Selling a field for development

By Iain Forster, The Land Buyer. Last reviewed 2026-10-05.

In shortA field touching a village can be sold for development by selling part of it under an option or promotion agreement, under which the developer wins planning at their cost and you are paid on the uplift. The route depends on the local plan: allocated, beside the boundary or open countryside. Keep farming the rest. Take tax advice early.

Most fields beside villages are farmed. Most farmers know the edge field is worth more than the rest. The questions are how much, when and under what terms. Also whether the rest of the farm carries on untouched. It does.

Sell part, keep the farm

The site is the strip that touches the village, one to six acres usually. The line is drawn with you on the title plan, leaving the access to the rest of the land, the water supply and the field drainage working. The agreement covers only the drawn area. Farming continues on it until the sale completes and on the rest for ever.

The planning route

If the field is allocated in the local plan, the route is an application that follows the allocation. If it touches a settlement boundary but is not allocated, the route is an application argued on housing need and the site's merits, which is strongest where the council is short of housing land, as Hart is and Monmouthshire has said it is. If the field is open countryside away from any settlement, there is no route for market homes and we say so in the first ten days.

The agreement and the tax

An option agreement where a buyer is already known; a promotion agreement where the site is large enough for competing bids. Both in plain words. On tax, a sale of farmland for development can qualify for rollover relief or business asset disposal relief depending on the facts. The timing of the agreement matters. Our tax guide, then your accountant.

Straight answers

Can I sell just part of a field for development?

Yes. It is the usual way. The site is the part that touches the village, drawn on the title plan with you, leaving the rest of the farm working.

How do I know if my field has development potential?

Three things decide it: where it sits against the settlement boundary in the local plan, whether it floods and whether it has a usable access. We check all three free in ten days.

Will I have to stop farming the field?

Not until the sale completes, which under an option is usually twelve to twenty four months after signing. The rest of the farm is never affected.

Tell us about your land

Tell us the postcode. We do the rest at our cost and come back to you within ten days.