NaCSBA has called out Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council for its “shameful actions” in amending the conditions for joining its Right to Build register to make it almost impossible for most people to sign up.
Solihull council chose to announce its new restrictions during the week of the innovative Grand Designs Live show, which was ironically held at the National Exhibition Centre in Solihull.
The new restrictions mean that anyone wanting to create a self-commissioned home in the borough could well struggle to join the register – an essential demand tool for the council and one that is set out in legislation.
Restrictions are allowed under the legislation, which can entail a local connection test, a financial viability test and the right to charge people, both to join and remain on the registers.
For anyone keen on building locally, Solihull Council now requires people to demonstrate a local connection to qualify for joining Part 1 – the element they must consider when considering their wider housing duties. Those without this link will join Part 2, which has no impact on council activity.
It also places a financial test on anyone wishing to join, which NaCSBA considers the worst of the tests imposed by the council. This states:
There will also be an assessment of financial resources. The Council will require relevant evidence of sufficient resources as follows:
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- An offer for a self-build mortgage from a verifiable lender (for example, a member of the Council of Mortgage Lenders). Any evidence provided must clearly show that the release of funds for the purchase of land – which is usually the first phase of funding released – covers any proxy land value used by the Council for the purposes of assessing this criterion; or
- Written confirmation and evidence from a qualified financial advisor with active membership of a verifiable and appropriate professional body. This evidence should clearly outline that the applicant has sufficient readily accessible funds/savings/investments/equity to purchase land; or
- Any other information which demonstrates, to the Council’s satisfaction, that the applicant has sufficient resources to purchase land for their own self-build and custom housebuilding. The Council welcomes evidence of Islamic mortgages and no interest mortgages such as Murabaha and Ijarah.
NaCSBA reports that the tests are impossible to pass.
- A person can only obtain a mortgage offer when they have access to land with permission to build. In this instance they would have no need to join the local self build register, and
- It is not typical for qualified financial advisers to provide financial statements for individuals when they are joining a register but not yet able to consider proceeding with a mortgage.
In addition, the council’s guidance references the Council of Mortgage Lenders – an organisation that ceased to exist five years ago.
Kevin McCloud designer and presenter of Grand Designs stated: “At a time when we need a greater focus on sustainability and more affordable homes, it is beyond belief that any Council is making it impossible for such homes to be delivered.”
Andrew Baddeley-Chappell CEO of the National Custom & Self Build Association stated: “I have no doubt that these changes being introduced by the Council are contrary to the letter and spirit of laws aimed at helping people to build or commission their own home, known as the Right to Build. The Council needs to reverse these changes and understand how it got into such a mess in the first place.”
Background to the Right to Build
The Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 as amended by the Housing & Planning Act 2016 is primary legislation. It states: “This is intended to make it much easier for people to find land to build or commission their own home, diversifying housing supply and revitalising smaller builders who have not experienced the same level of recovery as the large housebuilders since the financial crisis.”
The legislation requires all local authorities in England to establish a Register of all those who wish to self-build and to then ensure that sufficient plots come forward to meet the demand.
The legislation allows for three restrictions to be imposed on joining the Registers, but there are tests that need to be met for this to happen. As was intended, very few Councils (7% at 30 October 2021) impose all of these tests. Approaching 6 years after the legislation was introduced, Solihull is choosing to introduce all 3 restrictions. Furthermore, the way it is imposing some of these restrictions makes it impossible for anyone to meet the tests and so benefit from the legislation.
The reason for introducing these restrictions is clear. The Council is seeking an easy way of getting out of the duty that the legislation places on it. As at 30 October 2021 (the last date for which data is available), the Council had a shortfall in delivery of 247 plots, and this number was continuing to increase.
NaCSBA is highly critical of the policy, which it links to other ill-conceived examples of discredited polices, such as Epping Forest District Council.
The action by the Council is directly contrary to the message from central Government that continues to support the growth of the sector. Just this year the Government responded positively to the independent review on growing the sector (The Bacon Review) and launched Help to Build enabling access to the market to those with a 5% deposit. As stated in commissioning the review: “We know that self and custom builders deliver high quality, well designed homes that are energy efficient, accessible affordable and welcomed by their communities.”
Find your local self build register
Image: On stage at Grand Designs debating the Right to Build – (L-R) NaCSBA CEO Andrew Baddeley-Chappell, Richard Bacon MP, Kevin McCloud, Kunle Barker, TV personality and Mario Wolf of Custom Build Homes.
