selling part of the garden?

Ectophile

£2.5 K sounds too cheap to me.  Losing a chunk of garden will have some impact on the value of your house, and will probably have a bigger positive impact on the value of theirs.

If they pay you enough, then you shouldn't care about the loss in value of your property - you already have the money.  But don't give away the land for less than it's worth.  If you want to, be mercenary.  The value of the land is how much it's worth to them.

SootySweep1

Hi
If you choose to sell them some land you need to understand what impact it would have on the value of their house.

I'd suspect it would be more than £2.5k

Jen

twopenny

I agree that if you sell you should have a legally written agreement that it would not be built on, not even a shed.

That could cause some problems with the outlook and privacy issues.

Emmia

Personally the £2.5k sounds too little (what percentage of your property value is it?) - when compared with potential uplift in their property price & a reduction in yours.

The smaller garden (in comparison to your neighbours) will almost certainly make your property less attractive from a selling perspective too...

They want it, and you're the only person who can sell it to them - so it's a sellers market... but once sold, you'll never get it back.

Hudsonbutler

Be careful,  they might want to put a log cabin for holiday let. I know that can happen. 

GDB2222

Chickereeeee said:

How about a written agreement giving them access to the end of your garden, but not ownership? The fence would be moved, but not the boundary (although you may still need a boundary fence, with gate). The agreement would make it clear that any future owner with not have to abide by by it.

This is a great idea. 

You grant your neighbour a licence to use a chunk of garden, revocable at any time. 

It’s a win win solution, if all your neighbour really wants is a bit more gardening, and you want a bit less. 

There’s no loss of value to your property, as you still own the whole garden. You probably don’t need to involve your lender.

Your neighbour probably can’t build a 3m extension on his house, as he can’t guarantee that you will let him use your bit of garden indefinitely. Or, at least, he will have to come clean about why he wants the land and increase his offer tenfold.

As there’s a licence, your neighbour cannot claim adverse possession.

I don’t think that you can charge him for that, but he ought to pay all the legal fees. 

TELLIT01

Hudsonbutler said:

Be careful,  they might want to put a log cabin for holiday let. I know that can happen. 

Yup.  It can definitely happen.  Shortly after our new neighbours moved in they let us know they had applied for planning permission to put a cabin at the bottom of the garden - our garden is about 50 metres long too.  We had no objection as it was on the opposite boundary and doesn't affect sunlight into our garden.  Planning permission stated it would be used for occasional visits by family and friends.  The reality is that their parents moved in and live there permanently.  It's not causing us any problems so I haven't tried to stop it.

According to the planning approval the cabin can be removed 'as a single item' which would take some doing.  It's about 15 feet wide and nearly 40 feet long, so wouldn't go down the side of the house and is approximately 200 feet from the road to it would take some crane to lift it over

johannis

TELLIT01 said:

I doubt selling 4 metres of a 50 metre garden would have a negative effect on the value of the property.  Those wishing to purchase it may want it in order to build an extension on their own property.  The land isn't directly for that purpose but would potentially enable them to keep a decent garden after the 3 metre depth of permitted development is occupied by an extension.

If that is their reasoning I would suggest that the land is worth more than a couple of grand to them.

I did find the comment "the houses directly behind have really small gardens. ridiculous historical anomaly." odd even if the houses were all built at the same time.  Not all properties have ever been built with 'standard' size gardens.  We have a 50 metre garden and those behind us about 15 metre but they were built at different times.

my point was that all it serves is to sow potential resentment.

TELLIT01

johannis said:

TELLIT01 said:

I doubt selling 4 metres of a 50 metre garden would have a negative effect on the value of the property.  Those wishing to purchase it may want it in order to build an extension on their own property.  The land isn't directly for that purpose but would potentially enable them to keep a decent garden after the 3 metre depth of permitted development is occupied by an extension.

If that is their reasoning I would suggest that the land is worth more than a couple of grand to them.

I did find the comment "the houses directly behind have really small gardens. ridiculous historical anomaly." odd even if the houses were all built at the same time.  Not all properties have ever been built with 'standard' size gardens.  We have a 50 metre garden and those behind us about 15 metre but they were built at different times.

my point was that all it serves is to sow potential resentment.

 I genuinely do not understand why it should cause resentment.  The sale doesn't affect anybody other than the two parties involved.  If they were selling the majority of their garden I could see potential for concern.

johannis

Thanks all, reinforcing my general thoughts. 
They are currently seeing planning permission but to extend out the side i think.
It's unlikey they are building to let and any structure would have little impact on us due to the distance from the house.
Also we are also considering extending and would want to maintain some decent relations with them.
I'm awaiting a conversation withthe estate agent who sold our house to us, to get their thoughts.
I think i'm inclined to go back to them and suggest they rethink their offer.