Selling part of garden to neighbour - Looking for some advice

Stubod

..so are you saying you are happy to gift your neighbour £5k while at the same time reducing the value of your own property?

NameUnavailable

Neighbour wants to buy part of your garden entirely for their own benefit. They have offered you half of what it's been valued at and 'generously' offered to pay the legal costs for something that you don't have to be involved in!

I guess it depends how badly you want/need £5K. If the answer is that you don't, and assuming the neighbour isn't some close friend, then I'd politely decline the offer.

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

They haven't valued a bit of the garden at £10k though have they? They have said the neighbours' house would be worth £10k more (questionable) but more importantly when they sell it will be more saleable with an increased garden size. 

If you hold and say you want £10k there would be no point in the neighbour doing it and you will have a bit of garden that means nothing to you and not have £5k in the bank. Push him up a little, by all means, but don't cut your nose off to spite your face.

jimbog

Approach the neighbour who lives at Number 2 and start a bidding war. They might enjoy the secluded area for a hot tub/garden shed/office/vegetable patch

user1977

ssparks2003 said:

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.

Because (a) overage agreements are complicated enough even where the situation justifies it and (b) how are you going to attribute the impact on the future overall value of the house to this bit at the bottom of the garden?

roryfraser91

Thanks for all the replies! 

Just to clear a couple things up, 

Yes I am number 12, the amount that i'm losing i'd say is than 20 percent, it would make my garden the same length as number 11, 10 etc.

Having phoned the mortgage company they said they would have to review the amount of land being sold and what the offer was and would I be looking to take it off the mortgage payment or would I be keeping it. If sent them an email with the attached photo and initial offer and i am awaiting a reply, in the email i have said i haven't accepted this offer.

The neighbour said that in discussions with the previous home owner of my property, the estate agent he'd used for the valuation agreed that the reduction of price on our property would be negligible.

My next move would be to get another independent surveyor to value the part of the land etc. Does anyone have experience in this? Did you just used an estate agent? Or did you find someone that was chartered and a member of RICS and approach them directly?

Atomix

Whereabouts are you in the uk?
As its your neighbour needing the extra garden... i wouldnt bother for less than £10k, it simply isnt worth the hassle. Also your view at the back is going to change, they might put something at the end of their garden that youll be looking at... no thanks, why would you want to bring your neighbours closer...

Swasterix

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster said:

They haven't valued a bit of the garden at £10k though have they? They have said the neighbours' house would be worth £10k more (questionable) but more importantly when they sell it will be more saleable with an increased garden size. 

If you hold and say you want £10k there would be no point in the neighbour doing it and you will have a bit of garden that means nothing to you and not have £5k in the bank. Push him up a little, by all means, but don't cut your nose off to spite your face.

Not exactly. Do you think the neighbour is doing it to increase the value of their property? No. They’re doing it to have a bigger/better garden, which may or may not be worth more than £10k to them. 

OP holds all the cards here and unless they really need the money, they can ask whatever they want for it. Remember, OP didn’t ask to sell it, neighbour asked to buy it. 

I personally think the neighbour is being rather cheeky. If I were in the same situation, I’d personally tell the neighbour to do one. 

Swasterix

roryfraser91 said:

Thanks for all the replies! 

Just to clear a couple things up, 

Yes I am number 12, the amount that i'm losing i'd say is than 20 percent, it would make my garden the same length as number 11, 10 etc.

Having phoned the mortgage company they said they would have to review the amount of land being sold and what the offer was and would I be looking to take it off the mortgage payment or would I be keeping it. If sent them an email with the attached photo and initial offer and i am awaiting a reply, in the email i have said i haven't accepted this offer.

The neighbour said that in discussions with the previous home owner of my property, the estate agent he'd used for the valuation agreed that the reduction of price on our property would be negligible.

My next move would be to get another independent surveyor to value the part of the land etc. Does anyone have experience in this? Did you just used an estate agent? Or did you find someone that was chartered and a member of RICS and approach them directly?

Never done it before, but I’d suggest you ignore the estate agent and employ a surveyor (at the neighbours expense, naturally). 

Edit to add- Don’t forget you can also feel free to ignore what a surveyor says too if you’re not happy with the valuation. Don’t forget that this is your land, you do not have to sell and it needs to be worth your while. 

zagubov

I'm totally agreeing with those that say you're adding £10k to his houses's value plus providing the utility of a larger garden until he sells.
You don't have to accept less than that £10k plus legal costs and whatever your mortgage provider's surveyor (paid for by him) reckons is your decrease in value.