Value of back garden

Davesnave

It's possible to sell to 4 neighbours at the same time. I did it. It was some years ago now.

I worked out roughly what the extra garden would add to the properties' value and suggested a price.

The 4 came back with a price about 1/3 of my price, so I told them not to bother.

There was quite a long pause, then the neighbours had the plot valued and increased their offer to about 3/5 of my price.

Trouble was, the valuer was working for them, not me, and he ignored marriage value in his long, waffling report. So, I rejected the offer, saying why.

About a year later, one of the 4 finally  cracked and set up a meeting. They were more organised by then and rather ambushed me, so it wasn't much of a discussion and I left quickly saying my price still stood. Shortly after, the spokesperson said they'd meet the price and pay legals, so (at last!) we had an agreement.

....However, right at the 11th hour one of the four tried a gazunder. I told him to go forth and multiply and a day later he was back on board. I think all 4 knew that if anyone dropped out, the house next door might buy instead and then have a bit of garden behind theirs. How awful!

Not the fastest £20k I've made, but we got there in the end.

ashpan

Davesnave said:

It's possible to sell to 4 neighbours at the same time. I did it. It was some years ago now.

I worked out roughly what the extra garden would add to the properties' value and suggested a price.

The 4 came back with a price about 1/3 of my price, so I told them not to bother.

There was quite a long pause, then the neighbours had the plot valued and increased their offer to about 3/5 of my price.

Trouble was, the valuer was working for them, not me, and he ignored marriage value in his long, waffling report. So, I rejected the offer, saying why.

About a year later, one of the 4 finally  cracked and set up a meeting. They were more organised by then and rather ambushed me, so it wasn't much of a discussion and I left quickly saying my price still stood. Shortly after, the spokesperson said they'd meet the price and pay legals, so (at last!) we had an agreement.

....However, right at the 11th hour one of the four tried a gazunder. I told him to go forth and multiply and a day later he was back on board. I think all 4 knew that if anyone dropped out, the house next door might buy instead and then have a bit of garden behind theirs. How awful!

Not the fastest £20k I've made, but we got there in the end.

What legals were involved, land registry etc? All 3 have built single storey extensions into their already small gardens, one has a young family.  Im also thinking of selling my main property and garden and retaining the strip that backs onto their 3 gardens (if they decline) with access for me of course, and then selling in years to come when the 2 more elderly householders have popped their cloggs so to speak!
Can you tell me more about the marriage value please

ashpan

eddddy said:

You should aim to sell at the maximum price that the neighbours are prepared to pay - whatever that is. Unfortunately there is no formula for working that out.

If you asked a valuer, they would look at 'marriage values' - i.e. How much the neighbour's houses will increase in value with larger gardens. But TBH, it's likely that larger gardens will not really increase the value of their houses at all (unless it means they can extend their houses etc)

So it's really just down to lifestyle / emotional factors. For example, if a neighbour wants more room for their children to play, or more room to grow vegetables, etc - how badly do they want it, and so how much are they prepared to pay?

If only 1 or 2 neighbours (out of the 3) want more garden, is the scheme still viable?

i think its still viable as the one/s who want to buy could purchase the strip behind the garden of the one/s who don't if you catch my drift.

ashpan

trex227 said:

2 doors down from my parents bought the top section of their neighbours garden (inter war property with 2 largeish sections of gardens) for £30k. They’re wealthy and wanted somewhere for kids play equipment to be out of the main garden.

Theres some overgrown garden land directly behind our house (prob half size of the above plot). If the owner offered to sell it to me absolute max I would pay is £2k. After all it’s more garden to tend to, I’d have to take out the fence/put a gate in i.e. a load of hassle.

And that’s before even getting into the legal hassle. I used to work at a solicitors and we were always getting asked to deal with garden sales. Because the transactions tend to drag on and are more annoying to deal with we didn’t quote much less on legal fees than what we charged for a sale or purchase. Also often you have to get a surveyor in to draw up plans that are Land Registry compliant for it to be registered upon completion.

roughly what does a solicitor charge and what would a surveyor charge to draw up plans and registration? thanks

Davesnave

ashpan said:

Davesnave said:

It's possible to sell to 4 neighbours at the same time. I did it. It was some years ago now.

I worked out roughly what the extra garden would add to the properties' value and suggested a price.

The 4 came back with a price about 1/3 of my price, so I told them not to bother.

There was quite a long pause, then the neighbours had the plot valued and increased their offer to about 3/5 of my price.

Trouble was, the valuer was working for them, not me, and he ignored marriage value in his long, waffling report. So, I rejected the offer, saying why.

About a year later, one of the 4 finally  cracked and set up a meeting. They were more organised by then and rather ambushed me, so it wasn't much of a discussion and I left quickly saying my price still stood. Shortly after, the spokesperson said they'd meet the price and pay legals, so (at last!) we had an agreement.

....However, right at the 11th hour one of the four tried a gazunder. I told him to go forth and multiply and a day later he was back on board. I think all 4 knew that if anyone dropped out, the house next door might buy instead and then have a bit of garden behind theirs. How awful!

Not the fastest £20k I've made, but we got there in the end.

What legals were involved, land registry etc? All 3 have built single storey extensions into their already small gardens, one has a young family.  Im also thinking of selling my main property and garden and retaining the strip that backs onto their 3 gardens (if they decline) with access for me of course, and then selling in years to come when the 2 more elderly householders have popped their cloggs so to speak!
Can you tell me more about the marriage value please

Edddy has already said what 'marriage value' means. The houses in question are now worth over 1/2 million, so doubling the length of their tiny gardens was worthwhile at the price, especially as it gave them sun in part of the garden during the day, not just in the late afternoon/evening. Every situation is different and adding to a larger garden might not increase value much.

As for the legal matters, after  I prepared a plan of the land I was selling, it was up to the buyers to decide how it would be divided-up. I just sold the whole piece, having already separated it from my house title plan when I sold the house. As a whole, it had it's own title and what the other 4 parties did with that wasn't my concern.They paid for all the conveyancing though.