Property developers queuing up to buy my garden

ordinaryJoe

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. If you are working it clearly depends on the size of your income what the size of the bill is 18 or 28%.

Yesterday, RAS said:

RAS wrote: »

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)

Who is right? A definitive answer would be great! chazsucks - what have you found on this?

RAS

Not necessarily at odds.

If you are selling something that is not your residence then CGT is an issue.

As long as you sell part of the garden belonging to your residence at the time then CGT may be avoided. Sell the rest of the plot and house later.

Which was why the order in which we did it mattered.

That was the rule when we did it but you might want to check whether it is still the way it works.

Dave however was not selling a building plot and so the increase in value may not have been an issue.

martindow

Do either you or your neighbour have mortgages? If so you can't sell off part of their plot without their agreement as it probably will affect the value of the house.

Davesnave

RAS wrote: »

Dave however was not selling a building plot and so the increase in value may not have been an issue.

True. We pitched our price at just below CGT level. The land was jointly owned, so 2 x £10 600 exemptions.

And the purchasers bore all the legal costs, which is usual.

Davesnave

Mrs_Imp wrote: »

We looked at a house that had sold off 2/3rds of the garden to a developer

2/3 is probably too much to lose without adversely affecting the property.

I say that, but among the 'ordinary' houses I've viewed, were two with gardens over 300'. The longest, in Wiltshire, was 420'.

There are exceptions to most rules of thumb!

RAS

We were in that range Dave.

Soundgirlrocks

I'm currently dealing with the sale of our garden. Slightly more complex as we are a block of flats and own the freehold as a company. We were put off applying for planning ourselves as the costs were off-putting we are selling using an option, so the developer will apply for planning, if successful he will buy for x if not he can walk away, it means we don't have to do the planning application and planning is more likely to be granted as the developer is familiar with the process.

chazsucks

ordinaryJoe wrote: »

Yesterday, RAS said:

Who is right? A definitive answer would be great! chazsucks - what have you found on this?

We were told the sale is exempt from CGT as the land is under half a hectare. But check with your solicitor if unsure x

Mrs_Imp

Davesnave wrote: »

2/3 is probably too much to lose without adversely affecting the property.

I say that, but among the 'ordinary' houses I've viewed, were two with gardens over 300'. The longest, in Wiltshire, was 420'.

There are exceptions to most rules of thumb!

It was a 100 yard garden. Now about 50-60 foot, so more than 2/3rds sold off really. The resulting garden is still an adequate size, but is overlooked by 12 houses :eek:

When we looked around they told us of their plans to retire abroad once the house was sold.

martinsurrey

chazsucks wrote: »

We were told the sale is exempt from CGT as the land is under half a hectare. But check with your solicitor if unsure x

I second this, but its an acre, so 0.4 hectare.

selling part of your garden on your main residence is capital gains tax free (through PRR, as long as its being your primary residance throughout ownership) as long as the grounds are under an acre,

https://www.gov.uk/tax-sell-home

selling part (so part of the garden) is still a disposal for PRR and CGT.