Developer interested in buying my property

ThisIsWeird

Don't be rushed into a decision!

If you check the Planning Portal of your LA, I'd have thought that the proposed development would be shown there - an outline proposal at least? I mean, the developers will have a good idea of what they wish to achieve, including what will be sitting on your plot.

I would suggest that they'd be very reluctant to demolish half a house. That is major work, and likely for relatively little benefit to them; almost certainly they'd much rather buy both properties. I'm not saying to take their claims of being 'ok' about just buying your neighb's house and leaving yours standing with a pinch of salt, but I'm just suggesting that - regardless of what they may claim - almost certainly they'd much prefer to buy both. But there will likely come a trigger point - if you ask for too much - that they do say, 'nope'.

If you are genuinely happy there, and really do not wish to move, then the worst case scenario for you would appear to be that you live adjacent to a building site for a year or so, and also have to put up with the noise and disruption of half the building being removed. BUT, they must put right any damage, and make good your side so it's a fully-fledged house. AND, it'll now seemingly be detached, and theoretically worth significantly more.

(I wonder if they have the right to remove your neighbour's side, and then rebuild on to yours?! If so, I'd personally be looking to move!)

You need as accurate a valuation as you can get for your house in this situation, and then see how this compares with the offers made. This will surely be noticeably more than your house would fetch if you were to just sell it normally, so - armed with that hopefully tempting figure - check out what you can buy with this in an equally desirable (for you) area. If you can solidly better yourself, then why not

Please keep us posted on how things progress - it's an interesting one

ProDave

If you like the area, I would be asking the builder to see their plans and be discussing along the lines that I might sell if I could then have my choice of plot on the new development with my choice of house built on it.

daveyjp

beckysbobbles12 said:

Section62 said:

beckysbobbles12 said:

I know nothing about figures but honestly can't see how they could offer a substantial amount more than asking price and still make their development profitable.

It depends exactly what they have planned for the land.

You'll probably get replies saying you have the developer 'over a barrel' and can name your price, but as you've already found out, the developer could buy the neighbouring property and demolish it whilst leaving yours intact (save for converting it into a detached property).

Whether the developers would benefit from buying your property depends on a) whether the additional land would be useful and b) the cost of buying your property vs the cost of doing the work required to protect your property when the neighbouring half is removed.

In terms of profitability, developers are often able to turn a profit by demolishing an existing dwelling and replacing it with something more modern/desirable.  It all depends on the exact circumstances of each individual case.

They are unlikely to want to talk to you about selling unless they have already identified a route to profiting from the transaction.

Thank you. The plan is for a residential home/units I believe. I imagine our properties would be used for parking but who knows.

Someone said I need to be careful about compulsory purchase order, surely that's not the case for me?

I have access to free legal advice at work so I'm going to call them today.

In general only public authorities can CPO and CPOs are only used as a last resport mechanism where normal negotiations have failed and where there is now an unwilling vendor preventing development for the public good.

user1977

ThisIsWeird said:

If you check the Planning Portal of your LA, I'd have thought that the proposed development would be shown there - an outline proposal at least? I mean, the developers will have a good idea of what they wish to achieve, including what will be sitting on your plot.

The developers won't be daft enough to submit a planning application before they know whether the land is available! And even if they had, the OP would have had notification of it anyway.

But on that point, I would bear in mind that any offer is likely to be conditional on them getting planning - so if you end up tied into a contract for a couple of years (i.e. unable to sell to anybody else), and which possibly never completes, what's that worth?

sheramber

ProDave said:

If you like the area, I would be asking the builder to see their plans and be discussing along the lines that I might sell if I could then have my choice of plot on the new development with my choice of house built on it.

They've mentioned residential care home so that could include noise pollution and parking issues.

Section62

ThisIsWeird said:

If you check the Planning Portal of your LA, I'd have thought that the proposed development would be shown there - an outline proposal at least? I mean, the developers will have a good idea of what they wish to achieve, including what will be sitting on your plot.

Details of the proposals are likely to only go online once a formal planning application has been made - the developer is probably in (commercially confidential) discussions with the council via the pre-app process in terms of what is acceptable, and given the sale of the council-owned land and the provision of additional care places, the OP can probably take it as read that the development will happen.

ThisIsWeird said:

I would suggest that they'd be very reluctant to demolish half a house. That is major work, and likely for relatively little benefit to them; almost certainly they'd much rather buy both properties. I'm not saying to take their claims of being 'ok' about just buying your neighb's house and leaving yours standing with a pinch of salt, but I'm just suggesting that - regardless of what they may claim - almost certainly they'd much prefer to buy both. But there will likely come a trigger point - if you ask for too much - that they do say, 'nope'.

I wouldn't say "major".  Demolishing part of a building is relatively routine work - developers take on much larger projects demolishing units within terraces (in particular in town centres) without too much angst.  Gaining planning consent might be the tricky part if demolition of the other half leaves the OP's house looking 'odd', the planners would want a solution that looks Ok.

The physical work required to make good the OP's property is unlikely to be 'major', but the economics are variable depending largely on what the OP's property is actually worth.

ThisIsWeird said:

AND, it'll now seemingly be detached, and theoretically worth significantly more.

Again, "significantly" isn't something I'd commit to.  It depends how the finished result looks, and the extent to which people are Ok living next door to a business like a care home.  The property could finish up with part of one of its external walls owned by a third-party, which could complicate getting a mortgage.  Becoming the owner of a detached property won't necessarily be all up-side.

ThisIsWeird said:

(I wonder if they have the right to remove your neighbour's side, and then rebuild on to yours?! If so, I'd personally be looking to move!)

Yes. The Party Wall Act is relevant here.  In most cases you can demolish and rebuild, with all the usual provisos.

Neil49

You really need to see the plans before you do anything else. 

If the buildings are close to your property you need to consider the impact on your day to day life. In all probability they will be installing heat pumps with compressors for heating purposes and possibly air conditioning units, both of which create noise day and night.

Not only would that be annoying it would also have an impact on the future value of your property and put people off buying it. 

user1977

Also bear in mind any plans you are shown now may not resemble the final proposals...

prettyandfluffy

Without disclosing it to the developer or your neighbour why don't you have a look in your local area and see what's out there? I would be looking at this from two angles: 1. What could I get for £X ? 2. How much are properties like mine going for?
Doing this research may help you decide whether or not you're interested in further discussion with the developer.

NameUnavailable

If I were to sell I'd want a premium over market value to compensate for the fact that you don't particularly want to move - removal costs etc., as well as getting some kind of improvement over your current property (i.e. you can afford a bigger place, or better area, or equivalent and have cash in the bank).

If you don't sell and the neighbour does, then the risk is that you end up living next to something you don't like. They could well build onto your property, the value/saleability could be affected adversely. Lots of unknowns.

You need to speak to them and get a better understanding of what they're looking to do and what they're proposing to offer. It would probably be better to team up with the neighbour if/when it comes down to negotiations over price.