Land agent / estate agent

[Ikanon]

Good evening! I wonder if Mumsnet might be able to help me? I want to make an offer on some land this week. My solicitor has given me some headings to base my offer on but stressed he isn't a land agent or estate agent. Is there someone who might be able to give me some advice as to what I need to cover in my offer? So far I have:

1. Property – extent of land to be purchased from the landowner must be clearly identified (postal address, LR title number) etc. (but see 5a and 5b below);

1. Purchase price – the fixed purchase price must be set out (but see 5a below);

1. Conditionality – this may include the following:

a. Grant of planning permission which is acceptable to you (in your absolute discretion);

b. Expiry of the review for JR challenges to the planning permission;

c. Satisfactory site investigations and site surveys (you don’t want to buy the site if for instance, there is contamination!); and

d. Clear access from a public highway;

e. The availability of funding for you for the acquisition and subsequent development;

f. Nothing adverse being revealed in conveyancing searches;

g. Waiver – you should have ability to waive any of the conditions and buy the property at any time (although price may be negotiated on the basis that planning will be in place).

1. Overage – the requirement/operation of any overage payments:

a. Trigger for Overage: the grant and implementation (or the completion of any works to the same?) of any residential planning permission on the Overage Land (see 4b.) allowing for the construction of dwellings but excluding a planning permission for a single resi dwelling (the “Overage Planning”);

b. Overage Land: this should part of the property where you may build in the future i.e. it should exclude the area for the current proposed scheme;

c. Overage period: [10] years following the date of your acquisition and after which the overage obligations shall fall away;

d. Overage amount: This can be a % (e.g. 20%) of the difference between: (a) the value of the land for which Overage Planning is granted as at the date it is granted; and (b) the value of the land without the benefit of the Overage Planning; and

e. The Overage should not be a “rolling overage” i.e. once any trigger takes place and payment for that is made, that part of the land is to be released from the overage obligations.

1. Other obligations:

a. Seller to use reasonable endeavours to register an unregistered strip of land adjoining registered area and to transfer this as part of the transfer – there should be no additional premium for you to pay but if the seller is unable to procure registration/transfer – the purchase price may need to be lowered to reflect this?- you need to consider if purchase price / offer accounts for this area of being included in the property;

b. Seller to procure access over adjoining unregistered land by obtaining a deed from the relevant landowner- failing which the price is to be lowered by [£ ] which is the cost of accessing the property from the existing highway; and

c. Seller to assist you with planning application and allow you entry on the property to carry out surveys, investigations etc. for planning purposes.

1. Standard terms:

a. Vacant possession on completion;

b. No assignment of the contract by either party without approval of the other;

c. No VAT; and

d. Each party to bare its own costs (unless you are contributing to sellers costs or vice versa?).

We just offered a sum of money and it was accepted when we bought our paddocks. Contracts exchanged as in buying a house and drawn up by a solicitor. Presumably you need to do searches. We didn’t do much apart from pay!

Thanks for replying We're buying it to build a house on so need to make sure it's suitable for that and subject to planning permission.

Your sol has given you too much text for an initial offer unless you are further along the process than the post suggests!

Are you making an offer from someone who wants to sell you the land? Do you have to offer overage as you'd be mad to if you don't have to. Presumably you know what the land is and how much it is...
Don't bother saying that it's conditional on searches as presumably you just mean that you are going to do searches (ie not exchange contracts before) so that's just part of the process.

All of 6 is bog standard unless for some reason there's a risk that the seller isn't selling with vacant possession?

What is the unregistered strip? Hopefully it's not the access strip.... You need to make it clear that the price you are offering includes that strip - the seller won't register it first though - they'll prove title and convey it to you and when your register, the Land Registry will allocate a title number to it.

Hope that helps!

You can get planning permission for land you don’t own. You can certainly see a planning Officer for a few and discuss what would be permitted. Or get the owner to get pp.

Are you making an offer from someone who wants to sell you the land? Yes we've met and discussed it.

Do you have to offer overage as you'd be mad to if you don't have to. We're offering subject to planning permission. He wants us to only get pp for one or he wants overage.

Presumably you know what the land is and how much it is... Yes it's an acre of pretty flat brambled land with trees up one side.

Don't bother saying that it's conditional on searches as presumably you just mean that you are going to do searches (ie not exchange contracts before) so that's just part of the process. OK thanks!

All of 6 is bog standard unless for some reason there's a risk that the seller isn't selling with vacant possession? It's been used to dump and torch cars in the past so vacant possession preferred! Not by land owner obviously

What is the unregistered strip? Hopefully it's not the access strip.... You need to make it clear that the price you are offering includes that strip - the seller won't register it first though - they'll prove title and convey it to you and when your register, the Land Registry will allocate a title number to it. It's about the size of a car cut into 2 triangles. The unregistered bit is a half triangle. There's access either side of it (land owner didn't know it wasn't registered till I showed him Mapsearch map) So the landowner just claims it as kind of squatters rights for 30+ years as it's fenced within his boundary and registers it as his?

Hope that helps! Yes it very much does thank you!

Thanks Bubbles. Yes I'm going to get the pp once I've got the option signed. I know the area better than him so can work the planners better.

No problem OP - glad it made sense!

Another thought re the one house/overage. You could simply offer to have a restrictive covenant imposed saying that only one dwelling house can be put onto the land so long as you are sure that's what you'll want to do.

If you do end up with an overage provision, make sure you use a solicitor who knows how to draft these as it needs to be very clear on both sides when the clause bites, what costs you can deduct before the overage percentage is calculated.

Thanks again for the overage advice. It will never be enacted in the period of time I'll agree to although I appreciate circumstances could change.