Buying land

[Paul Wagland]

I've got my eye on a chunk of next door's garden - our neighbour isn't a gardener and it would make a lovely orchard / chicken run.

Have any grapes bought or sold land like this? What do you think is involved?

I've only just had the idea, so don't be afraid of stating the obvious!

[pigletwillie]

Its dead easy, just sort out how much land and at what cost and then get a conveyancing solicitor to get the deeds amended at the land registry. As there is no mortgage you dont need searches etc and should only cost a couple of hundred quid in fees.
As a tip have the land on a seperate deed so if you sell up you can either sell it with your property or offer it to the owners of the property it was originally part of, especially if it has access.

[Paul Wagland]

Wow - great tips PLW. How do we figure out what the land is worth...? Do estate agents value that sort of thing?

[Polly Fouracre]

We coveted our neighbours land,no go,even though it is,to this day covered in brambles.The house is,apparently worth much more with a big garden.Folk like a bit of land around them even if they do nothing with it!

[pigletwillie]

When we did it before we just reached an agreement. If the plots big enough to build on then valuation is probably in order, if its just a few yards, what is it worth to them and what are you prepared to pay is the equation to work with.

[janeyo]

A friend of mine did this with some of his land, he sold it in strips to the neighbours. Unfortunately I can't rememebr how much. I think he went on the metre, each metre strip was a fixed price for and each neighbour chose how much to buy.

You could ask an agent to value it, but when we bought our house we were told having an extra strip of garden was virtually worthless (unless it could be built on), and as a garden it was only worth �5k extra. Our extra bit is about 50 feet by 60 feet. I suppose it depends on the area you live in and how desirable the extra space is.

janeyo

[Paul Wagland]

The joy (for us) is that it could definitely not be built on - there's no chance of access from any direction and there are all sorts of pipes and wires under the ground there. Might chat her up a bit and see how I get on!

[yoanbob]

if they dont want to sell outright (loss of value toproperty) you could come up with a rent scheme on the condition you give it back when they want to sell.

[janeyo]

Rental would give you an option, just don't put asparagus on it or they will def want it back before you get a crop! It would be sods law! And if renting you would need a proper agreement for sorting out fencing re-errectment afterwards (is that a word? not sure) and also get the number of years there with maybe an option to nuy as well if they sell up in the meantime as any new owners may not be so keen on the idea.

janeyo

[Paul Wagland]

You're a clever lot aren't you? How nice to get such sensible advice I hadn't thought of renting it... though I think I'll keep that option quiet until I know she definitely won't sell. We'd like to put fruit trees there and have the chooks free ranging underneath, so maybe a short-term lease (five or ten years) would be a way forward.

There's a nice old south-facing wall too... just think of the possibilities!

[Hazel at the Hill]

Just a quick tip on if you do buy the land, Paul - check that when the landregistry have told you that it's all yours, and marked up that it actually IS (by rechecking the land registry records after it has all gone though).

Land registry aren't above making a slip with the red pen, and many years down the line when you want to sell/move, you do not want to discover this vital point which would hold up a house sale at THE most inconvenient time until it get sorted out!

[sunflower]

I think renting it sounds a great idea. OR better still, they may lend it to you, and you share some of the harvest and fresh eggs. Last year in an American Hobbie Farmer mag. a Farmer wrote about farming people's urban back gardens. Previously, he had owned land in the country, but was losing his harvest to the elements and predators. Nearly all the gardens he farmed were owned by people who could no longer garden, or who were not interested but still needed it to be tidy. The owner chose whether they wanted money or harvest rent. At the end of 2 years, the farmer stated that his harvest was more successful and easier to manage. What a great idea!

[zazen999]

Hi

As usual, Hazel has fab advice there. When we bought this house, the guy selling it had 2 bits of land - one of which he sold to a neighbour and one that was coming to us. The other sale had gone through ages before we bought this; and the land registry wouldn't allow us to buy this one until the final tick box has occurred on the other bit of land; sometimes the solicitor doesn't do everything they need to and it can cause a real problem.

In the end our solicitor got shouted at to exchange and complete and we took a punt; but the final paperwork and signing off of our garden wasn't completed until about 4 months after we moved in.

[NOG]

Not stating the ovbious but make sure she has the right to sell it first.

We had a tenant who decided that he was going to sell his (our) garden to the neighbour....he and the neighbour got well upset when I told them that it was mine and I wasn't selling. The tenant even tried to pursuade me, by saying the he would "cut me in" on the deal. Turns out they had paid for it to be survayed and applied for planning, paid load of legal fees...but forgot that I had the freehold.

[TPeers]

Not stating the ovbious but make sure she has the right to sell it first.

We had a tenant who decided that he was going to sell his (our) garden to the neighbour....he and the neighbour got well upset when I told them that it was mine and I wasn't selling. The tenant even tried to pursuade me, by saying the he would "cut me in" on the deal. Turns out they had paid for it to be survayed and applied for planning, paid load of legal fees...but forgot that I had the freehold.

It's a good point! But do I detect just a tiny amount of 'serves you right' in there?