Can someone give me a bit of advice quick, im getting call back any time now!

[PinkChick]

we have some land at rear of our house(at end of garden) when we moved in there had been a hoo har about it and owners had brought their fence back as they didnt actually 'own' land, had just been allowed to use it by landowners, so had to be put right for sale.

we buy, move in get letter saying do WE still want to go ahead with purchase of land for £2000!..NO, we hadnt enquired and £2000 is way too much for a piece of land 6ft x 12 ft!

ok cut to now, the ivy, weeds and rest of jungle that has grown in last year at back of land is pushing our fences down, it has a lovely tree on this land(behind our fence) and dp and i have said we will look at buying it BUT not fo £2000...so have passed a message on forowner to ring me..guy i spoke to(collegue) said £2k was ridiculous....we think £500 is enough and our max we could pay...what DOES land cost these days and what price would you say is fair(this land backs onto wharehouses, not a field of poppies and it just a small patch, so not highly sought after!)

Start low and stick to your budget!

so like buying houses?,do you think we should offer less than £500 to start with? and give him the points ive mentioned?ie: backing onto industrial site, oh and police around a few months back as someone broke into the unit and hid stuff behind one of the houses? so on??, my fence needs replacing, weeds/ivy needs chopping down plus thistles, nettles(not nice job!)

I maybe be stating the obvious but remember to look up any legal and admin costs in making this purchase, in case it takes you over budget

Start at £200 and do as PrinessGoodLife suggest re costs!

thanks pgl am ringing solicitor right now, never thought of that!

Initial reaction - you couldn't buy 1ft x 1ft around here for £2000 so even that seems an absolute bargain to me! Not helpful I know - sorry. Would the larger garden not increase the value of your house? Maybe ask an estate agent what difference they think it would make. Cannot see it would be worth the current owner selling for £500 - it would probably cost them more than that in legal fees. As I said before sorry if you don't find this helpful - but think you may be being unrealistic - they don't have to sell.

oh how exciting - I gave good advice!

thanks for all the advice, no they dont need to sell, but they do need to maintain it and repair my fence because of it, plus the safety issue, im hoping will sway them...all the houses bar two(mine and my elderly nieghbour) have already taken or bought the land off him, so just two small plots left, the tree takes up the majority of it, but yes it would ,make our garden bigger obv and would be nice, wouldnt really increase price of house as only about 6ft extra in lengh and garden is nice as it is now?..trying to get my solicitor now..

LOL PGL, oh and Helennn, we're in teesside, im guessing you are in much more affluent area than i am

Yes, must be. The thought of adding 6ft onto our garden for £500 would have me running to owner with cash in hand begging him to take it - Honestly! We want to add a conservatory but can't as our garden isn't big enough, but to move to a bigger house/garden would cost an extra £100,000! Yes, we live in a lovely/affluent area but it comes at a high price! Jealous? What me?

ok, my aunty who works at solicitors(but is off today and so is my solicitor!) has said she will lookinto it for me, but will cost about £40 to register land as ours then about £140 for counsil to do survey, then solicitors fee's..so couple of hundred pound there!!..so dp thinks we should ask this guy nicely to sort out the overgrowth and repair fence and hope he asks if we want to buy, if not..we hope to get him to do the work..?IS HE LEGALLY BOND TO CLEAR IT UP???, then go to him at later date once done (work done for us) and ask to do deal on it!..just hope they dont chop my tree down!

, we moved from much niccer area as i felt to secluded and far out!, even then though, house was much more expensive with much less land and back garden was size of postage stamp!, here garden is nice size and much bigger house/more rooms but no drive(1940's style semi)area is nice, but not affluent IYSWIM!

Don't be surprised if the owner agrees to sell to you for whatever you are offering on condition that you pay all his legal fees. If you are happy with this, get your solicitor to get a guaranteed price from his solicitor so that you know exactly what you are facing.

is that possibility then?, apparently he is 'shrewd' says the owner of next unit along...must find who owns house two doors up to see what they paid as they bought about same time as us???

No, doubt very much they have to clear site/repair the fence, (otherwise houses all over the country with a tip next door would have the power to get their neighbour to tidy up). Also, wonder how much in legal fees it would cost the owner, do you see what I mean - if he pays someone to repair your fence and clear the land, then pay solicitor for conveyancing work - why would he do this for say £500 from you - I can't see that it would pay him to do it. As I said not trying to be horrible - just think it helps to know full situation before you enter into negotiations .

no, didnt take it that way Helennn, thanks for the 'otherside' so to speak, at least ill be more prepared when i speak to him.thanks

right!, spoke to owner of land, first of all just asking him if he could clear land of weeds as theyre opulling fence down, does he no anyone who could do it?..No!..erm..do you know anyone who could do it?..me=no, he asked which house it was and said he'd look into it!..now me being slow, i should have then gone in with "well if you let us move the fence back we'll look after it and clear it", but no im too slow, tryed to ring him back and now one of his monkeys is blocking the call..i want to say basiclly that i we can take fence down we'l clear the land and keep it that way so long as we can use the space?..f*ck, why am i always the best person to have around AFTER and argument!