Property developers queuing up to buy my garden

chazsucks

ordinaryJoe wrote: »

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!

This is exactly what we are hoping to do. We've had developers interested in our garden for years, always said no because we love our big garden... but now that we'll be moving we actually invited round the developers that were interested to see their plans and costs etc.

We were lucky that the developer offering the most had already had a 'yes' from our neighbours so we were pretty much good to go.

We had to invite EAs round anyway to value the house so we asked each of them (we had five valuations in total) how much the value would be with x much of the garden left. We also asked their advice about what they would do etc. They all advised for the amount we were going to get for the garden to hold off selling the house until we'd made a deal with the developer. The reduction in value of the house (based on others round here, some who have previously done the same with their gardens) was around 25% of the amount we are getting for the garden. So let's say we were getting 100k for the piece of garden - the EAs all estimated it would knock 20-25k off the house value.

We then saw the developer again and to go over the option agreement. We made sure they knew we were selling the house and that we could sell whilst they were building. They covered solicitors costs and we made sure that the contract included things like them erecting a fence and planting trees to block out the sight of most of the building works.

We understand that it may take longer to sell with building going on at the back but with the extra money we'd easily drop the price a little and still walk away with a lot more than we would have got for selling the house without selling the portion of the garden too.

Also, we put the house up for sale a few years ago and took it back off because my dad changed his mind. The feedback was generally that buyers were worried about the size of the garden and it being unmanageable, especially towards the end where it's overgrown with blackberry bushes etc.

So at least this way we can pretty the garden up and make it a nice family space rather than unmanageable.

Phew. Sorry for the long post. If you have any other questions feel free to ask OP x

samba

Round my way anything with a big enough garden gets snapped up in minutes for at least asking price, then a few months later the house is flattened and as many semis as can fitted are built, each with a postage stamp for a garden.

It really irks me, because average people can't afford decent-sized gardens anymore. Good job the kids are all overweight tv addicts who don't need gardens anyway.

moneyistooshorttomention

I will admit to not understanding why people would find it a problem apparently to having a bigger garden than they personally want. Surely if that were the case, then just use the section of garden you actually want and just leave the rest to "go wild" and help provide a habitat for birds/insects/etc.

Or, if you dont fancy that thought, then a one-off visit by a gardening firm to get shot of all trees/shrubs that arent required and put down heavy duty garden "sheeting" to kill off everything else naturally and maybe some attractive-looking gravel/woodchip/etc on top and bingo...job done. But once land has been sold then its gone forever...and no-one ever has the option of using the rest of that garden, ie because it belongs to someone else.

Or a gardenshare arrangement with someone nearby that is longing for a garden to grow food in, but cant afford to buy themselves one/the list for allotments locally is too long/etc.

Davesnave

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I will admit to not understanding why people would find it a problem apparently to having a bigger garden than they personally want. Surely if that were the case, then just use the section of garden you actually want and just leave the rest to "go wild" and help provide a habitat for birds/insects/etc. You may have to wait until you are old or infirm enough to 'get' it, but it's a worry to many people.

Once I left my former home and the section of retained garden began to 'go wild,' this acted as a major encouragement for my neighbours to buy it from me. It's not everyone who wants a 'wildlife area' or a plot with an uncertain future at the bottom of their garden.

Or, if you dont fancy that thought, then a one-off visit by a gardening firm to get shot of all trees/shrubs that arent required and put down heavy duty garden "sheeting" to kill off everything else naturally and maybe some attractive-looking gravel/woodchip/etc on top and bingo...job done. But once land has been sold then its gone forever...and no-one ever has the option of using the rest of that garden, ie because it belongs to someone else.....who will have the ability to use it.

All right, a major part of a building plot will be occupied by a house, but as I've pointed out before, we need more houses and there's a choice to be made between infill or green field. Not a 'nice' choice, of course, but brown field is only part of the answer.

Or a gardenshare arrangement with someone nearby that is longing for a garden to grow food in, but cant afford to buy themselves one/the list for allotments locally is too long/etc. Gardenshare is a good idea, but it provides as much certainty and security as the average AST.

I know you personally detest infill, but there are other ways of looking at it.

The bottom line is that urban land is now very expensive, so people will cash in on their surplus of it, if this is possible.

missprice

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I will admit to not understanding why people would find it a problem apparently to having a bigger garden than they personally want. Surely if that were the case, then just use the section of garden you actually want and just leave the rest to "go wild" and help provide a habitat for birds/insects/etc.

Or a gardenshare arrangement with someone nearby that is longing for a garden to grow food in, but cant afford to buy themselves one/the list for allotments locally is too long/etc.

Can't let your garden grow wild around here, council take you to court and the fine can be as much as 5k. < < < used to be 5k probably way more now.
My garden has always been too big for me here in this house. No one ever wanted any section of it in lieu of an allotment. 20 years of asking people who tell me they are jealous of my garden. Its now in the process of being paved over. Sad about that but there is simply too much.
I have 45 x 40ft front, 16 x 10ft side, 30 x 40ft back. And although hard standing/tarmac so not quite a garden but still my responsibility, a 7 car drive.

chazsucks

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I will admit to not understanding why people would find it a problem apparently to having a bigger garden than they personally want. Surely if that were the case, then just use the section of garden you actually want and just leave the rest to "go wild" and help provide a habitat for birds/insects/etc.

Or, if you dont fancy that thought, then a one-off visit by a gardening firm to get shot of all trees/shrubs that arent required and put down heavy duty garden "sheeting" to kill off everything else naturally and maybe some attractive-looking gravel/woodchip/etc on top and bingo...job done. But once land has been sold then its gone forever...and no-one ever has the option of using the rest of that garden, ie because it belongs to someone else.

Or a gardenshare arrangement with someone nearby that is longing for a garden to grow food in, but cant afford to buy themselves one/the list for allotments locally is too long/etc.

We let the end grow wild and then a family of foxes moved in! I love Would never do that again!

Mrs_Imp

We looked at a house that had sold off 2/3rds of the garden to a developer, along with their neighbours. We went in to the back garden and the sense of oppression and feeling of being overlooked by the 12 new houses was overwhelming.

5 years later and it still hadn't sold.

If you want to sell to a developer, either get them to buy your house too, or make sure you get a say in the layout of the new houses, or you may find your retirement plans go awry, like the couple selling near us did.

ognum

ordinaryJoe wrote: »

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!

OP you probably need to consider the CGT implications of selling part of your garden

You will not be selling your residence so this may mean that you have a CGT bill. If you are working it clearly depends on the size of your income what the size of the bill is 18 or 28%.

I will admit this is not my speciality so you do need specialist tax advice regarding this.

Of course if you sold the land with your residence their would be no CGT Bill.

Something to think about!

davidmcn

ognum wrote: »

OP you probably need to consider the CGT implications of selling part of your garden

You will not be selling your residence so this may mean that you have a CGT bill.

Your garden is part of your residence, so the same rules apply.

lincroft1710

samba wrote: »

Round my way anything with a big enough garden gets snapped up in minutes for at least asking price, then a few months later the house is flattened and as many semis as can fitted are built, each with a postage stamp for a garden.

Even postage stamp gardens can be an aspiration!

In the town where I was born, most brownfield sites, if not developed as a low rise apartment block(s) now become "mews" or "courtyard" developments where the houses are terraced and often 3 storey. At best they have a patio, at worst no land other than a parking space and they cost a small fortune!