Selling a house but keeping the garage

[Greenqueen203]

Hi all, my husband put our property on the market last week, so far we have 2 viewings booked.

He’s now decided he wants the garage and to sell the house without it.

Obviously we’ll have to appoint a solicitor and tell the estate agent to remove from the listing but can anyone else advise what else is involved in this process? I have argued it’s going to hurt our sale but at this moment in time he doesn’t want to buy the next house without one (or build one)

Any advice?

@Greenqueen203

Hi all, my husband put our property on the market last week, so far we have 2 viewings booked.

He’s now decided he wants the garage and to sell the house without it.

Obviously we’ll have to appoint a solicitor and tell the estate agent to remove from the listing but can anyone else advise what else is involved in this process? I have argued it’s going to hurt our sale but at this moment in time he doesn’t want to buy the next house without one (or build one)

Any advice?

It's a shame that the OP has asked to remove this discussion because they didn't like the responses, which were due to the lack of relevant information disclosed in the opening post.

It is useful to keep discussions like this so it might help someone in the future looking for advice for the same, or similar, issue.

Just hide the thread if it’s not helping you l. There’s actually a lot of useful advice on it and no need for it to be removed. No one has been nasty.

I would think the deeds can be sorted as part of the sale

It needs to be done before any sale can be completed. So doing it as part is a really a bad idea, as it can take months and months,

It needs to be done firstly with approval from the current mortgage company and then the house remarketed at the new lower value.

Doing it as part of the sale is a night mare, the op could be looking at at least six months.

@LetMeOut2021

It’s not that difficult to spilt the title off. It’s just a TP1 (transfer of part) rather than a TR1 (transfer of whole). Aslong as the sale price exceeds the amount due on your mortgage it’s not an issue for your mortgage lender either, they’ll discharge the whole charge as normal when it’s sold.

Some purchasers might ask you to register the garage as one title prior to the sale, but practically there’s no reason too. It’s no different that plot sales on new build estates. Each plot is transferred from one larger plot until eventually the whole thing is spilt up into individual title numbers.

It’s totally possible and really not all that unusual. Best to approach a property solicitor with commercial and residential experience. We deal with this kind of thing all the time.

OP, read the above by LetMeOut2021. You might even own the garage on a separate title, making it much easier. You just need to make sure that the EA changes the sales particulars, so potential purchasers are not mislead.

@Bluntness100

I would think the deeds can be sorted as part of the sale

It needs to be done before any sale can be completed. So doing it as part is a really a bad idea, as it can take months and months,

It needs to be done firstly with approval from the current mortgage company and then the house remarketed at the new lower value.

Doing it as part of the sale is a night mare, the op could be looking at at least six months.

Interesting, as LetMeOut2021 up thread said it can easily be done as part of the sale, and I know it was done as part of the earlier sale of my property.

It took us months when we did it, it was part of our sale. By the time the sellers mortgage company, my mortgage company, my solicitors and their solicitors and the land registry solicitors all approved it.

I’d really really not recommend it,

Nasty responses?

Nobody has been nasty to you.

Is an opinion with no huns and xxx a nasty one in your view?

Our neighbour looked into doing that but there was some covenant that meant the garage had to stay tied with the property. No idea how usual that is. Probably depends on the age of the build.

I’ve very recent experience of this although it was just a very small parcel of land and not a garage. It took 3 months to get to exchange and that was with both sides pushing both sets of solicitors like you wouldn’t believe. There wasn’t anything unusual either like rights of way, services like electricity or easements, and was a cash purchase. It just takes time, more than you’d think.

If I were you I would definitely get the garage sorted before you try and sell your house. It’s going to give you one hell of a headache otherwise.

@VettiyaIruken

Nasty responses?

Nobody has been nasty to you.

Is an opinion with no huns and xxx a nasty one in your view?

I think it’s more the op didn’t like the comments on what was her opinion in this, because her op was her husband put the property on the market not we put the property on thr market, now he’s decided to keep thr garage, not we have decided.

Plus also the comments show that although this is doable, it’s costly and time consuming and not that simple if you have a mortgage.

So if your property is valued at 150k. And you have a 120 k mortgage, and the lender says taking the garage away will likely knock 25 k off the value there is a high chance they will reject it and not permit it. Because it increases their risk that if they don’t sell or sell for less, they may not get their money back,

Plus it takes ages at the best of times to get everyone’s approvals, and the deeds drawn up, and the land registry to be amended, never mind during Covid.

@Bluntness100

He needs to tell the estate agent now, get a revised sale price (I'd think it would knock £10-15k off) and the property relisted.

Honestly he shouldn’t do this. He needs to contact his mortgage company first or go straight in to getting the deeds altered, it can take months.

Bluntness you are totally over estimating the process. Do you think all new builds are registered as their own plot and title before sale? No. It’s no different. Provided OP has enough equity the lender will likely oblige to a simple request.

@Bluntness100

It took us months when we did it, it was part of our sale. By the time the sellers mortgage company, my mortgage company, my solicitors and their solicitors and the land registry solicitors all approved it.

I’d really really not recommend it,

Also interested in how you think developers do their land purchases? Do you think every parcel of land is neatly and conveniently bundled at just the right plot everywhere?

You must have noticed people building in their large gardens, new builds springing up everywhere. It’s part of the course for property lawyers! It’s literally what we do.

This isn’t a new build. It’s totally different when you change the land deeds of an existing registered property, particularly when its mortgaged.

The process I described is accurate, and the reason I know it is because seven years ago I went through the exact same thing,

We bought a house which had a garage like you describe- it was a 5 minute walk away. It was optional in the sale and we didn't want it as it was too expensive. The seller sold it separately for £30,000!!!

@Bluntness100

This isn’t a new build. It’s totally different when you change the land deeds of an existing registered property, particularly when its mortgaged.

The process I described is accurate, and the reason I know it is because seven years ago I went through the exact same thing,

It’s absolutely not different. New builds are built on existing registered titles with very few exceptions - the sale of the bare land to the developer triggers the need for registration.

The process I describe is accurate. The reason I know is I’m a solicitor specialising in property....

Mumsnet won't remove a thread just because you don't like the replies.

It's quite a complicated process but good luck if you decide to go ahead.

You should have explained the physical situation of the garage - that would have stopped the questions!
The fact your husband wants to keep the garage is a clear indication that it is a valuable asset. You will have to adjust your price accordingly.

I’d suggest if your solicitor made such a meal of it they usually dealt in purely transactional work - ie a conveyancing firm and this was a little outside the scope of their expertise.

The process I describe is accurate. The reason I know is I’m a solicitor specialising in property

Why do people do that, post nonsense then claim to be professionally qualified as a way to back it up

And why are you arguing, what I have posted is absolutely and utterly one hundred percent the correct process. If you were a property solicitor (do you mean conveyancer?) you’d know full well it was accurate.

No - I do not mean conveyancer, who work solely in property law, the qualification is different (not least you don’t have to be qualified to call yourself a conveyancer).

I just get really frustrated at the complete tripe posted on MN by folk like you, who have had one experience they have been misinterpreted and then try and apply it to every scenario.

When and if OP consults a professional, rather than MN she will be assured that you’re taking tosh.

@LetMeOut2021

No - I do not mean conveyancer, who work solely in property law, the qualification is different (not least you don’t have to be qualified to call yourself a conveyancer).

I just get really frustrated at the complete tripe posted on MN by folk like you, who have had one experience they have been misinterpreted and then try and apply it to every scenario.

When and if OP consults a professional, rather than MN she will be assured that you’re taking tosh.

I’m not going to engage with you further, because you’re posting erroneously.

The process is one hundred percent

Contact mortgage company and make request
Have solicitor draw uo both sets of deeds
Send to mortgage company for approval
If they say yes, send to land registry for them to approve,
If they agree, deeds redrawn, sent to ops solicitor for approval
He or she then sends to mortgage company
Mortgage company agrees or not
Solicitor confirms to land registry.

That’s the process, any solicitor would know this. You are clearly not one if you do not.

I can’t see any nasty responses.
Why couldn’t you pay for storage for your stuff when you move into the new house? It would definitely put me off looking at a house if the garage wasn’t sold with it, especially if my neighbours had garages and I didn’t.

Our friends lived in a very exclusive part of London. When they sold their main residence to travel worldwide around their holiday properties they retained their garage and converted it into their London pied-a-terre. It worked well for them.

Bluntness, I disputed your assertions that it’s a lengthy, time consuming and expensive process. Or that it cannot be done concurrently with the sale of the house. It can.

I also disputed that it’s different to a new build plot, in essence it’s the same principle.

I didn’t dispute the process - but instead made the point that you’ve vastly overestimated it’s complexity.

@LetMeOut2021

Bluntness, I disputed your assertions that it’s a lengthy, time consuming and expensive process. Or that it cannot be done concurrently with the sale of the house. It can.

I also disputed that it’s different to a new build plot, in essence it’s the same principle.

I didn’t dispute the process - but instead made the point that you’ve vastly overestimated it’s complexity.

I don’t know why I’m even engaging

Fine you can disagree that it can be timely and costly, and argue that all the solicitors will be readily available and jump to it.

My view is it can take months, you feel it can’t, that’s fine,

I also said it was doable but do not recommend to do it whilst selling, because it can hold up the process, many mortgage companies don’t jump to it, and the land registry can also be slow, depending on how busy they are at the time and Covid.