Knowing how much to offer for a small strip of land?

lettucekl

I know this is a bit of an open ended question but im think of asking my neighbours if they would be willing to sell a small part of the back garden, 4x24ft along the top of the garden so i can get access to my back garden from the road side.

The neighbours house is currently leased out so the actual owner isnt living in the property, so not sure if this would have an effect on how much the actual owner of the house would be willing to sell the land for.

What is the usual going rate for a narrow bit of land, as i dont want to contact them and offer too much

G_M

The going rate depends exactly how desperate you are to get your hands on this land, how much the owner wants to keep it, and how good you each are at negotiation........

Note also, if the owner has a mortgage, he'll need the lender's approval as it will reduce the value of his property.

eddddy

The standard way of valuing land would be...

- How much would the extra land increase the value of your house? (Let's say £20k)

- How much would the loss of land reduce the value of the neighbours house (Let's say £10k)

So the price would be somewhere between £10k and £20k. Maybe £15k, if you want to split the gain equally.

But negotiation is often not done that scientifically.

G_M

Not sure I agree in this case......

eddddy wrote: »

The standard way of valuing land would be...

- How much would the extra land increase your enjoyment of your house? (Let's say £20k)

- How much would the loss of land impact on the neighbours lifestyle (Let's say £10k)

So the price would be somewhere between £10k and £20k. Maybe £15k, if you want to split the gain equally.

Additionally of course there's the tenant to consider. He has contracted to pay rent, and in return get a house (with X rooms) and a garden (of Y size). The landlord cannot suddenly reduce the size of the tenant's garden any more than he can reduce the number of rooms the tenant has use of.

Unless the tenant agrees of course......

lettucekl

Thanks for the feedback.

Would really losing just 4 foot from the end of a garden really reduce the value of a property that much where it would be reflected in the asking price of said property upon going on the market for sale??

Norman_Castle

lettucekl wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback.

Would really losing just 4 foot from the end of a garden really reduce the value of a property that much where it would be reflected in the asking price of said property upon going on the market for sale??

The value or willingness to sell would depend on the size of the garden. How big a percentage is that 4 foot and how useful or usable is to the owner?

G_M

lettucekl wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback.

Would really losing just 4 foot from the end of a garden really reduce the value of a property that much where it would be reflected in the asking price of said property upon going on the market for sale??

No. In reality it would probobly not affect the market value much, if at all - though of course if the garden is currently 8 foot wide, losing 4 foot would have a value impact!)

But any sale, of any part of the property, would need the consent of a mortgage lender. Chances are they'd agree (especially if the mortgage was 70% LTV or less). The lender has a Charge on the Title, so the Title cannot be altered without lender's consent.

Hoploz

What's on that bit of garden at the moment? If it has a row of mature trees acting as screening then if you bought it you'd remove the trees and their view/privacy/value associated with this - would be lost. Unless it is literally just grass right up to a fence which could be moved without any damage or change then there will be some impact.

lettucekl

Theres nothing on the part of the land apart from a garden shed would need to be moved slightly...oh and a trampoline. The gardens about 45ft long

ProDave

Your neighbour needs to tread carefully.

I once met someone who had a semi detached house with a side garden. His neighbour (not the one he was joined to) also had a similar side garden. One day the neighbour in conversation offered to sell his bit of side garden for £3K so this bloke ended up with a very much larger side garden.

He then got PP to build a new house on his enlarged garden. The neighbours have not spoken since.

Ozzuk

It also depends how switched on your neighbour is, the land may not be worth much to him but it gives you rear access to your property (though potentially you'll need an easement, don't assume you can just use it for access) which is potentially worth quite a lot. add in fencing costs, legal fees (yours and his) and you are talking thousands, maybe even 10k+. There is also the consideration he may not want people walking across the back of his property.

Did you have a price in mind?