Buying Communual Land

Cattywitch

I was wondering if it would be possible.
I know all owners would have to agree but if they do how do I go about it please?
We have a ground floor flat with access to the garden in Edinburgh.
We are the only people out of 8 flats who use and maintain it.
We want to buy the half attatched to our flat leaving the other half in front of other main door flat communual with stair door entering it.
Was thinking of offering £5000 to each owner plus we pay costs.
It is a small back green.

Wee_Willy_Harris

£35,000 plus costs for half a garden? Are you sure?

googler

£5000 to EACH owner? 7 other owners, so £35000 in total?

As regards how to go about it; consult a local solicitor who is well-versed in property matters. I would imagine that as well as getting the deeds to your property changed, the deeds for all the other owners in common would have to change too. So the other owners may agree to your solicitor doing the work, or they may insist on their own.

Most folks on here will be familiar with England and Wales only, so consult a Scottish Solicitor.

googler

Besides which, if no-one else from the common stair ever uses the garden anyway, and you've got it to yourself, why would you need to own it? Just keep using it as you do at the moment.

laurel7172

I think you'd be extremely lucky to pull this off.

I assume that, if you'd rather spend £35,000+ on a scrap of garden than move, it must be quite a nice flat, in quite a nice part of Edinburgh.

So the question that seven households are going to ask themselves is: will giving up access to the communal garden (a selling feature) reduce the value of my flat by more than £5000? What will it do to the value of my flat if these people get planning permission to extend their flat onto the former garden? You know the flats and the area. What do you think the answer will be?

And then there are seven mortgage companies who may take an interest in a bit of their security being sold off...more hassle, more costs.

I really think you should talk to your neighbours before you part with any money for solicitors etc., because you might find it's a complete non-starter anyway...

Wee_Willy_Harris

Just a thought, but if it's a bit of land you want.... How about this?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-18297492.html

And you could afford to buy a very comfortable deck-chair with the change!

GDB2222

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

Just a thought, but if it's a bit of land you want.... How about this?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-18297492.html

And you could afford to buy a very comfortable deck-chair with the change!

Great plot for the landbankers. Split it up into 100 useless plots and sell each for £20k. Good find, and well done.

Cattywitch

I want to spend money paving areas and making it nice but reluctant to on something that is not ours.
Have already spent a lot of money and time turning waste ground into a garden and can not get anyone else to contribute.
It is only the other ground flat likely to be devalued but wont make much difference as there will still be a good sized communual area. The area if you add all the greens is huge and accessable to all the flats.
I would never get permission to extend but could put up play house for kids.
Our flat over looks the area we want and it would take a thick skinned person to sit outside our windows or doors not to mention the harrasment the three children and cats would give them.

googler

Is it really worth £35,000 plus 7 sets of conveyancing fees and extras?

Cissi

£35k sounds an awful lot for a bit of garden for a flat... I agree with previous posters, I'd check with all the neighbours first, before spending any money on this!

Cattywitch wrote: »

Our flat over looks the area we want and it would take a thick skinned person to sit outside our windows or doors not to mention the harrasment the three children and cats would give them.

That last bit makes me feel less sympathy for you as it smacks of bullying - "if we can't have the garden to ourselves at least we'll make sure noone else enjoys it". Just beware that if this is how your family has been behaving, the neighbours may dig their heels in, out of spite...

Just one point, and sorry for being a pedant, but I find this really irritating: if you're going to pursue this, please note that the term is "communal", not "communual"

GDB2222

Cattywitch wrote: »

I want to spend money paving areas and making it nice but reluctant to on something that is not ours.
Have already spent a lot of money and time turning waste ground into a garden and can not get anyone else to contribute.
It is only the other ground flat likely to be devalued but wont make much difference as there will still be a good sized communual area. The area if you add all the greens is huge and accessable to all the flats.
I would never get permission to extend but could put up play house for kids.
Our flat over looks the area we want and it would take a thick skinned person to sit outside our windows or doors not to mention the harrasment the three children and cats would give them.

I think you may be better going on as you are. You can ask for permission to put down paving and erect a playhouse, and you can perhaps get a license to have exclusive use of a bit of the garden for a small annual rental.