How do I sell a strip of land?

jap200

Premier wrote: »

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.

Thanks - this does sound like the most sensible route, but also expensive. I guess I could start by phoning a surveyor and asking how much they would charge to come and value it. We could then pass the legal costs on to the buyer as previously suggested.

tbs624

jap200 wrote: »

Do we need to get a surveyor to value it?

You don't have to but it's advisable. Make sure you get one who is experienced with this type of transaction.

jap200 wrote: »

Do we need a solicitor to deal with the paperwork - or would the buyers solicitor do all that?

No, you get your own solicitor to safeguard your own interests & get the other party to pay the fees ( you can sometimes use the same firm for both parties, but only under specific circumstances set out by Law Society rules)

jap200 wrote: »

Would it be reasonable to name our price and say that the buyer pays the legal fees on top of that?

You have to balance out the fact that he can't do what he wants to do with the property without that land, but there is no benefit for anyone else so its a very limited market! Negotiate, negotiate. and yes as above, they should pay your fees.

Richard_Webster

Has OP got access at the other side of his house? If not then halving a 8 foot wide access makes rear vehicular access impossible if ever wanted in the future.

jap200

Richard_Webster wrote: »

Has OP got access at the other side of his house? If not then halving a 8 foot wide access makes rear vehicular access impossible if ever wanted in the future.

Yes - we have a wide access around the other side, so we have nothing to lose in that respect.

In the meantime I have spoken to a local surveyor (one with experience of boundary issues) and he said that getting a surveyor to value the land is a bit irrelevant as it is worth what the other party are prepared to pay. He suggested going to the estate agent and asking what value it would add to the house. Bearing in mind the buyers would pay the legal costs, he suggested looking at a figure in the region of half what the added value is as a starting point for the negotiation.

He also pointed out that we would need a company to draw a plan up for filing with the land registry - another cost to pass on to the purchaser.

Premier_2

jap200 wrote: »

Yes - we have a wide access around the other side, so we have nothing to lose in that respect.

In the meantime I have spoken to a local surveyor (one with experience of boundary issues) and he said that getting a surveyor to value the land is a bit irrelevant as it is worth what the other party are prepared to pay. He suggested going to the estate agent and asking what value it would add to the house. Bearing in mind the buyers would pay the legal costs, he suggested looking at a figure in the region of half what the added value is as a starting point for the negotiation.

He also pointed out that we would need a company to draw a plan up for filing with the land registry - another cost to pass on to the purchaser.

Sounds like a good way to start

If you use an estate agent, get them to assess what effect, if any, the loss of the land would have on the value of your property.

Unless you are desperate to sell, you don't want to be a charity case to the neighbour - ensure you get at least the value that you might lose on your property by selling the land.

silvercar

If you have a mortgage, you need to ask permission of your lender. They will need to satisfy themselves that the mortgage is still sustainable within their lending criteria.

From what you say, your property value would be unaffected, but imagine in other situations where people started selling segments of their land.

paddy's_mum

I'm in agreement with Premier on this one and wouldn't even begin to consider selling. You may well be storing up a lot of potential problems for yourself in the future.

As it is now, your boundary is clearly marked and there is no room for disputes over where the fence should be, or exactly how many inches of land you sold, what can be placed on the land, or what uses it can be put to. If you sell the strip, might your new neighbours plan on installing another window overlooking you, or placing their dog kennel there? If you sell, you lose all say over it.

If the strip of land is important to your new neighbours to facilitate their renovation of the property, why not suggest a long term renting agreement, with you paying for a cheap dividing fence for the duration of the renovation and your neighbour paying your solicitor to have a simple "way-leave" type of agreement drawn up.

jap200

paddy's_mum wrote: »

I'm in agreement with Premier on this one and wouldn't even begin to consider selling. You may well be storing up a lot of potential problems for yourself in the future.

As it is now, your boundary is clearly marked and there is no room for disputes over where the fence should be, or exactly how many inches of land you sold, what can be placed on the land, or what uses it can be put to. If you sell the strip, might your new neighbours plan on installing another window overlooking you, or placing their dog kennel there? If you sell, you lose all say over it.

If the strip of land is important to your new neighbours to facilitate their renovation of the property, why not suggest a long term renting agreement, with you paying for a cheap dividing fence for the duration of the renovation and your neighbour paying your solicitor to have a simple "way-leave" type of agreement drawn up.

Thanks - lots of things to think about here.

Neither of our houses has windows on that end and our neighbours is a listed building so they wouldn't be able to put a window in there in the future.

I think the idea of renting the land is a good one - certainly if they don't like the price that we are asking for the sale of the land.

I spoke to two estate agents about this yesterday and they agreed that our property value would be unaffected as it is a very small proportion of our plot and we would still retain full access on both sides of our house.

As we would only be looking to sell enough for pedestrian access to our neighbours it would not add as much value to their house as vehicle access would. However, it could still be as much as 5% of the value, which would be around £10K. It was suggested that we use that as a starting point in the negotiations, but agree our lowest figure (net of fees etc.) and stick to it. Hopefully we will end up with something between £3-8K, which would make a huge difference to us right now.

'Paddy's mum' mentioned issues with defining the new boundary, but apparently we would have to get new detailed plans drawn up by a specialist to register with the land registry (costs paid by the purchaser) so that all parties were clear on it.

We have also been advised to start the negotiations with potential buyers now, but not to do anything further until the house sale has completed of course

'silvercar' - I had not even considered our mortgage lender -so will make an enquiry with them - thanks for pointing that out.