Selling Part of Garden

Haefai

Good morning,

This is my first ever post here and I am hoping it is in the right place.

I was hoping someone might be able to offer some help.

My mother owns her own home (no mortgage) and it has a very large garden. She is now unable to maintain it and has mentioned that she could sell it.

How would she go about it? I have no idea where to go with this!

Thanks in advance

davidmcn

Would anyone want to buy it? What would they do with it?

HappyMJ

Haefai wrote: »

Good morning,

This is my first ever post here and I am hoping it is in the right place.

I was hoping someone might be able to offer some help.

My mother owns her own home (no mortgage) and it has a very large garden. She is now unable to maintain it and has mentioned that she could sell it.

How would she go about it? I have no idea where to go with this!

Thanks in advance

Does the garden have access to the road?

If so then yes it's worth some money. I would subdivide the plot and offer the land for sale through an estate agent.

If she really wants the most for it then get planning permission to build a house on it from the council and plans drawn up. She doesn't need to build the house herself just get the plans. If a purchaser sees it's got planning permission and plans for a large enough building then she'll get the most for it.

If it's got no road access and no way of putting in a driveway to it then it's not really worth much. If she's unable to maintain it then rip everything out and turn it over to grass and hire a gardener to mow the lawn every two or three weeks.

dc197

If it's no good as development land, could it be sold to the neighbours to extend their gardens? Could it be leased to them for a peppercorn? They'd enjoy a larger garden, and doing the work for it in exchange for a cheap temporary enlargement, but mother retains ownership.
A conveyancing solicitor is a good idea to help with the paperwork, but it's not essential (perhaps necessary if the buyers would need a mortgage though).

smallholdingsister

My neighbour is in this situation and I have mentioned to her that if she ever thought of selling part of her garden we would be keen.

Half her garden used to belong to our house anyway.

brodawel

Does it have access? i.e. potential building plot.
Are there any neighbouring properties that might pay for a bigger garden?
Would it make suitable grazing land for a horse?
Could you employ a gardener just to keep it under control?

You need to speak to an agent, the price of land varies so much. If it had outline planning permission for a dwelling then it would be worth a lot lot more, if not, it could still have a value but much less.

eddddy

Bear in mind that whilst your mother may not want the big garden, subsequent buyers might.

Talk with EAs about how much you would be reducing the house's value by selling the garden - and balance that against the price you'd get for the garden.

If you sell the garden for development, it's probably makes financial sense. If it's just to extend somebody else's garden, you may be losing money.