AIBU to turn down developer’s offer of £££ and keep our garden?

[Emelene]

Hi MN. I would appreciate some opinions. We have very recently moved to a village, with an outstanding school, village green out the front and a garden in excess of 100 ft out the back. Our kids are almost 3 and 1 and we see ourselves living here for at least a decade.

The thing is the last owner was intending to sell 60% of the garden to developers, along with the next 3 neighbours along (we are the end plot on the plans). She lost patience and sold the lot to us. Planning permission has finally been granted after previous appeals were turned down.

Under the plans, there would be a house and a half built on our land, so we would be overlooked and lose 60 percent of the garden. We don’t have to sell, but the developers have offered a final offer of £100k. That would pay off about a third of our mortgage. They are pressuring us to make a decision ASAP.

Obviously it’s a huge amount of money and a privileged position to be in … it’s very hard to say no. But. Losing the garden is a high price. We’d planned chickens, Wendy house etc. The house currently feels so peaceful, trees out the back (that would be cut down) and birdsong. So I think it would change the whole feel of our home. But there will be a house built in the neighbour’s garden, so there will be a small element of overlooking…

I’m scared we will regret turning down the money. But our kids are so young and we moved here to give them a wonderful childhood (with a garden!)

So AIBU to turn the developers down and keep the garden? WWYD?

Don't. You'll always regret it. You can earn money another way but you'll never, ever get peace back.

I wouldn’t sell . It appealed to you for a reason
They’ll up their price I bet , but I wouldn’t budge if I had dreams/plans for that space

Don’t do it. They will be more pandemics in the coming decades, green space will be at a premium and even more valuable than now. When the kids are older and have enjoyed a garden-enriches childhood (priceless really) you can still sell it, but it will be worth 10x more than today, and you will be glad to have held on to it.

Not only will you lose half your garden you may well devalue your house

I might have missed it but have they already bought the other bits of property from the neighbours?

Anyway, their 'final offer' of £100k isn't final if they're actually that interested.

Keep the garden, the house would be worth less and much less attractive without it and overlooked, all that inconvenience and not much monetary gain

I wouldn’t if you bought the house for the garden

You have plans for the garden

Do you want to be overlooked?

How much space is between you and your current neighbor? If they end up with a house in their back yard will it reduce the peacefulness of yours?
Say if the developers decided to go ahead with the project just downsizing it

What area of the country are you? A building plot is generally worth half the value of the house that can be built on it. In most parts of the country the plot would be worth more than £100k with planning permission.

I think you are better off with the large garden. But if you do decide to sell you could sell it, now that someone has got planning permission on the land it is likely that someone else could get permission for a different development. So if you are going to sell it off you should sell it to whoever will pay you the highest for it. Its a bit harsh on the developers, but they took the risk not to but the land before planning permission. You can put covenants on the land about what can be built on it to make sure you don't end up with a huge building overlooking you.

yanbu
to lose that much of the garden means a big chunk off your property value as well. and with that will affect your mortgage ltv.

I would possibly consider if it would leave you mortgage free with a decent size garden left.

Sorry, massive typo- a building plot with planning permission is worth one third of the value of the house that can be built on it.

I need an edit button

£100k doesn't sound like much. It's a lot of inconvenience and being overlooked isn't ideal.

How much is your house worth, and how much would the new builds be worth?

Loosing 60% of my garden and becoming overlooked would easily knock £100k off the value of my house. But that's based on SE house prices.

Very good point @sleepingdragon

I wouldn’t, I love not being overlooked at the back.

But, I would get a valuation done of the land and that of your home without it. Just to see what it is.

I’d want an idea of the devaluation of your home with losing that much garden and having a building added to the space. 100k seems like paltry compensation when you consider that if you turned around and sold your house tomorrow the price would have to be lower.

No way! Maybe if for much more money, then I would look to move before work started tbh.

I was going to say 100k isnt that much really. Not for all that land and inconvenience on your house.

I really wouldn't, I have children a similar age we really want a house with a big garden but struggle to find one in our area for what we can afford. I wouldn't make the compromise and lose the garden think you would regret it.

If it is worth £100k as a dev site now it will be worth more after you have enjoyed it for 10-15 years. Keep hold of it.

If you are thinking about it, ask the developer to buy your house at the price you paid + £100K

Your bank may not even let you sell it. If there is a mortgage you need their permission as it devalues the property the mortgage is secured on

I would keep the garden.

Sell the garden and then sell the house!! I think you'd be mad not to!

You do realise your neighbours that have signed up to Developers plan will hate you? Be prepared for a bit of a shit time. In the other hand, sell on (will have do very quickly) - stating planning permission in place for joint land.

Sell it, sell the house and move. If you don't, they will simply change their plans to something smaller. You'll end up living next to a building site and being overlooked either way.