Property developers queuing up to buy my garden

ordinaryJoe

My wife and I will be selling our house and moving to a smaller home when I retire. In the meantime, several property developers have shown interest in buying a section of our garden, along with next door's, to build a small development of new homes. We think we should probably sell the land first, because it seems likely that we will get better overall value by selling the land and the house separately. Also, if we don't do it, whoever buys our house probably will. Just wondering if there's anyone out there with some advice on how to get the best deal, or indeed whether it's a good idea at all, or whether there are any pitfalls we need to look out for.
Thanks in anticipation!

RAS

I would get out-line planning permission yourselves; team up with the neighbour and have a chat with the planners.

Cost less than £300 and we got that back handsomely.

Then put up a fence and sell the house. Chances are it will make little difference to the sale price.

And unless the law has changed by selling the plot and then the house you avoid tax charges (thanks to the lovely local EA for the advice)

PasturesNew

While it seems a good idea - and it is - think carefully about timings. Your house will have fewer interested buyers if the new development's not been built as they'll worry/wonder about noise/mess and how it looks once it's finished.

It might be better, therefore, to sell yours once they're built and being sold....or after that time, depending what you had in mind.

The danger of selling early, though, is that they'll sit on it and not start the work, leaving you in limbo with a PP next door that'll make some buyers nervous.

movilogo

Ask the developer to buy both land and your house at market price.

Otherwise, if you sell land first, development of more houses nearby will reduce your house value.

RAS

movilogo wrote: »

Ask the developer to buy both land and your house at market price.

Otherwise, if you sell land first, development of more houses nearby will reduce your house value.

Not necessarily true.

We actually got about £20K more than expected despite having sold half the plot length. It actually made the garden manageable for a lot of people.

fairy_lights

Would the new houses overlook your house and remaining garden? would there be an increase in noise and traffic?
Without knowing quite how big your garden is or how many houses are being proposed it's hard to say the impact it would have on the value of your property.
How long do you have until retirement, and in the meantime would you be happy living right next to a building site?

ordinaryJoe

Thanks to all so far for the quick responses! We won't be ready to move house for a year or two yet, but we believe that it might be important to get a deal on the land ahead of the general election - in case the new govt slams a tax on it! Just a couple of further points - obviously we would like to get the best deal we can, but without going to the lengths of taking on the workload of doing all the planning, negotiating, contracting etc. ourselves, as we have other family concerns at the moment. Would a local Chartered Surveyor be the way to go? or do we just simply play the property developers off against each other to maximise their offers?

stator

Get a local architect to draw up some basic outline plans and get them approved.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm wondering on what you are basing your comment of "If we don't sell part of our garden, whoever bought it probably will". You have no way of knowing that as far as I can see.

A garden that is bigger than people want is no problem. A garden that is smaller than people want means them rejecting your house, when they might not have otherwise done so.

If I found that a house I was genuinely interested in that had a reasonable length back garden (ie 80' - 100') or a long back garden (150' plus) had sold off part of it and it was now only a little shortie back garden then a lot of my interest in the house would drop overnight personally.

How big a back garden would you have if you sold part of it?

Add in the fact that, quite apart from garden size, having a development at the bottom of the garden would also put some buyers off. I know my house doesn't have a nearly wide enough back garden for my tastes, but I wouldn't have compromised and bought it if I hadn't been taking into account that beyond my own back garden are other peoples back gardens. With that, I don't have to feel "claustrophobically enclosed" at the back and it was possible for me to buy this house.

Davesnave

I sold my house and then the land, but my land sale was not for a development.

The house price wasn't affected by me doing this, but as I was up-front about the shorter garden, several people 'lost interest' despite being keen before I told them.

The garden was 70' long and wide, and still much larger than those behind most other houses nearby, but it seems some folks may be upset by 'losing' something they never had in the first place!

Not everyone wants a large garden either. When I failed to sell the house to a desperately tight deadline a few years before, several potential buyers said it was just too large for them to maintain.

It was then that I decided to divide it.

sniggings

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I'm wondering on what you are basing your comment of "If we don't sell part of our garden, whoever bought it probably will". You have no way of knowing that as far as I can see.


.

think the OP was saying the sale of the land would be likely as the money being offered is too good to pass up.

The OP knows the size and money offered for the garden, that's why the OP can see further than you