Purchasing part of neighbours land

AdrianC

simons_s wrote: »

It sounds like 20k isn't an unreasonable amount to ask for. My main worry was that this was a ludicrous amount for land that is only valuable to next door, or me, but it appears it's not.

It's as ludicrous - or reasonable - as you and he agree it to be.

Am I right in thinking the first step to getting this done is to contact a surveyor to draw up a plan? And then after we have a plan, pass this onto a solicitor who will register with the land registry?

Yep. Does he have a mortgage?

Does anyone know who is responsible for building & paying for the fence on the new boundary? As I will be buying the land and because the fence that side of the house is already mine, I'm going to assume I will be paying for that as well. Is that correct?

Whatever you agree between you. But if he takes responsibility, you're paying for it indirectly...

eddddy

simons_s wrote: »

It sounds like 20k isn't an unreasonable amount to ask for. My main worry was that this was a ludicrous amount for land that is only valuable to next door, or me, but it appears it's not.

If you're looking at this purely as a business transaction, the question is "How much does this land increase the value of my house?".

• If the extra land makes your house worth £50k more - then £20k is very cheap.

• If the extra land makes your house worth £0k more (i.e. no added value) - then £20k is very expensive.

But perhaps you're not buying it for "business reasons".

So, for example...

• If the land adds £0k to your house's value - will you get £20k worth of enjoyment from the land? If so, you should buy it.

• But if you won't get £20k worth of enjoyment from the land, you should spend the £20k on something else that gives you more enjoyment.

simons_s wrote: »

Does anyone know who is responsible for building & paying for the fence on the new boundary?

If you want, you can include a term in the contract or a covenant stating who is responsible for building a fence.

simons_s

AdrianC wrote: »

Yep. Does he have a mortgage?

I'm not sure i'll have to find this out. I'm guessing this is an issue as the house could be worth less afterwards?

I have a mortgage. Would my bank need notifying? I can't imagine our property value going down from having more land.

AdrianC wrote: »

Whatever you agree between you. But if he takes responsibility, you're paying for it indirectly...

True.

simons_s

eddddy wrote: »

If you're looking at this purely as a business transaction, the question is "How much does this land increase the value of my house?".

• If the extra land makes your house worth £50k more - then £20k is very cheap.

• If the extra land makes your house worth £0k more (i.e. no added value) - then £20k is very expensive.

But perhaps you're not buying it for "business reasons".

So, for example...

• If the land adds £0k to your house's value - will you get £20k worth of enjoyment from the land? If so, you should buy it.

• But if you won't get £20k worth of enjoyment from the land, you should spend the £20k on something else that gives you more enjoyment.

If you want, you can include a term in the contract or a covenant stating who is responsible for building a fence.

That's a good way to look at it, thanks.

We're not doing this for business reasons. It's hard to say if it would give us 20k worth of enjoyment, but pretty sure it would to be honest. We plan to buy the land for 20k.

eddddy

simons_s wrote: »

I'm not sure i'll have to find this out. I'm guessing this is an issue as the house could be worth less afterwards?

You neighbour will need his/her mortgage lender's consent. They will probably send out a valuer to take a look.

They may, or may not, decide it's OK to release part of the land.

(It will probably depend on things like how much is still owed on the mortgage)

simons_s wrote: »

I have a mortgage. Would my bank need notifying? I can't imagine our property value going down from having more land.

If you're merging the title of the new land with your existing land, your mortgage lender will need to be involved.

But you could just leave the new land on a separate title if you want, so nothing changes with your current property - so no need to involve your mortgage lender.

davidmcn

eddddy wrote: »

But you could just leave the new land on a separate title if you want, so nothing changes with your current property - so no need to involve your mortgage lender.

It's often a mortgage condition that if you buy neighbouring land you'll add it to the lender's charge (otherwise they wouldn't be able to repossess it, so worst case scenario from their point of view is that e.g. you build an extension on the extra land and they end up only being able to repossess half of your kitchen...).

simons_s

Thanks everyone.

I'm a little confused about how to proceed with transferring the land.

Do we both need a solicitor or can one solicitor manage the whole process?

I rang up a local solicitor who has confused me even more. They've told me it's the seller who should get in touch with them to start the transfer process off and than I may not need a plan from a surveyor as if the land registry is clear they can change it easy enough?

Does that sound correct?