Buying Garden Land from a neighbour

Martico

Apropos of nothing, I'd love to get a drone - that's a great shot you've taken

Slinky

Regarding the drains, seeing that they are coming from your neighbours through your garden, only the part where your drains run from your house to join the shared line are your responsibility. The rest is your water company's problem.

eddddy

dfarry said:

eddddy said:

You don't really need a valuer - you just need to agree a price with your neighbour.


FWIW, if you did get a valuer, they'd probably value the land like this:

• How much will the extra land add to the value of your house (for the sake of argument, let's say £8k)

• How much will the loss of the land reduce the value of the neighbour's house (let's say £5k)

So a fair price would be £6.5k - i.e. You each make a gain of £1.5k on the deal.


But in reality, a small strip of land might make no difference to the value of your house or to the value of your neighbour's house. In that case, in theory, the land's value is £0.


But if owning that piece of land will improve the quality of your life - you have to decide how much that improved quality of life is worth in money terms. And that will be the max price you'd pay.

(And a valuer can't really measure how much the quality of your life will improve.)

Thanks Eddddy, I'd be interested for your opinions, now I have added some pictures.

There could be an argument that the transfer of land could benefit both financially.

From my neighbours perspective, a more regular shaped garden might make it more saleable, especially not having to have responsibility for the tree.

For us we could make use of the strip if it became part of out enlarged garden, but then we are taking on the responsibility for the tree, so it's a trick one.

So I think you're saying you want to add a 3rd element to the valuation...

As well as...

• (1) Increase / Decrease in value of the property
• (2) Monetary equivalent of improved quality of life

... you want to add

• (3) Net present value of future impact on tree maintenance costs and property maintenance costs

e.g. you take into account the extra costs of maintaining the tree and the reduced costs of maintaining your house

I guess you could estimate (3) above, and then add together (1)+(2)+(3) to work out how much you're prepared to pay for the land.

And your neighbour could do a similar calculation to work out how much they're willing to accept for the land.


But in reality, it might boil down to an 'unscientific' emotional decision that goes something like this...

• "Will you accept £4k?" "Ummmm - no"
• "What about £6k?" "Ummm - OK (I can put that towards buying a new car)"

eddddy

dfarry said:

Well £1000 split 50:50 wouldn't be too much of a problem, if the valuation was acceptable/realistic.

But how do you imagine a valuer will value the the piece of land? What criteria would they use?

If the OP want's some 'professional' input, maybe they could ask two or three local estate agents how much the extra land would increase the selling price of their house.

I've found a number of estate agents who've been happy to give their opinion on that kind of thing at no charge.

ciderboy2009

dfarry said:

Well £1000 split 50:50 wouldn't be too much of a problem, if the valuation was acceptable/realistic.

If I was your neighbour then I would expect you to pay the full cost of this - it's you that's looking to buy the land after all.

I would also expect you to cover any other costs incurred - so, if I agreed on £5k for the land (it's not really worth the hassle for less than that) then I would probably expect about £7k in total to cover everything.

Having said that, these figures are total guesses as we don't know where in the country you are or what the houses there are worth - if those houses are worth £500k or more then I would be expecting much more than £5k - particularly as your house value will probably increase a fair bit as you're doubling the size of your garden.

Slinky

ciderboy2009 said:

dfarry said:

Well £1000 split 50:50 wouldn't be too much of a problem, if the valuation was acceptable/realistic.

If I was your neighbour then I would expect you to pay the full cost of this - it's you that's looking to buy the land after all.

I would also expect you to cover any other costs incurred - so, if I agreed on £5k for the land (it's not really worth the hassle for less than that) then I would probably expect about £7k in total to cover everything.

Having said that, these figures are total guesses as we don't know where in the country you are or what the houses there are worth - if those houses are worth £500k or more then I would be expecting much more than £5k - particularly as your house value will probably increase a fair bit as you're doubling the size of your garden.

Normally the person who is buying the land is the one who will generally gain value and foot the bill. However in this case there's the incentive for the seller to sell to get rid of their liability and expense of maintaining that tree. So in this case it could be that a 50/50 split of the expenses would be more appropriate than the usual scenario.

dfarry

ciderboy2009 said:

dfarry said:

Well £1000 split 50:50 wouldn't be too much of a problem, if the valuation was acceptable/realistic.

If I was your neighbour then I would expect you to pay the full cost of this - it's you that's looking to buy the land after all.

I would also expect you to cover any other costs incurred - so, if I agreed on £5k for the land (it's not really worth the hassle for less than that) then I would probably expect about £7k in total to cover everything.

Having said that, these figures are total guesses as we don't know where in the country you are or what the houses there are worth - if those houses are worth £500k or more then I would be expecting much more than £5k - particularly as your house value will probably increase a fair bit as you're doubling the size of your garden.

Hi and thanks for you reply.

No it's not quite as clear as me just wanting to buy the land.  My neighbour also wants to sell the land, as he can't really use it for very much.  He has planted some hedges (conifers I believe..... which can also be a nightmare if not maintained) plus he said he might just pave the area, but it's surrounded by  7' high fences on three sides plus the tree sheltering the area (the sun passes over on my side of the garden) so this land is mostly shaded, you can also see the shadows being cast in the first image I posted in this thread.  The earth around the tree is also not ideal and the tree roots are raised.

Furthermore he's liable for the maintenance of the tree and potential impact on our property (due to the close proximity).  He tried to get the tree felled but the council refused.  He has since got 3 quotes to reduce the canopy by 25-35% and been quoted up to £1000.  I offered £250 to help him out with cost and in recognition that any maintenance would also benefit us, but we could have taken the stance that it's "Not our problem".  In response my neighbour was reluctant to incur these expenses as it did little to benefit him.

So arguably if we bought the land we would be doing him a favour really (well that's how I see it).

What I would consider we would gain is a more regular, obvious shape to our garden.  The area would increase our overall land by about 10% I think.  We could use this land maybe for a patio area, a summer house, something like that but the area is compromised because of shading from the tree.  We could then maintain the tree as we required (subject to the TPO).

ciderboy2009

But he's only liable for the maintenance of the tree insofar as removing dangerous branches that are about to fall etc which doesn't appear to be the case here.

You have the right to trim back any parts of the tree which cross your boundary at your own expense subject to you complying with the TPO and offering anything you cut off back to your neighbour (which he doesn't need to accept).

Albermarle

eddddy said:

dfarry said:

eddddy said:

You don't really need a valuer - you just need to agree a price with your neighbour.


FWIW, if you did get a valuer, they'd probably value the land like this:

• How much will the extra land add to the value of your house (for the sake of argument, let's say £8k)

• How much will the loss of the land reduce the value of the neighbour's house (let's say £5k)

So a fair price would be £6.5k - i.e. You each make a gain of £1.5k on the deal.


But in reality, a small strip of land might make no difference to the value of your house or to the value of your neighbour's house. In that case, in theory, the land's value is £0.


But if owning that piece of land will improve the quality of your life - you have to decide how much that improved quality of life is worth in money terms. And that will be the max price you'd pay.

(And a valuer can't really measure how much the quality of your life will improve.)

Thanks Eddddy, I'd be interested for your opinions, now I have added some pictures.

There could be an argument that the transfer of land could benefit both financially.

From my neighbours perspective, a more regular shaped garden might make it more saleable, especially not having to have responsibility for the tree.

For us we could make use of the strip if it became part of out enlarged garden, but then we are taking on the responsibility for the tree, so it's a trick one.

So I think you're saying you want to add a 3rd element to the valuation...

As well as...

• (1) Increase / Decrease in value of the property
• (2) Monetary equivalent of improved quality of life

... you want to add

• (3) Net present value of future impact on tree maintenance costs and property maintenance costs

e.g. you take into account the extra costs of maintaining the tree and the reduced costs of maintaining your house

I guess you could estimate (3) above, and then add together (1)+(2)+(3) to work out how much you're prepared to pay for the land.

And your neighbour could do a similar calculation to work out how much they're willing to accept for the land.


But in reality, it might boil down to an 'unscientific' emotional decision that goes something like this...

• "Will you accept £4k?" "Ummmm - no"
• "What about £6k?" "Ummm - OK (I can put that towards buying a new car)"

As you say both parties have probably got an approx price in their head.

So if a valuer comes along, and says something much less, or more. Then probably a potential deal is scuppered, and £1000 wasted.
Same could happen if they get an estate agents opinion, apart from saving a grand.

ProDave

I am not sure if I would want this extra bit of land even if it was free.  There is not much you can do with it.  And it would make you responsible for the tree, insuring any damage it might do and maintaining it in a safe condition.  And you will be limited by what the TPO says you can and cannot do.