Would you sell part of a shared garden to your neighbours?

[vikinginvasion]

we've been approached by our neighbours who want to buy 25% of our communal garden for their own private use. Just trying to weigh up the pro/cons and wondering if anyone has done this and if so, why?

Sorry should also mention we are in Scotland so it is NOT a leasehold situation!

How many of you?

I think it would all come down to, if you have kids or if you are planning too... We have a massive garden and there is no way I would sell any of it, with the kids playhouse, trampoline, swing and slide set 16ft pool in the summer, and plenty of room to still run around, and then I have my patio bit where we can eat, relax ect.. It would be no no

Only if they were offering a huge amount, far more than it was worth.

Who knows if one day there will be an extension, a second house, or a garden workshop there? Or how much it will affect the desirability of your own home in years to come?

Many people currently own the garden.
How big is it
How would the 25% be positioned
Would it affect your access/view of the garden
Drainage, water and gas meters and access points, would these now be in the neighbours garden?
Would they be forfeiting their stake in the 75% left of the garden,

Thanks for all the thoughts/questions. we don't know what they want to do with it long term but suspect they may want to extend their property into the garden in future.

we have 1 DC, as do the neighbours who want to buy. the garden is currently split equally between 4 flats so that all the flats have access to the entire garden area. the way it stands, the owners would all have to agree to sell and i don't know what the other owners think yet but the neighbour who wants to buy are being quite vocal about how important it is to them to have private garden space for their DC.

I'm trying to see it from both sides and therefore work out our response to their request without hopefully falling out!

Its not a huge garden, approx 10m x 20m total communal area but some of this is the bin store so not all usable garden for kids to play in.

No. How on earth would you divide it up? And why on earth should the four of you in the different flats expend time and trouble and energy for this?

Just NO.

So are they proposing that you three keep a shared garden 75% the size before and they just take 25% to be solely theirs? With a reasonable financial inducement and them paying all the legal fees, perhaps!

They'll need a right of way to the bins anyway, so you can assess whether they really need 'special space for their DCs by making their special 25% not actually next to their flat, or set a covenant on it so it cannot be built on...and make sure that their right of use is removed from the remaining 75%.

Actually I do think it will devalue the property: If I bought a flat in a close of four and one neighbour had annexed a quarter of the garden I'd think the rest of you were really unpleasant, or he was. It would really put me off buying.

Why are they so desperate for private garden space? Is there a safety or security issue with the shared lawn?

I think they actually want to keep access to the communal area as well, as they just talked about buying the area which is closest to their flat, and i doubt they'd want to give up access. all the bins and the gate/back door etc are on the other side of the garden.

i don't have a clue how we'd even go about agreeing it legally but it sounds very complicated and tbh not worth it unless they pay us loads!

but then i worry about falling out. they are generally very friendly and we will still have to share all the communal maintenance costs in future whatever happens

No - it does not sound like the garden is a huge one to be split 3 (or possibly 4) ways.

They bought the flat without private garden space. The solution for them if it's really important to them is to move somewhere that does have this - NOT to browbeat the rest of you into giving in to them.

If having a private garden is really important to them, they should move (or not have bought this flat in the first place). I suspect you are right and they want to build on it which will mean that the rest of the garden could end up feeling more overlooked and overshadowed by a potentially quite unattractive extension. Unless they were offering an extremely generous sum, I'd just say that you are happy with the current arrangements.

When you make your decision you do not (and I would say should not) take into account their needs and wants.

Your home is a major investment. It may make a big difference to future sales how the garden is apportioned.

Your only decision on this one is what affects you, and what you want. Perhaps make a list of advantages and disadvantages (both long and short term) to help you think it through.

So, if owner 1 buys 25% for their own use, then owner 2 buys 25%, then owner 3 buys 25%,

does owner 4 get three payments and all the bins?

You need to make sure you know where this can leave you in the future and if the money is enough to compensate for the loss of value of your flat.

So they get 25% to build on plus the remaining 75% of the communal garden to share with you? So less space for the 4 flats. Or 25% for privacy but can still let their children play in the communal space.

It will reduce value of remaining 3 flats when one comes to sell I would imagine.

If they are so vocal about need for private space for their dc there is a simple answer - they could sell the flat and buy a flat with a private garden. They chose to buy a communal garden flat and if you sell so they keep friendly you are putting their needs before the needs of other owners of the flat.

Terrible idea to sell it, I think. Will inevitably be hassle for you and will devalue other flats.

For me it would be absolutely 'no' for all the reasons mentioned above. We live in a terrace and there is currently a project to unite the back half of all the gardens to make a large playing field for all the children. I can imagine if each flat wanted a small patio-sized plot for private use there could some merit in it, but otherwise I would avoid.

In some cases I might but in this particular case absolutely not

I'd totally do it if the arrangement was that you split the useable garden space into 4 parts and all get a private garden. I loathe shared gardens - no one ever seems to use them, and they seem to attract rubbish. And I hate having people right by my windows if they do use them. I'd make them pay all the legal stuff, though.

I once lived in one end of a terrace of 4 houses with a shared yard. Access via a gate and ginnel up the side of my house. House other side of ginnel had taken a space for themselves and put wall and gate up. But still expected full rights of access up shared ginnel.
house other end had done the same at their end of the yard and also still expected full access to their private bit, through ginnel and path right next to back windows of us and the middle house.
terrace in a northern town where the owners only used the front door for visitors. Every bloody day umpteen times up and down past my kitchen window.
issued legal letters to us middle house owners if we out washing lines from our house to the yard back wall cos it hampered her route when we hung washing out.
and when her 40 yr old mummy's boy son got a fekking motorbike and was bringing that up and down the ginnel and through the shared yard to park it in their private bit, I put our house up for sale
NO NO NO TO ONE HOUSE WANTING A PRIVATE BIT WHILE STILL RERAINING ACCESS AND USE OF THE REMAINING SHARED PART!!!

no need to look into the legal aspects, don't even go there. Just say no.

Well it does seem fairly unanimous that its a bad idea! which is my gut feel too, but i feel its important to consider properly, as i would hope if we were ever on the other side our neighbours would do the same

Now, how do I explain this to the neighbours?