To ask if the neighbours will sell part of their garden?

[Meadmaiden]

I live in London and would dearly love to move but can't afford too, without moving out of London, which isn't currently possible.

Due to craving extra space I'm wondering about offering to buy a portion of the neighbour's garden? Even just a small portion. I'm not sure if this would cause offence? Neighbour owner is a landlord and tenants rarely use the garden (it's overgrown with weeds). I obviously wouldn't want to upset the tenants though.

Aibu?

Have you found out how much the portion you want is worth? Eg a suggested price.
Of course you can ask. You never know!

There's no harm in asking but I would be prepared to hear no. The owner might not want the hassle of selling.

Ask, the worst that can happen is he says no

No harm in asking. I'd post them a letter rather than catching them face to face when they might be a bit taken aback. If someone asked us, we'd say no. We wouldn't take offence.

It probably matter less because it’s a rental, but I think there’s a chance of souring the relationship if you ask.

I can’t quite put my finger on what exactly is wrong with asking. It just feels like a question you shouldn’t ask.

I think it’s fine to ask but I would expect them to decline.

I think you can ask but it can be a bit of a recipe for disaster.

Eg. They move the goal posts on pricing etc. Flip flop on selling

We did this so that we could build a garage at the end of our garden, with vehicular access to the Lane. Neighbour agreed, but we have long gardens so the loss of space for them was really small

You can ask - they'll either say yes or no. Bug if they agree you will have to foot the bill for all their legal fees as well as your own.

I can't see how a well worded question can be offensive even if they say no. Go for it!

I’d ask, particularly if it’s a rental property

If you don't ask you don't get

I wanted to buy the garage next door to my old house. The owners lived nowhere near us and used it to store things for their business. I asked, they said no. I asked again a few years later, they said no. It's no big deal - we got on fine. I moved in the end but there was no bad feeling. If anything i think you are doing the neighbour a favour by showing them they have the option of making a bit of easy cash should they want to. They might be keen to acess some money without selling the whole property and they aren't mind readers so this might never have occurred to them. What have you got to lose?

Try to find out how much its worth , and what the implications may be ie is there access to drains / power ? Who replaces fencing if / when it becomes damaged.

Once you have considered everything , there is no harm in asking . And be prepared to bargin a little.

I would ask too. In my last house I had a huge garden with a row on new builds at the back with the teeniest gardens. I would have happily sold off some of mine garden to the house at the rear for the right price.

Will you buying some land make thier plot ‘odd’ shaped or mean you are nearer to back door etc? It will effect thier resale value so you need to make sure you have looked at all the figures and the impact on the resale price etc

You're not being unreasonable to ask about the possibility.
Things you need to consider
Access to property
Access to drains or other utilities
Impact on mortgage status
Council tax implications
Impact on home insurance
Cost of plot versus future sales value of entire property
Does the landlord of the other property own the garden outright or is it subject to ground rent ?
If your current garden is freehold will you have to purchase the freehold of the extra plot? If neither is freehold can you still purchase ?

I would ask - my parents bought part of their neighbours garden to store their caravan on, it worked well. They got a surveyor to value it and used a conveyancer to do the legals.

Ask politely, they can’t cause offence, but think carefully if the value of the land, the devaluation of their property if they reduced their garden when it comes to resale. I’d prepare to hear no, few properties in London have large enough gardens they can afford to do this.

We asked.
They said no.
It wasn’t a big deal but we wanted to know the extent of our options for extending.
Fine relationship before and after.

My neighbours asked me. They said they wanted to ask, but would fully understand if I said no, and that would be an end of it.

I considered it and felt guily, but said no. I loved my garden, I had a mortgage I was repaying, and there was only disadvantage for me in terms of noise and being overlooked.
5 years later they came round again (we had seen each other often in the interim - no awkwardness). They said they wanted to ask once more, but again would understand if I said no. But they had decided they needed to move if they couldn't have a garden with this house, and they loved the house.
I considered it again, and this time said yes. My mortgage was paid off, I drew the plan for the section I was prepared to let them have, and I asked for a 6ft 6 wall between. They paid for everything, builders for the exact wall I wanted, solicitors to transfer ownership and deal with land registry etc. I did not otherwise charge them anything.
3 months after it was all finished, they came round again - to tell me they were moving!
I still don't regret it. My new neighbours have a garden, I have an attractive wall, and my old neighbours made more money selling the house than they would have without the new garden...

I know a few people who have done this, all on the asking side. Some people have said yes and some no but no one has taken offence at being asked

What sort of price are you thinking it would cost?

Is the next door property is subject to a mortgage? If it is then the owner can't sell you a part of the garden without his mortgage company's agreement. As you know, mortgage companies lend less than the full value of properties because they want to ensure that if the worse happens and the mortgagee defaults then they can sell the property and recoup the debt. Obviously, a property with a full garden is worth more than a property with a 50% of the original garden so there might be an issue there if the owner isn't willing to use the proceeds of the sale to reduce his mortgage in line with the new valuation. The owner may feel that it's a lot of hassle for not much actual cash in his pocket.

It's fine to ask, especially in the circumstances you describe.
However, I wouldn't do so before I had an idea of value and conveyancing costs.