Selling land

GDJTAM

Hi MSE people,
After googling this for 30 mins I gave up and thought of asking you good people for help.

My Mother in Law is in her late 70s and owns her own home. She and her neighbours have a very long back garden (approx (200ft) that backs onto waste land. She and her neighbours have received a letter from a property developer wanting to buy 50ft of her land.

My Mother in Law wants to sell so has asked me to look into this for her. She has received a letter saying the developer will pay all legal costs but I'm sure there's more to it that just signing a document. Deed changes etc...

Has anyone been in this position that could offer help with what questions to ask. My first thought was to get another developer involved to see what they would offer.

Any help would be great.

Slithery

Does she have a mortgage?

silvercar

Is the developer's offer subject to obtaining outline planning permission?

It may be worth all the owners that have land the developer is interested in getting together to maximise the price.

Basically the deeds will have to be split so there is two plots, the one with the house and smaller garden and the remaining land. Then one can be sold without the other.

da_rule

silvercar wrote: »

Is the developer's offer subject to obtaining outline planning permission?

It may be worth all the owners that have land the developer is interested in getting together to maximise the price.

Basically the deeds will have to be split so there is two plots, the one with the house and smaller garden and the remaining land. Then one can be sold without the other.

The deeds don’t have to be split, you’ll simply use a transfer of part (TP1) transfer deed. The Land Registry will then create a new title for the part that is sold.

eddddy

GDJTAM wrote: »

My first thought was to get another developer involved to see what they would offer.

I suspect that your first big challenge will be to get all the neighbours aligned.

i.e. Getting them all to agree that they want to sell part of their gardens, and to each agree what percentage of the selling price they should get.

But if you can do that, you can start thinking about marketing the gardens to another developer.


It's likely to be a complex arrangement involving conditional contracts or options, which are subject to planning consent etc. And their mortgage lenders will need to be involved. If some of the neighbours are elderly etc, they might feel a bit befuddled by it all.

davidmcn

eddddy wrote: »

But if you can do that, you can start thinking about marketing the gardens to another developer.

Not if any development requires the land to the rear, which the first developer (perhaps) already owns?

She really needs advice from a surveyor used to this type of development, who can advise on likely value and negotiation tactics (e.g. if the development requires all the neighbours to sign up then how best to play that).

Obviously she should also consider whether she wants the development to take place and how that might affect her remaining property - and whether refusing to sell would put a spanner in the works or just keep the development 50 feet further away from her house.

GDJTAM

Many thanks for the question. She is mortgage free

Contact a surveyor...excellent, it's now on my list thank you

Out of 8 neighbours, 1 in saying no so I will ask how this affects the sale.

TP1 transfer deed...I will be looking into that thank you

Excellent replies, thank you

davidmcn

GDJTAM wrote: »

Contact a surveyor...excellent, it's now on my list thank you

And ask the developer to cover the surveyor's fees as well as legal costs.

agrinnall

If there's 1 hold out that may prevent the sale of any of the pieces of land - the developer is likely to want all or nothing.

G_M

The legal and surveyors fees are just the start. Yes, get the developer o agree to cover these, but the key issues are


* how much is the land worth? Not to Mother in Law, or indeed how much the value of her property might reduce by loss of large garden, but how much is it worth to the developer......?


* Will Mother in Law be happy with new housing being built at the bottom of her garden. Years of noise, then restriction on her view etc etc

GDJTAM

Excellent replies, I will get her home valued before agreeing to any sale but will also get a valuation with the new plans too.