I want to buy my neighbour’s grass verge

pbhb

I recently completed on a cottage, the downside is the access into the house on a narrow strip between two grass verges. Because of this I have to drive forward onto my driveway and then turn around on my driveway which is part of my garden so I can drive out forwards. It is extremely hard to reverse out of, so sadly, I have a large piece of gravel in the middle of the garden in which I need to turn around in.

The narrow strip of land into my garden is not owned by me, the right of way was purchased over it around 10 years ago, this right-of-way lasts for around 60 more years.

There is a grass verge next to this narrow strip of land that I use to get to my property. It belongs to a house up the lane who does not have their own parking so they purchased land next to my house to park their cars. Between where they park their cars and the piece of land in which I drive over, there is a grass verge around 3.5m wide. This is just grass but they keep it tidy and mowed. On the other side of the driveway is their garden (they have to walk down the Lane to access their garden but they use their garden often).

Their garden adjoins the bottom of my garden. To be able to do what I want in my garden I really would like to buy the grass verge that belongs to them and use that as parking. This would also mean there is no right of way issue in years to come as the parking spot would be owned out right by the owner of my property. Is this something I can approach my neighbours about? I am happy to pay a good price for it as it would be extremely valuable to me and I Believe it would be valuable when I come to sell the property as there would be no access issues. I am nervous about approaching them, we have spoken since I have moved in and they are extremely friendly, they are an elderly couple in their late 70s. 

As I said, I am happy to pay a good price for the land but I would also be happy to exchange the same size piece of my garden that they can add to theirs. Would it be brazen of me to approach them about this? I don’t want them to find me rude by asking, and I do not want to put any pressure on them to sell it to me, the choice is up to them.

has anyone gone about this themselves? Am I better to approach them face-to-face or to approach them via writing? I’m also happy to pay all the legal costs involved, neither of us have a mortgage so mortgage providers do not need to be involved.

I live in Cambridgeshire, I have no idea where to start on pricing?I have attached images of the grass verge, the access and my driveway which is infact the centre of my garden. Sorry for the red scribbles but would like to maintain the privacy of my neighbours cars in the first pic and also mine and my property. Their grass verge is big enough to turn into a parking space for me, then I could remove my front wall and create a second space on my side. I could then convert the gravel area into a beautiful garden!

sorry for the long post

Octothorpe

I have no experience of this but in your situation I'd ask an experienced solicitor and then approach them in person rather than through written correspondence.  Good luck!

AdrianC

Of course you can approach them and ask.

They may very well say no.
How much would you be prepared to pay?

greatcrested

Good grief! Go and have a chat!

Pointless talking to a solicitor till you know if they are interested in selling.

Bake a nice cake, take it round, and explain your dilemma and proposed solution.

Incidentally, quite rightly, you should drive out forwards- but you could always reverse in so you are facing the right way ready to exit.

SDLT_Geek

greatcrested said:

Bake a nice cake, take it round, and explain your dilemma and proposed solution.

What kind of cake would suit this occasion do you think?  I am verging on suggesting an upside down cake, to symbolise that the land ownerships are now the wrong way around, but could be corrected. 

Mickey666

I've had neighbours approach me to buy bits of land and I've not been offended in the slightest, so I wouldn't worry too much about someone thinking you were rude for asking. If you don't already know the people involved then I would suggest writing to them rather than knocking on their door as a way of starting the discussion.

I suspect pricing will be the biggest issue.  In my case the neighbour I did sell to made a sensible offer and 'got my attention'.  In the cases where I didn't there was simply no incentive for me to bother because they didn't want to offer a decent amount and spent more time trying to tell me the piece of land was worthless anyway, even though it was clearly worth a lot to them.

If you can agree on a price and any conditions required by either side (eg fences etc) then the transaction itself should be very easy.  In my case the neighbour paid all the legal fees and as in your case there were no complications of mortgages.

Personally, I like the maxim "if you don't ask, you don't get" and have many times discovered how a simple, polite approach can open doors.  Good luck

SpiderLegs

Off topic, but I am beginning to think that a certain poster has an undeclared financial interest in some kind of flour, eggs or sugar company. Possibly a vanilla frosting salesman or maybe a jam distributor.

my investigations will continue so be warned.

AdrianC

SpiderLegs said:

Off topic, but I am beginning to think that a certain poster has an undeclared financial interest in some kind of flour, eggs or sugar company. Possibly a vanilla frosting salesman or maybe a jam distributor.

my investigations will continue so be warned.

Icing, this side of the Atlantic, if you don't mind...

greatcrested

I'm no fan of upside down cake myself.

(and especially not tinned pineapple!)

SDLT_Geek

More of a fruitcake, I think?

NameUnavailable

SDLT_Geek said:

greatcrested said:

Bake a nice cake, take it round, and explain your dilemma and proposed solution.

What kind of cake would suit this occasion do you think?  I am verging on suggesting an upside down cake, to symbolise that the land ownerships are now the wrong way around, but could be corrected. 

I would bake a sponge cake and cut it to the shape of the grass verge then hide a toy car inside and decorate with green icing. It would be a nice way to open the conversation and you can cut into it to reveal your issue!