How to value a driveway?

Bossypants

I would like to approach my neighbour to buy part of their driveway, as I have none and theirs would be easy to divide while still leaving them with a garage and external space for 2 cars. I want to be prepared with a reasonable offer in case they are interested (I am keen but not desperate), but have no idea how to work one out. We are in central Brighton (albeit not on a typical street - it's weird little road neighbouring a bin lorry yard and a recycling depot, but surpringly I rather like it), so I know it definitely won't be cheap, but I genuinely have no clue what 'not cheap' means in this context. I approached the EA who sold the house to me and they basically shrugged, unable to even tell me if I was looking at £10,000 or £50,000.

Any advice/suggestions as to how to go about this?

glasgowdan

I wouldn't spend any time or effort on it until you've asked the owner if they're even open to the idea. 10k sounds like a reasonable figure, considering that losing part of the drive MIGHT have an impact on their property's saleability in future.

saajan_12

As a start I would look at the difference between houses on other similar streets with and without driveways.

You can also look at the uplift in the value of your house by adding the driveway or the reduction in value of your neighbour's house by removing the land.

Plus you can expect to pay your survey/legal costs and potentially also your neighbour's.

rtho782

The price is whatever the vendor feels like.

I have a big drive, I can fit 4-5 cars on, my neighbour parks on the street, as they have none.

Everyone has a price, but I probably wouldn't even consider selling part of it for less than about £50k which is way over priced.

theartfullodger

Bossypants wrote: »

How to value a driveway?

That's irrelevant:

The vendor will only sell at the price he is happy with. The purchaser, you, will only buy up to a certain price.

No agreement, no deal:

Gleeful

I *think* I remember you posting here about your unusual little house before you bought it. I am glad you are now settled in

lee111s

First of all you need to know if they're interested in selling, otherwise coming up with an offer is a waste of time.

If they are, then you both just need to have a chat about what it's worth to both of you and work out a price you're both happy with.

eddddy

If you were to ask a valuer, they would approach it like this:

How much would your property increase in value by having a drive? Let's say £10k

How much would your neighbour's property decrease in value by losing part of their drive? Let's say £4k.

So the purchase price should be somewhere between £4k and £10k (depending on who negotiates best).

A price of £7k would mean that you share the profit (or marriage value) equally.


But in reality, the process is usually much less scientific.

Bossypants

Thanks for the responses so far! And for those who are concerned, yes I am fully aware that the price is whatever the vendor says the price is. What I am trying to avoid here is this situation:

Me: Hi neighbour, I was wondering if you'd be willing to sell me part of your driveway?
Neighbour: Maybe, depends on what you're offering
Me: Erm, let me get back to you...

Which I can completely see happening in this scenario, based on what I know of them.

In the meantime, I have found some garages for sale on Rightmove in a similarly central-but-not-pretty area for £25,000, so my plan is to offer them £10,000 for half, £25,000 for the whole thing (unlikely they would take this, but they do have other parking, so I thought it wouldn't hurt). If they are interested or willing to negotiate in that ballpark then we can go from there, if not nevermind.

@Gleeful - Thank you! Yes, that was probably me, it's a really bizarre little house. I've been in for about a month now, honestly best housing-related decision I ever made!

seven-day-weekend

Gleeful wrote: »

I *think* I remember you posting here about your unusual little house before you bought it. I am glad you are now settled in

I do too, glad it worked out

We have spent all our married life (45 years) without a drive, having to park either in a communal car park or on the street.

I now have a drive that our car will fit on, and would hold more cars if we adapted the front garden.

I would want an awful lot of money to part with it. £10k wouldn't even begin to come close.

So I think you need to have a word with your neighbours first, to see if they are willing, and if they are, to see what their price is. I don't think there will be a market value as such.

phoebe1989seb

I remember you/your proposal to purchase a quirky house too OP.......and am very pleased to hear you are settling in happily

I also seem to recall mention of the vendor - weren't they building a new home for themself adjacent to your house? - providing some parking spaces, at least one of which would come with your new home. Did this not happen?

Like seven-day-weekend, we value our drive (space for two large vehicles, plus we have a large garage) hugely, having previously owned a few houses where there was only on-street parking, one of which came with parking permits which of course still didn't guarantee a space outside - or even in our own road for that matter - and I don't think we'd part with it at any cost. If, however - like some of our neighbours - we had driveway parking for 10+ cars, it might be a different story

I agree that I would want to test the water with them first to find out if they'd even consider it. I guess this is not the neighbour that sold you the house?

GL with it!