Buying land from neighbour

[iheartoldhouses]

Hello!

Has anyone bought land from a neighbour to have as a garden? I have my eyes on a neighbours plot. They bought it decades ago to build on it but never managed to get permission. They don't use it, just keep it tidy. They have a big garden already next to their house that they do use. Our whole row of terraced cottages live in fear that he would get permission as it would completely destroy our lovely view of the peak district hills.

What kind of due diligence do you do before approaching someone about this? I think he can basically charge what he likes, as he holds all the cards, but I need to understand all the overheads and technicalities beyond the basic price before I approach him. He's in his 70s and has made all his money being a wheeler dealer in the university of life style, so I will need to be as prepared as possible before speaking to him!

Thanks for the help!

A simple letter or word in his ear would be a good start to see if he is open to the idea. Chartered surveyors should be able to give you a ballpark figure of value but you'll probably have to pay all fees (his and yours) on top of the sale.
Remember, outwardly normal people can turn into total money grabbing weirdos over thing like this so make sure you don't fall out over it.

Thanks @Loofah01 - yeah I know he would thoroughly turn every screw he could, and I'd expect him to be a total bastard. He has form! I can be reasonable and diplomatic face to face, even if I'm inwardly screaming.

I saw a surveyor surveying the land recently so I think he must be up to something again, which has spurred me on.

Well he certainly does hold all the cards unfortunately. Has he ever put in for planning permission do you know?? If he gets PP then you may well have to pay near what the plot is worth for development, although there would likely be a benefit to him for the plot not to be developed (presumably that would reduce the value of his own property).

Another option might be that you agree a price with him, and then if you sell it yourself to a developer you have to give him a further x amount (he may otherwise think you will try and pull a fast one).

Is it currently agricultural land or garden? You cannot just turn a field into a garden you have to have planning permission, but perhaps you are happy just to keep the plot as it is and enjoy your view.

We recently bought a paddock at the back of our house and the solicitors fees were about £1k.

I did as above - bought some of next doors garden, surveyor valued as garden land and we agreed a covenant so I didn't flip it for development. The covenant wording took a year for the solicitors to agree.

My next door neighbour was lovely though and wanted to sell to us to improve our garden for family use.

The fundamental is that you two need to agree a price and terms between you.

We did. We had a conversation with the neighbour, and agreed a price. Unfortunately there was a problem with the title deeds, and it took 6 long years and lots of solicitors, and pouring over plans and deeds, but eventually it got sorted, and we bought the land at the back of our garden. It has lovely trees, and I am very happy. But gosh it was a long struggle.

I thought about doing this for a previous property. An estate agent said the value of the land should be determined by how much value it would add to my property (it was supposed to be a building plot but did not have permission and it would have been hard to get it due to access). It was for sale for £100k but agent said worth more like £20k if that. I didn't bother as my garden was big enough and the plot remains.

A family member who lived in an end of terrace house with a huge garden adjoining a garage selling niche cars sold a piece of land to the garage owner.
He approached her and asked whether she would be willing to sell to him so that he could provide additional space for his stock
They agreed the new border between them and the amount, then he paid for all the plans/legal documents to be drawn up which the relative had checked over by her Solicitors before giving final approval.
I’ve no idea how much all the legal/land registry paperwork cost the owner of the garage but I know he paid a not insignificant sum for a piece of land that once all the work was finished didn’t appear to greatly diminish the size of her garden. He also paid for the fencing which was then his to maintain and a selection of bushes on her side.

Hi thanks everyone that's really helpful!

Apparently he applied for planning and it was refused due to access (he wanted to put the entrance in crossing his own property but it would mean lights from the car would shine directly into the houses across the road so it was refused). There's no record of this planning application on the planning portal though, so it must have been before 2000 when the records begin.

I also can't find the deeds online. They've messed up the naming of the land, so it's not registered under our postcode. So I don't know what use the land is.

The land is across the road from me so not adjoining my property, so I'm not sure how much value it would add.It is adjoining to his property but they have a big hedge separating what they use as a garden (see pic).

The land is very valuable to me as we have a tiny garden and are keen horticulturalists, but it would be pretty worthless to anyone else without planning permission.

You could ask to lease it from him.

He could put in access from your road.

It’s really hard to say what the value of the plot should be, because that will be influenced by a number of factors: the value to you of retaining your lovely views, having extra space to garden (even if it’s not adjoined to your garden). It definitely looks to me like a prime plot for development - if you’re going to make an offer get on and do it now because he may get planning permission if he tries again.

I like the look of that piece even if it is across the road, veggie pathces, a few fruit trees and Chickens would be wonderful.

We looked into this, we have a neighbours garden to the side of our plot which would have made our garden more balanced with the size of our house. It was rented so we approached the landlord. His figure was twice ours so we walked away. I'm glad we did now as we are just about to sell and I doubt it would have added the same amount of money to how much was offered. You won't lose anything by offering an amount of money but don't go overboard in how much you're prepared to pay.

We did this, just approached the neighbour and asked. It only had a value to them or us and we agreed a price and paid all the legal fees. They did add a covenant that it could never be sold separately from our property (it would have been large enough for a house)

@Rollercoaster1920 he wouldn't be up for leasing, I had approached him about that about six years ago and he said he didn't want anyone to have any claim to it just in case he decided to do something.

Putting access in from our road at the moment is impossible because it's a single lane road and the only suitable entry point into it at the end is across common land where our garages are, so it would be very complicated to sort out (and everyone is very against him building on it as it will ruin the view for everyone).

I don't think any of us would mind one nice stone house in keeping with the area built on it, but he would definitely go for as many houses as he could cram onto it, as he is very much all about the money.

I will see what he says. I'm expecting six figures but how far into that I don't know.

Thanks for the advice!