Self-Build and Custom House Building

The Government and Tendring District Council want to enable more people to build their own homes.

The terms 'self-build' and 'custom-build' are used to describe situations where individuals or groups are involved in creating their own homes. The amount of personal involvement varies. Some self-builders physically build all or part of a home themselves, some commission an architect to manage their project, or a developer may find a site, seek a number of self-build clients and build their homes to their specification under contract.

Self-build homes

Self-build describes projects where the people involved play a very significant part in the process. They may help to organise the project, commission an architect or builder, or undertake some of the construction or finishing off work. Self-building does not necessarily mean physically getting involved with building - most self-builders will be involved with the creative side of the project.

Custom-build homes

Custom-build describes a more 'hands-off' approach, where a specialist developer co-ordinates the whole process for the people involved.

Self-build register

Local Planning Authorities in England and Wales are obliged under the Self Build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 to hold a register of individuals and community groups who would be interested in acquiring land to build a home.

Tendring District Council is compiling a register of individuals and groups who are interested in self-build or custom-build.  The register will enable us to gather evidence to identify if there is a demand for this type of development within the District.

If you are interested in registering, please complete our online registration form.

In submitting the registration form, you are agreeing that the Council can use the registered data to understand the demand for self-build and custom-build housing.

Personal details included on the register will not be made public; however anonymised headline data extracted from it may be published (i.e. overall numbers of registered entries for various categories, geographical areas of interest, types of housing sought etc.).

The Council is required to hold your details on the register and if you are an association the register will, if relevant, also include the name and address of the lead contact, along with the number of serviced plots its members are seeking.

The Council might contact you to confirm your interest when potential planning applications are being considered.

If you do not want your personal contact details held on the register, please indicate this on the registration form. The Council will not contact you about self-build and custom-build issues. Please visit the website to check for further developments.

Your remaining information as submitted will be used by the Council for strategic planning, information and statistical purposes only.

For further information about how we will use your data please read our privacy policy and privacy notice.

Please be aware that self-build homes are subject to the same requirement for planning permission as other homes.

Further information and advice

Please also use the following website for further information and financial support:

http://righttobuildtoolkit.org.uk/#

http://righttobuildtoolkit.org.uk/briefing-notes/other-financial-support/#

Information on self-build homes is available through the Self-Build Portal (http://www.selfbuildportal.org.uk/(link is external)) which provides encouragement and advice to people who want to build their own home.

If you would like to know more about self-build or custom-build, or have any queries about the registration, please contact the Planning Policy team by email: planningpolicy@tendringdc.gov.uk.