Selling part of garden to neighbour - Looking for some advice

roryfraser91

Hi There,

As the discussion title says, I am in the process of having discussions with a neighbour to sell the end of my garden. He has had a valuation from an estate agent that it would add around £10000 to his property/make it easier to sell in the future. 

After initial discussions and research on the internet he has offered to pay for both sides solicitors. He as made an initial offer of £5000 for the land, half the costs of what it is valued so still somewhat an investment. Has anyone else had dealings like this where a 50/50 split has been suggested? Personally i'd feel more inclined to go for 65/35 or 70/30 as I would be losing land and only gaining half, whereas the other party is gaining land, improving there garden and property value/saleability. 

I've attached a plan with rough dimensions of the part of the property that is being sold.

Thank you advanced for any responses!

Jeffrey_Shaw

If his valuation shows £10 000, why is he wanting to buy it for only £5000?

user1977

roryfraser91 said:

He has had a valuation from an estate agent that it would add around £10000 to his property/make it easier to sell in the future. 

What would the effect be on the value/marketability of your property?

Do you have a mortgage? If so you'll need the lender's consent to the sale (and they'll have fees to pay).

Jeffrey_Shaw

user1977 said:

roryfraser91 said:

He has had a valuation from an estate agent that it would add around £10000 to his property/make it easier to sell in the future.

Do you have a mortgage? If so you'll need the lender's consent to the sale (and they'll have fees to pay).

Yes, but P is paying both sides' fees.

MoJoeGo

Jeffrey_Shaw said:

If his valuation shows £10 000, why is he wanting to buy it for only £5000?

Well it's a bit more nuanced than that - it may raise the value of his property by 10k, but does the OP know what the corresponding reduction in value is for their property - from the plan it looks like they'd be losing 15-20% of their garden?

Obviously if it's more than 10k then this is a total non starter!

user1977

Jeffrey_Shaw said:

user1977 said:

roryfraser91 said:

He has had a valuation from an estate agent that it would add around £10000 to his property/make it easier to sell in the future.

Do you have a mortgage? If so you'll need the lender's consent to the sale (and they'll have fees to pay).

Yes, but P is paying both sides' fees.

Yes, I'd expect that principle to apply, just not clear whether anybody's thought about it (if it's applicable).

oz0707

If yours is the number 12 House I would guess the reduction in garden would have close to no effect on a surveyors valuation. Thats not to say your mortgage company wouldn't want to swallow the whole price you receive but it's still money in the bank so to speak.

I bought 3 partial gardens in the past all roughly the same size all neighbouring. I think the purchase prices were 6k,8k,12k for all the same pieces. Some were obviously better at negotiating than others! The chap who had a mortgage was the 8 k from memory.

theoretica

The percentage way of looking at it seems odd - it isn't a joint venture.  £10k - fees (and maybe fencing costs) would seem to me a starting point.  But how much do you want to sell?

ssparks2003

If its adding 10k to his house value and making it easier to sell, easier sale is an additional value to him. I struggle to see why the conversation is not starting at 10k + a covenant for X years on the rising Vale of his house if he sells.

GDB2222

The estate agent valuation must be a bit suspect, surely?

Swasterix

I understand that the reduction in your property value may be negligible, but why would you want to effectively gift your neighbour £5k? It would have to be a minimum of £10k + fees for me. Even at that price, if the valuation is correct, the neighbour would more or less break even.