Land Dispute

Kat1e

We have put in an offer on a property with a paddock that's been accepted but have found the bottom of the paddock does not belong to the vendor though she's adamant it does. We've seen the land registry docs and it definitely isn't owned by the vendors. I've been in touch with the owner of the land who advises that he would be willing to sell it to us and has asked us to make an offer. We have absolutely no idea what to offer. I'm sure there are questions I've not even thought of so apologies for my ignorance but would anyone know what a strip of land that measures 4.8m x 12m would be worth in Linconshire?

eddddy

Kat1e wrote: »

...but would anyone know what a strip of land that measures 4.8m x 12m would be worth in Linconshire?

If you asked a valuer, they would look at it's 'marriage value'.

For example, let's say...

• Your property would be worth £30k more with the extra land.

And

• The seller's property would be worth £5k less without the piece of land

So the selling price should be somewhere between £5k and £30k.

So perhaps you would offer £17.5k

That way, you would make a profit of £12.5k and the seller would make a profit of £12.5k.

But in reality, this kind of transaction is often driven more by emotion than 'science'.

Kat1e

Thank you for your reply.

The land isn't part of anyone's garden. The owner sold off three plots of land with planning permission but left this strip inbetween. His property is not connected to this land and for the amount I don't think it would increase the value of our property if we were to buy it..

G_M

It is worth whatever you are prepared to pay for it (which depends how much you want it), and whatever the owner is willing to sell it for (which may epend how much the seller believes you want it!)


But whatever the price you agree, why not then reduce your offer to the seller of the main property you are buying, since they are in reality giving you less land than you thought when you agred the purchase price with them?

lincroft1710

How big is the paddock as a piece of land less than 60 sq m (about the footprint of a 4 bed house) wouldn't seem to make much difference.

Kat1e

[QUOTE
But whatever the price you agree, why not then reduce your offer to the seller of the main property you are buying, since they are in reality giving you less land than you thought when you agred the purchase price with them?[/QUOTE]


We did think this too but we believe there is no love lost between the two of them and it may do more harm than good asking for a reduction to pay her arch enemy so to speak.

Kat1e

lincroft1710 wrote: »

How big is the paddock as a piece of land less than 60 sq m (about the footprint of a 4 bed house) wouldn't seem to make much difference.

The paddock is aprox 0.75 of an acre we were told by the vendor

babyblade41

Firstly that amount is not going to vastly enhance what you have

Depends what you want to do in it, it's really too small for horses IMO , are you going to have it for hens and ducks or just as a rear garden .?

I'd say the other person would possibly want more than it's worth and whether you are happy to pay which, for a relatively small strip wouldn't allow you to do anymore than you want do already .

If you offered on what you thought would be yours and now isn't then I would be reducing my offer a little and unless LR had made a mistake (unlikely) to go onto to purchase the extra won't make any difference to your original plans

AdrianC

A 5m x 12m strip at one end of a .75 acre paddock...?

It was split off originally as a ransom strip, wasn't it?


So the question becomes ransom for what, and why.

If the current owner wants to retain that ransom, then you can bet it's going to be a lot more expensive than if the purpose has passed. From what you say of the people involved, could it just have been as a personal vendetta thorn in the side?

Davesnave

Kat1e wrote: »

I'm sure there are questions I've not even thought of so apologies for my ignorance but would anyone know what a strip of land that measures 4.8m x 12m would be worth in Linconshire?

The first question to ask is "What extra thing would this piece of land allow me to do ?"

You've just described it as the bottom of the paddock, but if that's where an alternative access could be, or where it would be good to have a shelter belt, or where the natural water supply runs.....etc, etc.

As a piece of rural land it's not large; about 2/3 the area of my polytunnel, but size isn't everything!

Kat1e

I think I've sussed his reason for keeping this piece of land. There is a another strip of land he owns just off the paddock that leads to a lane which would be wide enough for him to build a long driveway. I think in the past he has asked the vendor to sell him the paddock with the intention of building a new property on it and therefore use the piece of land we thought was ours for access. Does this change anything? We would never ever sell the paddock. One of the reasons we are moving there is for the privacy it affords us. There are other properties that gardens back onto the paddock but are non intrusive. The land owner said that others had also shown an interest in purchasing this small piece of land but I suppose this could just be a ruse.