Levy cuts to help people build their own home

Up to 3,000 mothballed self-build homes are expected to get under way when changes that save self-builders thousands of pounds come into effect this week.

From Monday 24 February self-builders will be exempt from paying a levy which until now was placed on most new buildings over a certain size.

The previous charge added considerable cost in some cases to the expense of building a home. For example, someone building their own four-bedroom house that is 150 square metres in size could be liable to pay £15,000 in Community Infrastructure Levy if a council was charging £100 per square metre for residential development in that area.

The axing of the levy for people building their own home is designed to boost housing supply and help aspiring self-builders get their home off the ground.

The relief from the Community Infrastructure Levy will cover homes that are owner-occupied and built or commissioned by individuals, families or groups of individuals for their own use.

Extensions and family annexes over a certain size will now be exempt from the levy and the Government also intends to consult on removing Section 106 tariff charges from self-build properties too. In addition from April there will no longer be a council tax surcharge on family annexes.