Purchase of land next to our propert

AmyF

Hi all,

We live next to a CofE vicarage and have asked if they would be interested in selling us a strip of their land in order to make our garden wider.

Everyone who needs to has agreed in principle (and there are a number of people who had to be asked!), and the diocese sent a surveyor around to value the land and suggest a price. We have agreed that if we proceed, we will pay for their surveying and solicitor's fees, as well as a fence along the new property line.

We're happy with all this, and with the price suggested by the surveyor, but before we proceed any further, I'd like to find out whether it's typical in this situation to instruct our own solicitor to act on our behalf? We did ask a solicitor about it, who just gave a quote (which was nearly as much as the fees for our house purchase!) and didn't indicate whether this is typical, or whether my husband and I could act on our own behalf.

Thanks for any input!

Amy

AdrianC

Do you have a mortgage?
Will you be looking to put both bits of land under a single title, or would you be happy with two titles?
Will the vendor's solicitor be setting up the new title for the land that's being transferred?
Do you have any clue as to the LR processes involved?

Ask a few more local solicitors, if you think the only quote you've had so far is too much - then take a decision. But it's very easy to find later that you've had a total false economy...

davidmcn

Yes, this is the sort of unstraightforward transaction where you'd really want a solicitor. It's not necessarily less work than any other purchase (can even be more complicated) so don't expect the fees to be proportionate to the price. If you have a mortgage then it's probably a condition of it that any additional land you buy is added to the lender's charge, so they would need to be involved too.

hazyjo

Sure there's no forgotten graves six feet under?! :O

TBagpuss

Yes, it would be usual to instruct a solicitor, and it isn't surprisingthat the cost is simialr to a house purchase as it will require at least as much work, possibly more if you want to merge the titile with your exisiting property, and they will in any event need to deal wioth splitting the title of the vicarage (or checking the work doe by the dioscisan solicitor)

AmyF

Thank you SO much for all the feedback - very reassuring that a solicitor will be helpful. We will probably get one or two more quotes just to see if there's much difference and then plow ahead.

I feel reasonably confident there are no graves...

ProDave

They will probably put a "no building" covenant on it to make sure you are not by stealth buying a cheap building plot for a new house.

Watch out for "Chancel Repair" obligations, read the contract with a magnifying glass.

Robin9

Forget "Chancel Repair" no church will pursue this.

The CofE are very bad in handling land sales - expect a very long drawn out saga - they are just not used to it.