Find out about building your own home
What is the self-build and custom housebuilding register?
The Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Register helps us track demand for self-build and custom-build homes in Guildford. We use the register to:
- record how many people want to build their own homes
- help plan for enough sites to meet demand
- grant development permission for suitable plots of land
- keep in touch with people who are interested in self-build and custom housebuilding
You can join the register as:
- an individual
- an association (group)
The register has two parts:
- join Part 1 if you have connections to the local area
- join Part 2 if you do not
Joining the register does not guarantee you will be offered a plot of land or that planning permission will be granted.
Most plots are located on new large housing sites. They have:
- access to a public road
- connections to:
- electricity
- water
- wastewater
All plots are sold at market value.
If you are on Part 1 of the Register you need to renew your membership annually, by 31 October.
For more information, email planningpolicy@guildford.gov.uk or call 01483 444471.
You can find out about our planning policy (Policy H1:Homes for all) in our Local Plan: Strategy and Sites. Planning permissions that have recently been approved are listed in our Authority Monitoring Report.
Headline data from the Register
The number of people Registering on Part 1 of the Register are shown in the table below
Part 1 of Register | Number of eligible applicants |
Base Period 1: 1 April 2016 - 30 October 2016 | 8 |
Base Period 2: 31 October 2016 - 30 October 2017 | 4 |
Base Period 3: 31 October 2017 - 30 October 2018 | 8 |
Base Period 4: 31 October 2018 - 30 October 2019 | 8 |
Base Period 5: 31 October 2019 - 30 October 2020 | 0 |
Base Period 6: 31 October 2020 - 30 October 2021 | 5 |
Base Period 7: 31 October 2021 - 30 October 2022 | 4 |
Base Period 8: 31 October 2022 - 30 October 2023 | 2 |
The preferences for location, plot size and number of bedrooms provided by individuals on Part 1 and Part 2 of the Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Register are shown in the tables below. Please note that not everybody provides this information as it is voluntary, and some people provided more than one answer.
Location preference:
Location preference | Number of people expressing |
Guildford (unspecified) | 16 |
West of borough, with preferences including Ash, | 8 |
East of borough, with preferences including Burpham, | 10 |
Surrey | 2 |
Near Godalming | 2 |
Preferred size of plot:
Size of plot | Number of people |
500 square metres or less | 7 |
500 to 1000 square metres | 2 |
1000 to 1500 square metres | 3 |
1500 to 2000 square metres | 3 |
2000 to 3000 square metres | 0 |
3000 to 4000 square metres | 5 |
4000 to 8000 square metres | 0 |
8000 square metres and above | 2 |
Preferred number of bedrooms:
Number of bedrooms | Number of people |
1 bed | 1 |
2 bed | 1 |
3 bed | 10 |
4 bed | 13 |
5 bed plus | 7 |
Why you should join the register
You can join Part 1 of the Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Register to receive email updates. We will let you know when plots become available to buy, and a right of first refusal on most plots. Whilst the Council do not have a role in the sale of plots - as they are generally sold by private developers and their agents - these updates will indicate if any plots are available and who to contact should you be interested.
We plan to ensure we meet the numbers on the register. When residents join it helps us know the level of interest in self-build and custom housebuilding so we can plan for this.