What is the value of my land!

johnie_the_joiner

I own a small parcel of land (approx 1/3 of an acre) which is rough agriculturlal land. Without boring you to death with the details; it is land locked ,with neither pedestrian or vehicle access. I have had it valued by an agent who says it is worth between £5000-£20000 ( not much help I hear you cry!) I have been approached by someone who wants to by the land so he can extend his garden, who has offered me £4000. His value is based on what is double its agricultural land value. I have Googled the value using the Nationwide property calculator (I paid £1750 in 1986) which came up with figure of £8500.
I am unsure with how to proceed and would like some advise on my next step.
Thank you

I_have_spoken

it is land locked... so he can extend his garden

Are you sure the person who has made the offere isn't planning to give access via the plot they own and sell to a developers for £££s?

jd1000

Well the value of it is whatever anyone is ready to pay for it, so unless you can find a buyer who will pay more than £4k for it, then the value is £4k.

However, if you are worried that he will develop it, I suggest you have a covenant or other legal agreement drawn up that will prohibit the development of the land.


JD

dktreesea

Did you ever have access to the land? How do you access it right now?

dktreesea

I see you have owned this land for over 20 years. I think you should get a formal easement over your neighbour's land so that you can have access to your own land. particularly if he/she has never denied you access. This site is worth looking at:
http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/property/neighbour_disputes/500501.html
and in particular:

"Easements can be acquired by prescription if one party has used the other property or land in a continuous and open manner for a certain number of years. Usually claims for easements to be implied by prescription are made under the Prescription Act 1832, whereby the period of uninterrupted use must be at least 20 years."

happybucket

I think you have to find out what the increase in value of his property will be if it has an additional 1/3 acre of land with it. There was a similar thread on the British Farming Forum the other day and prices there were far far in excess of what your buyer is offering.

http://farmingforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?10807-Selling-land-to-extend-garden

You can only sell it once remember

johnie_the_joiner

Thanks for the replies so far.

I intend to get a clause put into the contract just in case the purchaser gets planning permission in the future. I did try to get permission myself about 20 years ago, but was refused because of the access problem.
I will look at the farming forum to see what it says about the matter.

antrobus

johnie_the_joiner wrote: »

... I have been approached by someone who wants to by the land so he can extend his garden,...

Don't you need planning permission to do that?

Perhaps this someone has already had a chat with the planners. Perhaps you should too.

chappers

The problem I see here unless I am missing something is that this land is only of any use to the people who's land adjoins it due to access.
That will greatly reduce it's value I would have thought.

johnie_the_joiner

Its true Chappers. There are 3 people who's land adjoins my land. I can rule out any potential offers from 2 of the 3. Trying to put a value to it is very tricky.I don't want to sell it under its true value

tberry6686

Only problem with a value of this land is that without an easment/right of way to access it then it is only worth whatever the person who wants to buy it is willing to pay, so if they are the only one out of the three with viable access then it is only worth £4000 as that is what they are willing to pay.

for anyone else who does not have access then it's pretty much valueless.