Would be grateful for some advice. My parents are having to sell their detached home which is on a decent sized plot of land due to ill health & they need to realise as much money out of the sale as possible.

The property is in need of extensive modernisation/building work & it seems likely that a builder/developer would want to buy the property & either add an extension/totally redevelop the property or demolish the property & erect flats/masionettes etc.

In view of this would it be financially advantageous for us to obtain outline planning permission before selling? If this is the case would it then be better once obtained to sell at auction? My parents are struggling at present & I really would like them to end up as comfortable as possible.

Hi , having just finished building a house in the garden of my home I would advise you to go for outline planning if you have the time it takes to go through and also the fee for having plans drawn up.If you were to obtain permission it would add a premium to the selling price.Before going down the auction route put an ad in your local paper, advertising the plot, just to see what interest it generates. Hope this helps a little.It took us 7mths and 3 sets of drawings to get planning permission.

we recently sold our house with outline planning permission - it added about 20% to the value of the property! It took a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with the planning authhorities but it was well worth it in the end!