Buying right of access

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

I can imagine that having a right of access for vehicles driving through your property could easily take £25K off its value. What sort of property price are we talking about?

Stuart1918

Thank you! I completely agree that I think he is just using the land now to prove a point in an attempt to force my hand. I also think it's an extortionate amount of money, I was going to suggest a few thousand, topping out at £10k. For £25k, I would want a fair portion of the land to go with the extinguished access but he's already said he won't sell the land.

The most frustrating part is that he is already a millionaire and £25k is a meaningless amount to him but a lot of money to us.

Bouicca, I think you're exactly right. He knows he can get access to it from the side through a new planning application far more easily than he can use the current access so to get £25k upfront helps pay for the new access to be built. He can't lose.

Stuart1918

My property is valued at £340k at the moment and I think you're right that removing the access would probably increase it's value but possibly not by £25k. His house is worth about £1.2M with or without the land to the side behind mine.

The fundamental difficulty is finding the money but you never know what's going to happen and if he sells his house, the next neighbour may be worse.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Stuart1918 wrote: »

Bouicca, I think you're exactly right. He knows he can get access to it from the side through a new planning application far more easily than he can use the current access so to get £25k upfront helps pay for the new access to be built. He can't lose.

If the 25K only helps pay for the new access to be built, he's doing you a favour by selling it to you for that. He could justifiably ask at least the full amount of what it would cost him to put in a new access.

Stuart1918

Sorry, I wasn't clear. Putting a new access point in from the side would cost him a few grand, if that.

matttye

Just to be clear, are you saying that the only way he can get to his land is over your land? If so I don't think it's possible for him not to have at least an implied easement by necessity.

I'm sure you could negotiate the terms eg on foot only but you can't prevent him accessing his land altogether.

You would effectively be giving him £25k and not getting anything for it.

teneighty

This sounds identical to a situation a client of mine had a few years ago, even down to the planning permission on the adjoining plot and the millionaire in the neighbouring property.

They paid around £10k for neighbour to extinguish the right of way but it massively improved their plot and gave them much more privacy. From your description the improvement to your property would be considerably less.

The other thing to remember is that whatever he uses the land for may be subject to planning permission especially if it is a conservation area. Parking work vans on the land may well require planning permission, it depends what the current use is. If it is just residential garden and the number and frequency of vans is not considered ancillary to the use of the residential garden land then he could end up looking at enforcement, likewise any subsequent owners. If the land has a commercial or agricultural use then vehicle access and parking is completely different.

Stuart1918

Matttye, as it currently stands you are completely right but he could take it upon himself to produce an easement to allow access through his land to the neighbouring plot behind my house. As he owns both, I doubt it would be too difficult but would need to be done properly to be legal. He would however need planning permission to open up the new access which would be more difficult. So the likelihood would be that he tries to extend his current house into the land with a conservatory for example to try to bypass planning (if he extinguishes access through my plot). But even that should require planning permission as it's a side extension so wouldn't be allowed under permitted development as we're in a conservation area.

Teneighty, £10k would be within my boundaries of an acceptable amount to pay but you're right, I wouldn't benefit to the same extent as your client. Apparently even though it's in a conservation area, a permeable driveway is perfectly acceptable according to the council. However the land has only ever been an Orchard for residential purposes so I will have to look into whether work vans are acceptable to park on the land. I doubt the council would care too much though.

moneyistooshorttomention

Another possibility for what he might want to do with his bit of land is erect a home office there. Don't know if that would need planning permission?

Just saying....as, in his position, it's very likely I'd do that if it were mine. There'd very soon be a reasonable-size nice contemporary home office there, nicely screened/given privacy by trees.

In the right part of the country - then some of us would love a "wild" swimming pool and I don't suppose that needs planning permission.

Stuart1918

I've spoken to the council and not only is very unlikely to get planning permission for anything in the next few years at least (including a home office), he also isn't allowed to use the land as he intends for storing work vehicles as the land is residential.

So charging £25k to extinguish the right of access is extortionate when the land is for all intents and purposes worthless.