Selling part of garden to developer via option agreement

shan70

Hi,
I bought a house with long garden (approx 100m). On other side of the garden, there is an end of a small cul-de-sac road with only 6 semis. There is no gate on that side. Recently I agreed a price with a developer who wants to go for an option agreement.

The idea is that they will take around 500 sq m of back of the garden to build a house where access will be through the road that ended in the back of the garden. everything was going fine until I have a meeting with the solicitor and have a first glance of TR5 and option agreement.

They put a clauses like "Right of access", "Right of service and installations" through the Retained land (my current house). Because the new house will not be side-by-side it seems bit overdoing. It mean they may take waster water, electricity etc though "The retained land" which will be at least 80m underground services. Because I have a 12m long garage one side of the plot with concrete floor, the service line will go through almost middle of the garden for 40/50 meters out of the 80m route.

I and my solicitor agreed it is overdoing and unnecessary. But the developer is insisting they must have to keep it for just in case, if they can't get services through the end-road.

My concern is that it will effect retained property's sale-ability and price. The developer is saying it's normal should not do any harm.

Can anybody suggest whether my concern is correct or wrong.

During recent discussion regarding this matter I have seen the national grid of electricity and waste water. It is passing through the main road where the 6 house cul-de-sac started. And this 6 houses may be part of a housing association but no where it said the cul-de-sac is a private road. My concern is that the developer is saying it is just in case now, but in future they might prefer to use 80m long garden route instead of digging 50/60m long road cost wise.

I really need suggestion, ultimately I would like to put my house in market as soon as the title is finalised.

davidmcn

Not all that unusual for properties to be affected to some extent by underground services, but I would guess this would prohibit any future building over the line of the services, so you'd need to consider whether future extensions or outbuildings would be desired by future owners of your property.

And of course there's the disruption caused by them digging trenches through your garden in the first place.

It certainly should be taken into account in the price you agree, if it hadn't been been brought up at the outset.

shan70 wrote: »

I would like to put my house in market as soon as the title is finalised.

Not sure what you mean by "the title is finalised"?

shan70

Thanks. I am new in this kind of dealings. All the previous discussion is about how much land they want, price, what they are going to build. The property garden and the retain land garden will be in the same side with a fence in between.

All house could have some kind of underground services but those are usually in the front half up to the buildings. In my case it will be through the middle of the garden unless they break the garage and rebuild that.

"Not sure what you mean by "the title is finalised"?"

I actually have 3 titles in my house. I am selling 2 titles as it is and 1 title will be divided. The previous owner bought neighbours garden and increase the overall land size. So, I need to wait until the option is exercised and title plan is final.

Are not the new buyer of the retained land think twice about this when they see conveyance report. Or their solicitor pin point that?

davidmcn

shan70 wrote: »

So, I need to wait until the option is exercised and title plan is final.

Before or after the new house is built? I doubt people will be happy buying knowing there's about to be a building site.

Are not the new buyer of the retained land think twice about this when they see conveyance report. Or their solicitor pin point that?

Yes, it will be obvious from the title.

eddddy

shan70 wrote: »

I really need suggestion, ultimately I would like to put my house in market as soon as the title is finalised.

Check the option agreement carefully - it may last for up to 2 years (or maybe longer).

That's because option agreements typically allow time for the developer to appeal to the Secretary of State, if planning consent is refused initially.

So you might not be able to sell your house for up to 2 years.

Tom99

Do a Land Reg map search on the cul-de-sac, if it's a private road it may show up with a separate title.
https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/eservices/FindAProperty/view/MapEnquiryInit.do

ReadingTim

eddddy wrote: »

So you might not be able to sell your house for up to 2 years.

Or longer - I'm not sure I'd buy a house where I knew a developer would be building at the bottom of the garden - I'd probably want to wait until the new house was built and I was happy the look of the neighbouring property (and its owners/inhabitants...)

davidmcn

To me an "option agreement" (rather than a "conditional contract") suggests to me that the developer isn't immediately applying for planning, so we could be talking about a longer period. Sometimes they have a very long duration while the developer waits to see if e.g. farmland becomes zoned for residential development.

shan70

Option duration will be 12m + 6m reduced from 18m+6m.

The price offered is not bad. It's 50% of the house price i took 5 yrs ago. About 1/3 of current market price. So i can reduce the retained land price significantly to sell quickly even there would be development going on the other side of the garden, i guess!

But if it is still problem to sell, that i'm trying to figure out.

Slinky

Well it isn't brilliant if it knocks 1/3rd off the value of your existing house and makes it very difficult to sell.



I certainly wouldn't be buying your house, not without a massive reduction due to the uncertainty of what I'd be ending up living next to. The developer could try and vary the original successful permission to increase the size/number of houses on the plot. Until it's built a future purchaser of your house cannot be sure what will end up next to them.