Wood-en it be luvverly?
Have you ever dreamed of owning your own secret place?
- Where you can pick and choose your own camping spots
- A place where you are free to build your own campfire or barbecue
- Where you can grow whatever you like
- A place like an extended garden where your children and dogs are free to roam and explore nature to their heart's content
- A place where you can dig a pond, build a den, hang swings, go insect hunting, harvest nuts & fungi, keep bees, even grow Christmas trees?
If this sounds like heaven to you, you may want to consider the growing market in owning your own wood. For as little as £20,000, you could buy an eight acre wood which could be perfect for fun weekends away for the family.
This kind of investment (although people do not buy woods to make a killing, it has to be said) is likely to attract those already with a second home in the sun or those who want to enjoy their own piece of Blighty, the great outdoors and a certain satisfaction to be had from owning your own little patch of trees.
There has been a surprising surge of interest in woodland recently: rather than buying property, more people are investing in their very own leafy getaway. Although there are far more forests in Britain today than at any other time in the last 700 years, perhaps surprisingly, England currently has the lowest area of tree cover in Europe, with only 8% under forest — and those areas are getting closer to our towns and cities. The majority of woodland plots tend to be available in the southeast —— in Kent and East Sussex — which is very convenient for Londoners needing an escape from city life to rural tranquility.
Woodland owners generally buy their woodland plots to enjoy rather than be concerned about future values as it is not generally a good property investment. But the joys are many. You could fence off your land to keep people or animals out and to establish your domain. You can camp in your own wood and pitch as many tents as you like, or dance until dawn around the campfire, as long as you don't disturb anyone else's peace. Even mobile caravans can be left in a wood for up to 28 days — longer if no one else complains. While you would not be able to construct a habitable building, you are allowed to build anything that qualifies for forestry purposes — a shelter for tools, for example. It is also possible to put down tracks and paths without requiring permission.
Responsibility
Still, some responsibility comes with owning your own wood.
If you plan to keep the wood for your own personal enjoyment (as opposed to using it for commercial benefit) the land must be properly maintained. You should consult with the local officer of the Forest Authority about which trees you are allowed to fell and maintain and which you need permission to cut down. More helpfully, if your woodland is part of a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), you can enter into a management agreement with English Nature, whereby they take on certain work such as coppicing hazel.
Financial advantages
Finally, midnight campfires and woodland clearances are not the only advantages — there are some concrete financial benefits to owning your own wood. In comparison to buying property with buildings, the most obvious advantages are the tax breaks:
- Stamp duty is only paid on plots worth more than £60,000 (most eight acre plots in the 'amenity woods' market generally cost from just £20,000)
- Solicitor's fees on purchase should be about £350
- No surveyor's fees
- No council tax
- Third party insurance is around £50 a year, no matter how large the area
- Any income derived from woodland is free from income and corporation tax
- Increases in timber value are exempt from capital gains tax (CGT) — but increases in land value are not
- If you retain woodland until death, though, CGT is not applicable
- Inheritance tax is waived after you have owned your wood for two years
Think carefully before securing other debts against your home.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
The overall cost for comparison is 7.1% APR. The actual rate available will depend upon your circumstances. Ask for a personalised illustration. There may be a fee for the mortgage advice. The precise amount will depend on your circumstances, but we estimate it will be 1.5% of the loan amount with a minimum fee of £500 added on to the loan.
Mayfair Consulting Limited is an Appointed Representative of The Mortgage Times Group Limited, 279 Tottenham Court Road, London , W1T 7RJ , which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority no. 303007.
