Making an offer for neighbours garden?

Flamingo_2

Hi
Hubby and i have lived in our maisonette for 2 1/2 years & our neighbour moved in about 10 months after us. Since then they have done nothing with their garden (perhaps mowed it twice since moving in!) and everything has died - it was very well kept by the previous owner. Whereas we use our garden lots, take pride in it etc, they never use theirs. We plan to sty here for at least the next 2-3 years & obviously would like to improve our property value wise as much as possible!!
Hubby and were talking and wondered about making them an offer to purchase all or part of their garden.
Has anyone looked into or done this?
I've no idea how we would even begin this process!!
If we were successful we would like to develop a section of the garden into 2 parking spaces (which would add value to our property as it all on-street parking) - what would we have to do to see if this was possible? Contact the council or management company? etc
Any advice would be gratefully received
Thanks in advance

Yooj_2

Contact a solicitor who has experience in land sales to draft an initial enquiry. Have a figure in mind that you want to buy the land for, and use this figure to broker the deal.

Word the draft with caveats, i.e. land searches could stop you using it for car parking etc, therefore anything like this would be a show-stopper for you.

I would not use a land agent, as they will generally charge a percentage fee which could be more than a solicitors flat fee, though I would suggest that you investigate.

Mankysteve

I would be surprised if they'll sell as it reduce the value of there property. Why not just ask to use the land in return for maintenance

Flamingo_2

Mankysteve wrote: »

I would be surprised if they'll sell as it reduce the value of there property. Why not just ask to use the land in return for maintenance

In order to use it for parking a lot of work would be required - including making an entrance. I have no desire to "rent" the land!!
It can't hurt to ask - and for some, money in the hand means more than looking at the future implications to their property!!

vaio

I’d have thought that loss of garden (& presumably potential off street parking spaces) will affect the value of their property considerably and so they would have to get the agreement of their mortgage company

Yooj_2

It is definately workable, though there are complications, hence the neeed for a good solicitor.

Selling off part of your garden for development purposes is quite commonplace these days, though you do require a decent sized piece of land.

A solicitor will likely have a first 1/2 hour free consultation period, and so it would be useful to use this to get their viewpoint first.

Triggles

If they still have a mortgage on the property, I would agree with the above poster who indicated that they would need to clear it with their mortgage company as well, as it would negatively affect the value of the property. I can't imagine a mortgage company agreeing to this.

I thought initially you were looking to buy part of their garden to enhance your own garden, as you spoke about taking care of gardens. Rather disappointed to hear you would want to purchase a garden section to rip it up for a parking area. Not sure why I am disappointed in this, just am.

DVardysShadow

Yooj wrote: »

It is definately workable, though there are complications, hence the neeed for a good solicitor.

Selling off part of your garden for development purposes is quite commonplace these days, though you do require a decent sized piece of land.

A solicitor will likely have a first 1/2 hour free consultation period, and so it would be useful to use this to get their viewpoint first.

A solicitor does not really have much useful to say on doing this. He can do it for you and tell you his charges and that is it

Doozergirl

Are these properties leasehold? If they are then it does starts getting complicated. You have to involve the freeholder and get their permission then the leases need to be altered so it would be legally more expensive than a straight transfer of freehold land.

Yooj_2

DVardysShadow wrote: »

A solicitor does not really have much useful to say on doing this. He can do it for you and tell you his charges and that is it

That is the point really, the solicitor will manage the purchase from a legal standpoint...however, if the seller does not want to sell then game-over. If the seller does want to sell, then the seller will need to manage their end in terms of: mortgage co, if property not owned outright; sellers solicitors; freehold landlord, etc, etc...So really, the first thing in all this is to establish whether the owner will entertain a sale.

pawpurrs

First thngs first, I would approach the neighbour and ask him/her if they would consider it, then if they would see if you can come up with a price that you are both happy to agree on.

If you want to use it as parking it would be a good idea to see if that is a possibility first, and if its not do you still want the land? The neighbour may have not considered that it could be used for this purpose, although obviously not a gardner, he may be interested in using it for that purpose, if you plant that seed!

Then if they are interested, you will need to find out if their property is mortgaged if it is its more complicated as they will need permission to detach the land off the deeds, and as has been mentioned it will devalue the property, so if they have a high LTV, the mortgage company may not allow this to happen.
If the property is leasehold, there could be further implications.........

Finally all that resolved then its fairly straightforward,
the neighbour Needs to fill in
an AP1 form
A TPI Transfer document
Download the deeds £4 and outline the land they want taken off the deeds in a suitable colour, and send in with some ID, thats it, a soliceter would prob charge at least a couple of hundred quid for that simple procedure! No soliceters are really necessary.