Land Adjacent to the House we are buying.

Paras

Hi

Our vendor for the house we are buying had offered to sell some adjacent land (10 acres) as a 'separate negotiation'. This approximately makes the land £10k/acre. We do not have that £100k. But, there is an acre of land that is going into our garden making it L Shaped. It is tempting to offer some money to the vendor and buy this piece of land to make our property Square.

We desperately need advice on the following matters.

1. Is it worth it for requesting our Estate Agent to put in a good word for us to the vendor to throw in that 1 acre as a gesture of goodwill.
2. When is the best time to do so as the vendor just accepted our offer on this house after a bidding war (30k over the asking price).
3. If we wait till we exchange contracts for this new house then will this mean rehiring Solicitors?
4. What other actions will be required by both, us and the vendor, to make such a deal?
5. It would have been ideal if we could add this extra cost to the mortgage for this new house, but if not then how will such a land deal be closed? What will be the costs involved.

Thanks
Paras

lincroft1710

1. The EA is not "ours", he works for the vendor. An extra £10K on the purchase price would mean £100+ extra commission for him.

2. If you want to buy the 1 acre, as soon as possible.

3. All aspects of the transaction or transactions should be arranged before exchange of contracts

4. Ask your solicitor

5. You will need to consult both your solicitor and your mortgage provider

Paras

Wow, thanks a bunch for such prompt reply Lincroft.

My worry here is that if I show any more money to my EA/Vendor right now, they might come back and say the other party offered more and the bidding war will kick start again.
That is the only reason why I have not yet brought this up with them yet.
Any further advice?
Thanks

lincroft1710

Something has occurred to me. If the 10 acres are agricultural land, then even if you do buy the 1 acre, there is no guarantee you will get planning permission to use it as garden land. Also an extra acre of garden land would probably increase the value of your house by considerably more than £10,000.

You may get into a further bidding war, you may not. There is no reason for the vendor to give you the acre, only you can decide if it is worthwhile trying to buy the acre.

My personal viewpoint would be, that having offered more than £30K over the asking price I would resist any attempt to make me pay any more for the house and garden excluding the extra acre

eddddy

Paras wrote: »

1. Is it worth it for requesting our Estate Agent to put in a good word for us to the vendor to throw in that 1 acre as a gesture of goodwill.

Having accepted your offer, why are you thinking that the vendor might give you some free land? What's in it for them?

(Isn't that a bit like asking the the vendor to throw in their car as a gesture of goodwill - after they've accepted your offer?)

I guess you could ask, but I think it's unlikely to work.

Paras wrote: »

2. When is the best time to do so as the vendor just accepted our offer on this house after a bidding war (30k over the asking price).
3. If we wait till we exchange contracts for this new house then will this mean rehiring Solicitors?
4. What other actions will be required by both, us and the vendor, to make such a deal?
5. It would have been ideal if we could add this extra cost to the mortgage for this new house, but if not then how will such a land deal be closed? What will be the costs involved.

The starting point would be to agree a price for the land you want with the vendor.

I guess it's up to you when to do this. But bear in mind that you may not be able to find a price that you both agree on.

And if you want your mortgage lender to value the property as a whole (house plus the extra land) for mortgage purposes, I guess you'd have to make that clear on your mortgage application.

foxy-stoat

Paras wrote: »

1. Is it worth it for requesting our Estate Agent to put in a good word for us to the vendor to throw in that 1 acre as a gesture of goodwill.

Got as far as that and had to stop reading.

I know buyers want something for nothing these days but that is taking the piiss

AdrianC

The chances of getting the acre for free are zero. The chances of getting it for 1/10th of the ten acres are slim. The ten acres are almost certainly on a single title currently, so selling a portion would incur extra costs. Then there's the fencing cost, as well as making the remainder potentially harder to sell.

Paras

Thanks Lincroft,

Yes it is Agricultural. I feel it is worthwhile trying to buy as this will, like you mentioned, certainly add value to our property, plus make the purchase worthwhile.

This property has been on the mkt for over 18 mths and the asking price was reduced twice. There had been no offers on this property since mid 2017 according to the EA. The only offer ever was "good bit less than" the current asking price back in April 2017 said the EA.

Suddenly on the day we viewed this property, a mysterious buyer came to being, offering "less than the asking price without the paddock" according to the EA. The other buyer had not sold their house yet. On the other hand we had accepted an offer from someone currently renting.

We viewed the property for the second time and on the same day offered the full asking price. Next day the EA tells us that the other bidder is planning to buy from our vendors WITHOUT selling their current home. Without of-course disclosing what their offer is now. Which meant their position could be stronger than us. Meanwhile, this mysterious buyer's mortgage advisor replied saying 'They WILL get a mortgage for such a purchase.' This buyer was abroad at that moment offering cheque/cash payments. Probably 'arranging' this cash abroad. We knew we were this close to losing to someone with wads of cash.

EA coaxed us into rushing and giving it our best chance. This put immense pressure on us and we gave our best offer (£30k above asking price). Within a couple of hrs our offer got accepted. EA's explanation - the vendor was getting weary of this other buyer's strange dealings and questionable credibility.

The whole thing was bizarre. A property that sat on the market for so long gets an interested party who'd be willing to go to any length to buy it on the day we make an offer!!!

With this extra £30k we could have bought 3 more acres of land. Which is why I used the phrase 'Gesture of Goodwill.' This is our dream home so I feel a bit uncomfortable putting a market value on it, yet, it certainly was not worth the asking price. Only to us maybe. The extra £30k will break our backs.

Thanks
Paras

AdrianC

The whole "other party" story is guff to make you up your offer. Just explain that you're offering what you're willing to pay for it and, if that's rejected, then hey-ho, you didn't want to pay more.

Hoploz

Is 'Agricultural' equal to use as a garden? Check.

Hoploz

Frankly I'd also be concerned about who might buy the surrounding land.

Speak to the council about whether planning permission for housing is likely to be granted. A plot near me is 3acres and the council want to build 50 homes on it. They refused an application for 12 homes as they considered it not high enough density use of the land.