Neighbour wants to by part of my land. odd boundary

carlsagen

Argghhh wrote: »

by extending into your barn it may take light from his house and he could object, equally if you sold him the land to become a garden and extended your barn he could object for the same reason.
if you chose to sell i would put in a clause that by selling it, he would not be able to object in any way shape or form to you extending

The barn will not be changed on the external in any way other than to block up the back door that faces the land he wishes to purchase. the rest is internal and windows in the side he cannot see. There would be nothing to object to really.

Nobbie1967

The neighbour bought the house without the land and presumably this was reflected in the price. They are now thinking of moving and fancy a windfall by buying this land as a garden, and then slapping an extension on. It's all very well staying on good terms with the neighbour, but in this case you could give them the land and get on great, but as they'd be moving out, it would be of no benefit.

Maybe ask them what they intend to do with the land. If they say they want it as garden, then you could sell for a few £k, but place covenants on there to restrict any building work. Should a subsequent purchaser want to extend, they can buy out the covenant from you. If the neighbour is honest and says they want to extend, then get a valuer to calculate the uplift in value and choose selling price based on this.

moneyistooshorttomention

It may or may not be in the neighbours mind to allow for a possible extension on the land.

We don't know the size of this bit of land actually and it may only be a "little titch bit" and not big enough for an extension and a back garden anyway.

More likely - its that the neighbour knows the number of potential buyers would be restricted because many people wouldn't buy a house without a back garden.

DaftyDuck

carlsagen wrote: »

Its hard drawing in photoshop freehand with a mouse. I whole heartedly .......... for my substandard work! :rotfl:

... apologise ....

Now you'll be blaming your keyboard! :p:p

I do agree with Money (:eek::eek::eek:) for the first time in ages, and therefore question my sanity, but I'd either sell them the whole area, or none.

I'd certainly not be giving it to them at nominal cost as some suggest; you lose a possibly-useful strip, he gains a valuable asset to his property. I would expect him to meet all legal costs as well.

I would also get all plans passed on that bit of barn before he gets the land, thus lessening any right - or enthusiasm - he may have for objecting.

I would certainly veer to selling, as you don't seem to want/need the land, and feel intrusive keeping it in check. But, I'd certainly expect a good proportion of the uplift on his property value. You could reach some complex legal agreement where a portion was used to "improve" your barn, and his aspect of your barn, such that you both mutually benefit from that....

Now, agreeing with Money has given me indigestion and a headache - I need a lie-down.

steeeb

G_M wrote: »

I basically agree. It's useless to you. I'd ask for a marginal amount over and above all legal fees though.

What if it adds 10-20k to his property buying it for a marginal amount? Is said neighbour going to share the increase?

A property with no back garden and doors than open on to someone elses land is a minefield that would have been reflected in the purchase price.

He isn't a charity.

If he wants to increase the salability then the OP is doing a massive favour by allowing him to purchase the land at the price in which it will increase his property by.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

The snag to that would be possible arguments with future owner of next door house - who would believe they had bought the whole of that section of land. It would probably be perceived as "That blimmin' neighbour who acts like they own a strip of my garden" by next owner of that house.

Just sell them the whole bit of land - for a back garden for themselves - and leave it at that. If access is needed for maintenance of the barn wall - then ask politely in the normal way (as its always possible to get access for "necessary maintenance" under the Access to Neighbouring Properties Act anyway).

There are these things called "fences" you can put round land. They act as "boundaries". If people buy a piece of land clearly delineated by these "fences" they usually don't automatically assume they own parts on the other side.

carlsagen

It may help if i measure the land and take some pics. Ill upload later tonight hopefully with the correct spelling @Dafty.

I can see on Zoopla that he purchased the house in 1999 for 107k and the estimated value is 255k. can't be right. Zoopla says mine is 333k I bought 4 years ago at 250k but it was a mess and half renovated. A smaller house 2 doors up sold for £114k recently and there small yard at the back is half the size of the land the neighbour wants to buy.

It can be seen outlined in yellow on the blue peter picture below.

steeeb

Ignore the Zoopla estimation, it's based on local area percentage increases and doesn't really take into account anything else.

Standard practice is to get an independent valuation for his house and for his house with the garden.

Then reach an agreement whereby you're not gifting him lots of profit.

Do as mentioned, include caveats so he can't do stuff you don't want. Exclude a strip the width of say a path round your barn for maintenance and to allow you to walk round to the rest of your land. Get plans approved for your barn FIRST.

Job done.

If there was a strip of garden owned by the council for example, it wouldn't be worth anything to them but they look at what increases it makes to your property and then that is the price.


We've mentioned letting him use the land before and even renting it to him. Perhaps propose he fences that area off at his cost and write an agreement giving him usage of the land as garden for X years. The fact it is fenced off might be the tipping point for people buying the property.
If the people moving in take the biscuit then you can decide what's what after the X years.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

carlsagen wrote: »

It may help if i measure the land and take some pics. Ill upload later tonight hopefully with the correct spelling @Dafty.

I can see on Zoopla that he purchased the house in 1999 for 107k and the estimated value is 255k. can't be right. Zoopla says mine is 333k I bought 4 years ago at 250k but it was a mess and half renovated. A smaller house 2 doors up sold for £114 recently and there small yard at the back is half the size of the land the neighbour wants to buy.

If I were you I would have offered £114.50 for that smaller house.

moneyistooshorttomention

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

There are these things called "fences" you can put round land. They act as "boundaries". If people buy a piece of land clearly delineated by these "fences" they usually don't automatically assume they own parts on the other side.

Yep...that is indeed one thing - IF a fence gets put up.

There ARE times where A.N. Other Neighbour will try and make out they own a tiny strip of someone else's land where they don't at all in the event.

Hence - its best for OP to avoid any risk of being deemed to be "going off on one" and making out they own a sliver of land - in case of problems.

Therefore I don't think its worth putting up a fence (ie the resultant effort/expense) on the offchance of new neighbour being awkward about access for maintenance purposes.