How do I sell a strip of land?

jap200

The house next door to us has been repossessed and is now up for sale. It is a semi-detached house and has no access round the side to the back garden because we own the piece of land between the two houses. The boundary of our land is effectively the wall of the neighbouring property.

Someone who wants to buy the house has approached us and asked us if we would consider selling a strip of land (approx half the width between the houses) so that they could have side/rear access to the property. He has asked us to think about how much we want for it.

We are happy to do this, but don't know where to start in terms of giving it a value and also the procedure to go through to sell it.

Do we need to get a surveyor to value it?
Do we need a solicitor to deal with the paperwork - or would the buyers solicitor do all that?
Would it be reasonable to name our price and say that the buyer pays the legal fees on top of that?

What we don't want is to find that any proceeds from the sale are eaten up in legal costs so we end up having sold the land effectively for nothing.

Has anyone gone through this process?

pulliptears

Just out of interest, they want access to the back garden, there wouldn't be enough land there to build another house in the garden would there?

Because if there is, and you own the land to access it, it would be a nice ransom strip

jap200

No, their garden is miniscule and we also are in a conservation area, so there is no way that this stip of land could provide access to another property.

lonestar1

If your worried about legal costs eating into any payment just make it a condition of sale that the buyer pays your legal fees

jap200

lonestar1 wrote: »

If your worried about legal costs eating into any payment just make it a condition of sale that the buyer pays your legal fees

That's a good idea - thanks for the suggestion.

Alan_M_2

What's it worth to you?

If the neighbour approached you and said. "I'd like to buy that strip of land and I'll offer you £10,000 plus all your fees paid and I'll pay for the new fencing" ....would you be biting his hand off, or would you think...actually I'd prefer the extra garden than the money.

There comes a point where the offer is tempting enough for you....what would that amount be? ...

Then get it valued...

poppysarah

How much does it devalue your own property?
You should safeguard it never being built on.

Premier_2

Yes, if you want a proper valuation, employ your own surveyor. Expect the buyer to get it surveyed too else neither of you know if you have a good or bad deal.

You'll also need your own solicitor to draw up a sale contract as well as do any necessary legal work to the current deeds to show the land has been sold.

Premier_2

Have you considered keeping ownership of the land, but just adding an easment over the land to allow the neighbour to travel over it to gain access to the rear of their property...for a price of course!

jap200

Alan_M wrote: »

What's it worth to you?

If the neighbour approached you and said. "I'd like to buy that strip of land and I'll offer you £10,000 plus all your fees paid and I'll pay for the new fencing" ....would you be biting his hand off, or would you think...actually I'd prefer the extra garden than the money.

There comes a point where the offer is tempting enough for you....what would that amount be? ...

Then get it valued...

The land in question is no use to us as it is not part of our garden. Our house is detached and we have a wide access around the other side. Frankly, we would be prepared to give the land away for nothing, with no impact on us at all, were it not for the fact that the money would come in extremely useful as we have had a lot of large expenses recently (car, dental bill and roor reparis to name but a few!).

The land is potentially very valuable to our potential neighbour though as having side/rear access would no doubt increase the value of their house by quite a bit. It is effectively a terrace house at the moment as the only access to the garden is through the house and it would turn it into a proper semi-detached house. It is a grade 2 listed cottage in near derelict condition so whoever buys it is going to have to spend at least £50K on building work on top of buying the house (on the market for a laughable £185 bearing in mind the condition). Our thought is that adding a bit more on to that bill to buy the land to give them the access would make the building work much easier and increase the value of their house in the end.

Whilst we don't want to rip them off or fall out with them, the potential buyer has approached us and asked us how much we would sell it for - and this is where we are still stuck.

Who do get to come and value a strip of land between two houses? An estate agent, a surveyor or someone else?

jap200

poppysarah wrote: »

How much does it devalue your own property?
You should safeguard it never being built on.

It would not affect the value of our house at all. Our plot is about 1/4 acre and this strip is about 8 feet wide between the houses. We would only sell half the width to give them a wide enough path and to retain access to the side of our house for maintenance.

It couldn't ever be built on as such as their house is listed and we are in a conservation area which prevents that kind of thing - and it isn't big enough for it anyway.