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?

My mum did this. Similar set up in that next door was rented out and garden needed a keen gardener to maintain, which was a faff for the owner. I don’t know the finer details, other than the legal process was slow and annoying but both parties were happy in the end and the tenants were not bothered, as they weren’t in a position to look after such a large garden themselves. No harm in asking anyway!

No harm in asking, but I'd put in in a polite letter firstly. Friends were renovating an old shop into flats in zone 2/3. Ground floor had a tiny scrap of outdoor space and the neighbours land had a strange dog leg that would have added maybe 2m squared to their land.

He verbally asked the neighbour who said, yes, of course, we don't use it. A few weeks later, the neighbour came back with a price of something like £20,000!!! Or friends decided not to proceed further!

Have a rough idea of what you'd be willing to pay and what value it might add to your own house- but don't disclose this amount in the initial email.