish or town council and many other consultees have their say before the Councillors make the decision to grant or refuse permission.

People need homes and there is a desperate shortage of building land which raises the price of new houses. Where do you suggest we build?

They don't build bungalows now, probably haven't for 45 years. A big plot can hold a block of retirement flats for lots of old dears, with alarms in every room but no character at all. A lot of my friends are very happy in these places but I' d hate it and hope to stay in my old hovel.

We do still build bungalows but they require more land than two or three storey houses and so perhaps we don't build enough. We need more building land.

I agree we need to build more houses, at a reasonable price.

A relative of mine lived alone, in a huge house with grounds. In a village where all available land had been built on. Eventually, after a great deal of counselling and advice,by the family, she did sell to a developer. 7 houses were built on the site. ( number controlled by planning)

People got homes and she moved to a more manageable house.

We need more bungalows here. There is a desperate shortage of this type of home leading to the latest one in town going on the market for £400,000. There are very few residential flats for the elderly either. Recently one sold for £330,000 was snapped up by a builder. It was refurbished, the garden cut in half for a new build, and then resold for £280,000. We are on the main East Coast rail line so houses are being snapped up by families moving out of London because they cannot afford houses there.