Page 317 - All files for Planning Inspectorate

The Council’s estimate of sales

The Council (Via Dixon and Searle, June 2019) assessed the applicants’
initial report (by Melanie Dwyer MRICS) of February 2019. Dixon and
Searle stated:

‘Gross Development Value – Private Residential

3.1.21 The VR has assumed residential sales values of £ 412/sq.ft
(equivalent to £4,435/m2). This is based on a review of second hand
properties within ½-mile radius of the subject property. The VR has
included the data for houses due to the lack of two-bedroom apartments
that have sold.

3.1.24 DSP has analysed new build data available from the Land Registry

for transactions occurring in East Grinstead over the past year and based
on this evidence, although limited, DSP has not made any adjustments to
the sales value assumptions at this stage.’

My analysis suggests an estimate of £4,269 per square metre.

Ground rents

The scheme includes 54 apartments. Dixon and Searle commented (with
respect to the Melanie Dwyer report):

‘3.1.25 No allowance for ground rental income from the market apartments
has been included.

Consistent with our wider approach and based on circumstances at the
point of review, we have added an allowance for ground rents within our
sensitivity testing - at £350 p.a. per unit and a yield of 5%, reflecting the
value of the income stream.’

There has been much discussion on leaseholds over the past months, not
least because some developers have sold leases on an unscrupulous basis,
leaving householders to face, in some cases, valueless homes.

The current position is that government have recently gone to consultation
on a nominal (£10 per annum) leasehold rent:

W e a l d e n H o u s e , A s h u r s t W o o d V i a b i l i t y R e p o r t P a g e 16 | 36

Bates No 000316