Buying land from neighbour to increase garden size - pitfalls?

Better_Days

We are considering offering on a dated, but liveable in, 2 bed bungalow in a nearby village. We had previously discounted the property as it has a tiny garden. However, one of the neighbours owns the meadow behind the property and has said that he would be willing to be sell 1/4 of an acre of the meadow backing onto the property.

He has said that the extra garden will increase the value of the bungalow and he would like £25k plus legal fees and fencing for the 1/4 acre.

He has also said that he wants to retain his view across the meadow, so instead of selling a square plot, wants to sell a triangular plot.

I have had a look around at meadowland locally for sale and it goes for between £4k and £8k an acre - although not with a property attached.

The garden size is a deal breaker for me and would not buy the property without the extra land.

My initial thoughts are:
1) a triangular plot will reduce the value and utility of the plot
2) I would need to get a local surveyor out to value the property and land for me
3) the neighbour would have nothing to lose by increasing his price just before exchange
4) £25k for a quarter of an acre sounds like a lot to me!

Just mulling over the possibilities, but would be interested to hear your thoughts.

monty-doggy

I'd keep looking for a house with a bigger garden, you wouldn't need to spend anywhere near 25k to get more of a garden!

LEJC

£25K for a quarter of an acre is a lot of money...but if that land is attached to your dream property that you intend to stay forever in then the price becomes more reasonable.

keep the option open...but keep looking too for the forever house that comes with a garden or land in situ it might be the easier option.

Better_Days

LEJC wrote: »

£25K for a quarter of an acre is a lot of money...but if that land is attached to your dream property that you intend to stay forever in then the price becomes more reasonable.

Good point. It is not our dream property. The back garden faces north east and the property would need to be updated and extended to take advantage of the view over the back garden (the living room is at the front of the property).

DH is more enthusiastic than I am - basically because he is fed up looking for a suitable property. As monty-doggy says an easier option would be a property which has a bigger garden in the first place!

Davesnave

I got close to that amount for much less than 0.25acres!

You can get a surveyor to look at the plot and comment on the likely added value it would impart to the property, but if you try to use an out of context valuation to set a price, you may come unstuck. This is what my buyers did to me. I just ignored it.

Has the matter of change of use has been considered here? Councils are not usually happy to see agricultural land assimilated into gardens, y'know!

ognum

you do need to find out if you are allowed to turn meadowland without PP into a garden, many people have become unstuck and forced to return land to its origional state.

Check with the council and get an answer in writing before persuading this.

Better_Days

Davesnave wrote: »

Has the matter of change of use has been considered here? Councils are not usually happy to see agricultural land assimilated into gardens, y'know!

ognum

you do need to find out if you are allowed to turn meadowland without PP into a garden, many people have become unstuck and forced to return land to its origional state.

Good grief, what a ninny I have been, never considered change of use

Thank you for pointing it out. Will speak to the LA and see what they say.

Davesnave thanks for your thoughts regarding valuation, if we do take it further then I will ask a local surveyor to look at the property and the plot which will at least give a starting point. Well done on your land sale btw

Davesnave

Better_Days wrote: »

ognum


Good grief, what a ninny I have been, never considered change of use

Thank you for pointing it out. Will speak to the LA and see what they say.

Davesnave thanks for your thoughts regarding valuation, if we do take it further then I will ask a local surveyor to look at the property and the plot which will at least give a starting point. Well done on your land sale btw

Just a thought.... I'm sure I've seen mini meadows attached to gardens which have contained orchard trees and a vegetable plot.

My land sale was tricky, mainly because of the need to convince the other parties they weren't going to get it for less! They did OK, adding both utility and value to their houses, but mine was garden land to start with.

phoebe1989seb

Thank you for raising the subject Better Days I'm interested in the responses too as we're hoping to buy approximately 1/3 acre that adjoins our rural garden (already about 1/4 acre in size), but in our case the land once belonged to a hotel, is now completely overgrown and has had planning permission for a house turned down at appeal a few years back.

FWIW, in our case the owner is now bankrupt and we hope to prevent anyone else getting permission to build there as the plot has fantastic views over an AONB and contains a huge Scots Pine that would no doubt be taken down if a house got approval Not wishing to hijack BD's thread, but wanted to say it's interesting about the change of use as we had not thought of that, but had already planned to put in a traditional orchard if we succeeded in purchasing the plot........

Thanks again for everyone's input

poppysarah

There was a dispute in the papers where the council were very unhappy that a lady had extended her garden into agricultural land that she'd bought.

Better_Days

Funnily enough phoebe1989seb that's similiar to what I would like to do if I had the space. Put in some fruit trees. Plus I am missing having chickens - so would love to have some chucks again, and a pond too.

Interesting to hear your experience, good luck with your purchase, sounds like you are in a wonderful spot. What stage are you up to?

Davesnave

My land sale was tricky, mainly because of the need to convince the other parties they weren't going to get it for less! They did OK, adding both utility and value to their houses, but mine was garden land to start with.

As a matter of interest did the amount you charged for the land take account of the full amount of the resulting uplift in the value of your buyers properties?