Transfer of ownership of a small piece of garden land to a neighbour

Nellie67

My neighbour wants to purchase a small patch of my garden and has offered a sum of money for this to be official.  Their solicitor wrote : "my clients are prepared to offer you £5,000 to

enter into a boundary agreement on the basis of the below diagram. The money shall be

held by xxxxxx in escrow to be paid to you once registration has been

completed. My clients shall not seek a contribution to their costs."
They do not seek contribution too their costs, but I'm trying to understand what MY costs will be if I agree to sell it. I have not appointed a solicitor thus far and was hoping to avoid this cost if I can as it seems quite straight forward. Does a surveyor/ conveyancer/solicitor need to be appointed if the boundary location has been agreed between the parties with a drawn plan and the sum agreed? 
Will the Land Registry fee be my cost of the neighbour's cost? 
Is there anything I should be considering that I have not thought of? 
Thanks for any sage advice. 

Slinky

I'd be insisting they cover your costs as well as theirs, that your payment will be £5K net of all costs.

user1977

Do you have a mortgage? If so then the lender's consent will be needed, and they'll no doubt have costs for you to pay.

As above it would be pretty commonplace in such a situation for the neighbour to meet all of your costs.

propertyrental

Assuming you are happy with the sale price (are you....?) tell the neighbour/his solicitor you expect him to fully cover your costs ie your solicitor, survvey to draw up the new boundary and specify the two new Land registry Plans (ie your reduced garden Plan and the new Plan for the land being sold, plus all Land registry and other related costs.

No reason for you to bear any costs as it is the neighbour who wants this to happen....

Do you have a mortgage? If so your lender will have to approve the sale (and there might be a cost for them to consider the request which, again, your neighbour should cover).

ps - is this your neighbour......?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6511776/buying-land#latest

Nellie67

propertyrental said:

Assuming you are happy with the sale price (are you....?) tell the neighbour/his solicitor you expect him to fully cover your costs ie your solicitor, survvey to draw up the new boundary and specify the two new Land registry Plans (ie your reduced garden Plan and the new Plan for the land being sold, plus all Land registry and other related costs.

No reason for you to bear any costs as it is the neighbour who wants this to happen....

Do you have a mortgage? If so your lender will have to approve the sale (and there might be a cost for them to consider the request which, again, your neighbour should cover).

ps - is this your neighbour......?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6511776/buying-land#latest

Thanks. No there is no mortgage on the property so no lender approval needed. I originally contested the price and asked for £7,500. But they are sticking with £5k (which to be fair is reasonable for the size of the bit of scrub at the end of my garden). 
This has been a long drawn out exchange of emails which started with getting a surveyor in to determine the boundary. They didn't like the surveyor outcome so found an excuse to contest it based on the fact that the surveyor hadn't complied with instructions. Since then they are wanting to offer money or take me to court for costs. 
I want it to end and really don't want to go to court. Nor do I want any costs. But I will accept the £5k. 

Nellie67

Nellie67 said:

propertyrental said:

Assuming you are happy with the sale price (are you....?) tell the neighbour/his solicitor you expect him to fully cover your costs ie your solicitor, survvey to draw up the new boundary and specify the two new Land registry Plans (ie your reduced garden Plan and the new Plan for the land being sold, plus all Land registry and other related costs.

No reason for you to bear any costs as it is the neighbour who wants this to happen....

Do you have a mortgage? If so your lender will have to approve the sale (and there might be a cost for them to consider the request which, again, your neighbour should cover).

ps - is this your neighbour......?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6511776/buying-land#latest

Thanks. No there is no mortgage on the property so no lender approval needed. I originally contested the price and asked for £7,500. But they are sticking with £5k (which to be fair is reasonable for the size of the bit of scrub at the end of my garden). 
This has been a long drawn out exchange of emails which started with getting a surveyor in to determine the boundary. They didn't like the surveyor outcome so found an excuse to contest it based on the fact that the surveyor hadn't complied with instructions. Since then they are wanting to offer money or take me to court for costs. 
I want it to end and really don't want to go to court. Nor do I want any costs. But I will accept the £5k. 

And no - that is not the neighbour!!! 

Nellie67

user1977 said:

Do you have a mortgage? If so then the lender's consent will be needed, and they'll no doubt have costs for you to pay.

As above it would be pretty commonplace in such a situation for the neighbour to meet all of your costs.

No mortgage.

Emmia

Nellie67 said:

propertyrental said:

Assuming you are happy with the sale price (are you....?) tell the neighbour/his solicitor you expect him to fully cover your costs ie your solicitor, survvey to draw up the new boundary and specify the two new Land registry Plans (ie your reduced garden Plan and the new Plan for the land being sold, plus all Land registry and other related costs.

No reason for you to bear any costs as it is the neighbour who wants this to happen....

Do you have a mortgage? If so your lender will have to approve the sale (and there might be a cost for them to consider the request which, again, your neighbour should cover).

ps - is this your neighbour......?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6511776/buying-land#latest

Thanks. No there is no mortgage on the property so no lender approval needed. I originally contested the price and asked for £7,500. But they are sticking with £5k (which to be fair is reasonable for the size of the bit of scrub at the end of my garden). 
This has been a long drawn out exchange of emails which started with getting a surveyor in to determine the boundary. They didn't like the surveyor outcome so found an excuse to contest it based on the fact that the surveyor hadn't complied with instructions. Since then they are wanting to offer money or take me to court for costs. 
I want it to end and really don't want to go to court. Nor do I want any costs. But I will accept the £5k. 

Interesting... It's a sellers market, they want your garden... For me it would be the £7.5k + costs take it or leave it.

They can't buy another strip of land to join it to their garden,  and you can't sell that land again.

propertyrental

Nellie67 said:

propertyrental said:

Assuming you are happy with the sale price (are you....?) tell the neighbour/his solicitor you expect him to fully cover your costs ie your solicitor, survvey to draw up the new boundary and specify the two new Land registry Plans (ie your reduced garden Plan and the new Plan for the land being sold, plus all Land registry and other related costs.

No reason for you to bear any costs as it is the neighbour who wants this to happen....

Do you have a mortgage? If so your lender will have to approve the sale (and there might be a cost for them to consider the request which, again, your neighbour should cover).

ps - is this your neighbour......?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6511776/buying-land#latest

Thanks. No there is no mortgage on the property so no lender approval needed. I originally contested the price and asked for £7,500. But they are sticking with £5k (which to be fair is reasonable for the size of the bit of scrub at the end of my garden). 
This has been a long drawn out exchange of emails which started with getting a surveyor in to determine the boundary. They didn't like the surveyor outcome so found an excuse to contest it based on the fact that the surveyor hadn't complied with instructions. Since then they are wanting to offer money or take me to court for costs. 
I want it to end and really don't want to go to court. Nor do I want any costs. But I will accept the £5k. 

Take you to court for what? Have you signed a contract of any sort?

they are sticking with £5k (which to be fair is reasonable for the size of the bit of scrub

The value of the land is not based just on its size, nor on the fact that it's a bit ofn scrub. The value depends how much they want/need it!? What they will use it for? It also depends how deparate you are to sell and get some small cash amount?

If you want £7500, then stich at that and refuse to sell for less. If they aren't willing to pay that then clearly they aren't that bothered about owning it.

Likewise the surveyor and legal costs etc - insist they pay or you won't sell. And get your solicitor to draw up a contract clearly specifying they will pay £7500 plus all costs.

secla

How can they take you to court for costs when there has been no sale agreed let alone a contract signed and exchanged. As said name your price its not down to how much a surveyor says its worth or how much your neighbour thinks its worth your neighbours want the land as it will be part of there garden any other parcel of land is no good to them.

to be honest if they were threatening me with court I would just pull out for the sake of a small sum of money

eddddy

Out of interest, why are they making such a big fuss about this piece if land - getting in surveyors, threatening court, etc?

What do they plan to use the land for? For example, will it give them room to build an extension?

If it would let them do something like build an extension, essentially it's land for development, so it should have much greater value.


I'd suspect that they have some kind of "cunning plan" for the land, if they're making this much fuss - which might make the land much more valuable to them.