How to value a driveway?

Cakeguts

Most people don't want external parking space where you have to move one car to get the other out. So unless you can still park 2 cars next to each other on the driveway I can't see why the neighbour would be at all interested in selling.

ST1991

Unfamiliar with your house (unlike some others) so forgive me if i'm asking a stupid/obvious question.

Is the neighbor in question right next to you?
E.G if you bought part of their driveway, could you just extend your boundary in title deeds over another 8 feet at the front of the house, without imposing on anyone else's property?

That would surely be the easiest scenario, in terms of legalities afterwards.

In terms of price, tricky one! It's worth entering into conversation first with the neighbor though, as what if they are completely unwilling to sale?

Bossypants

Thanks both! I'm not actually interested in it for parking (I don't drive and in any case there is room on the street), I am really just interested in it because my house would look more 'complete' with it, and for potential future resale purposes (not that I am planning on that for a very long time!). So as you can see, it's hardly a big deal if they refuse.

The house is currently lived in by a couple in their 90s and owned by their daughter in her 70's. The couple don't drive and when the daughter comes to visit, she parks in front of the garage (which is on the other side of the house from the drive). As such, the drive is currently completely unused, which is why I am hopeful that they might be interested in taking some cash for it, but as I said, I will not lose sleep if they aren't.

david1951

I walked past your house at the weekend on the way to B&Q. Small world!

Bossypants

david1951 wrote: »

I walked past your house at the weekend on the way to B&Q. Small world!

Haha you should have waved! :wave:

Paully232000

Is the land behind the fence to the left of your house yours? If it is, could you not knock a bit of your wall down and extend to the left of the gate to fit a car?
Might be cheaper that £10K+

fairy_lights

I'm nosy so had to look up your previous thread. What a gorgeous house!

moneyistooshorttomention

eddddy wrote: »

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.

That's my understanding of how it's supposed to work.

But - yep...in reality things may be different. The vast vast majority of people will have a price they would charge in those circumstances and you'd get that bit of their driveway. Then there's ones like myself (also with big driveway) that would say "Okay - but I'll charge you as much as the house itself would cost for it and then some - and then I'd move" (in other words - they wouldnt pay that high a price:rotfl:) and those who wouldnt sell ever under any circumstances full stop.

So - you work out what that fair price is and then find out whereabouts they personally are on that spectrum between "Yep - for a fair price" to "Yep - for an exorbitant price" to "Not under any circumstances".

Bossypants

Paully232000 wrote: »

Is the land behind the fence to the left of your house yours? If it is, could you not knock a bit of your wall down and extend to the left of the gate to fit a car?
Might be cheaper that £10K+

No, Google Maps is out of date, everything to the left of my place is now the new house. I am interested in a portion of the drive to the right of my house, which is owned by the bungalow (and which is bigger than it looks on Google Maps).

Bossypants

fairy_lights wrote: »

I'm nosy so had to look up your previous thread. What a gorgeous house!

Thank you! And yes it is if I do say so myself, I am quite in love with it.