Good question!
And it is one we get asked often, as clients can sometimes be caught in a chicken and egg situation. They want to buy a property to carry out a development, but need the finance to buy the property, which might need the planning permission in place to be allow them to buy the property, which they don’t want to buy before they get planning…. It all becomes a bit of an entangled web!
But don’t worry. Whilst there are some lenders who might require planning permission to be in place, there are other short-term lenders who may provide finance without permission. It might even be possible to get a conditional offer for finance dependent on planning being received at a later date.
And remember, there are some projects which might not even need planning permission. For example, the development might fall under permitted development rights.
At the end of the day, your options will depend on the specific scope of the project and the required level of funding. The best course of action, is to discuss your requirements with a broker at an early stage, so you won’t face the risk of delays to your project when timing matters the most.
