Making an Offer on a small piece of Land

lincroft1710

DominicJ wrote: »

Really?
You couldnt build a "garden" structure on it, but just leaving it as grass is unlikely to present a problem is it?

Yes, really and I was also surprised when I first read this on this forum. Apparently you cannot cultivate the land as a garden. If it is grass, then OK to graze sheep on it or cut it for hay, but you can't use it as a lawn. 900 sq m of lawn is pretty big!

paddyrg

I know some others have mentioned it here, but if the land is running up against your wall, then your wall will be damp of course. Out in Wales a friend's house was suffering similarly, but it turned out that there was a wall about 18" away, originally a narrow walkway/access to the back wall, and it had filled in the whole space with run-off over the (200-odd) years! On your deeds, could it be that there is a similar small gap/retaining wall area which just got filled over the years? If so, digging it out may be simple and boundaries easy to demonstrate etc?

bg101_2

lincroft1710 wrote: »

All you can do at the moment is find the owner and ask if he wants to sell. If not, that's it.

Thanks

Fuzzyness wrote: »

you could initially speak to a local agent to see what their view is about how much the peice of land is worth. always useful to know to start off negotiations at least when you approach the landowner. i'd make it clear that you arent intending on building a house on it otherwise they will probably start seeing pound signs and you'll end up paying more for it.

This is good advice. I will definitely take it. Thanks

ognum wrote: »

I would start by contacting the owner and asking whether he is interested in selling.

If the answer is yes then go from there and try to agree a price. You may need a surveyor to work out a price for you. You will need a solicitor probably paid for both sides by you to sort out the legal issues.

If I was the seller I may have covenants put on the land as to exactly what you can do with it if it affected my property.

Not sure if he wants the rain water that you divert on his property!!

Thanks, His property (A Garage) is up/above me in the street so that wouldn't be possible, even though thats something I wouldn't do. I would put down correct sewage down to channel the water correctly.

So, contact local estate agent for price. Get Landowners address from Land Registry. Send a letter to the landowner advising I'm interested, saying Its for garden space and the price the estate agent advised as a starting negotiation figure. Leave my reply address/Telephone Number and hope for a reply.

If he's interested in selling then try negotiating a price.

Once agreed, pass over to solicitors to finalise.

If he doesn't want to sell, orr well.

Anything else anyone can add?

Thanks again,

Much appreciated.

Davesnave

bg101 wrote: »

Anything else anyone can add?

Yes, if you are only interested in making your house less damp, then you only need to buy sufficient land to achieve this. It will surely be cheaper.

Secondly, it might be easier for you to buy a smaller area, especially if the seller thinks you may have an ulterior motive. You've just said here that you'll tell the seller it's for garden space, but that's not exactly what you're telling us.

Assuming that you think drainage is the real issue here, have you worked out where exactly the water collected by any 'sewage' (sic) system will be discharged and how that might affect other property nearby?

bg101_2

Davesnave wrote: »

Yes, if you are only interested in making your house less damp, then you only need to buy sufficient land to achieve this. It will surely be cheaper.

Secondly, it might be easier for you to buy a smaller area, especially if the seller thinks you may have an ulterior motive. You've just said here that you'll tell the seller it's for garden space, but that's not exactly what you're telling us.

Thats because I was advised too in this thread. Should I not?? It would be genuinely used for a garden and maybe a parking space in the future.

Davesnave wrote: »

Assuming that you think drainage is the real issue here, have you worked out where exactly the water collected by any 'sewage' (sic) system will be discharged and how that might affect other property nearby?

There is a man hole in my back yard. next to the land.

Notmyrealname

bg101 wrote: »

Thats because I was advised too in this thread. Should I not?? It would be genuinely used for a garden and maybe a parking space in the future.



There is a man hole in my back yard. next to the land.

So why hasn't a trench been dug, backfilled with gravel and a run off into the manhole been constructed?

bg101_2

Notmyrealname wrote: »

So why hasn't a trench been dug, backfilled with gravel and a run off into the manhole been constructed?

Because its not my land to go on and start digging up. the landowner owns the land right up to the side of my property.

Sorry all, I just used wikimapia.org to work out the distance/area and I was allittle out, ok I was well out. its a slight awkward shape of 20m, 19m, 14m, 14m. totaling about 275m2.

does that change anyone perceptions on what I should do?

Davesnave

bg101 wrote: »

Thats because I was advised too in this thread. Should I not?? It would be genuinely used for a garden and maybe a parking space in the future.

There is a man hole in my back yard. next to the land.

It may not be crucial, but land that is clearly being bought to solve a problem, like the run-off, might attract a lower price than land which gave the purchaser other benefits, like a bigger garden and a parking space. One adds to the value of the house, while the other, being largely unnoticed, doesn't.

And as lincroft has said, we don't know the status of the land. If it is wild and technically agricultural, it can be drained, but it won't be straightforward including it within your garden.

I also believe that there will be other difficulties connecting land drainage water to the public sewer these days, so you'd need to look into that first, before making an approach to buy.

bg101_2

Davesnave wrote: »

It may not be crucial, but land that is clearly being bought to solve a problem, like the run-off, might attract a lower price than land which gave the purchaser other benefits, like a bigger garden and a parking space. One adds to the value of the house, while the other, being largely unnoticed, doesn't.

And as lincroft has said, we don't know the status of the land. If it is wild and technically agricultural, it can be drained, but it won't be straightforward including it within your garden.

I also believe that there will be other difficulties connecting land drainage water to the public sewer these days, so you'd need to look into that first, before making an approach to buy.

Thanks Davesnave, that's very constructive advice. I'll look into these as soon as possible. Do you know the best method in finding the land status?

Davesnave

bg101 wrote: »

Do you know the best method in finding the land status?

There must be an answer to this, but off the top of my head, I don't know! I know I have a garden and a couple of fields, but there's nothing on my title documents except lines to separate them. The fields have numbers & the garden doesn't.

I'm sure the local council will have maps, or hopefully, someone will be along shortly with the answer I'm missing.