Buying neighbours garden

[eatthemusic]

Our neighbour has agreed (in principle) to sell us some of their garden. It's a part of their large garden that they won't miss but will make a big difference to our space and how we're able to use the garden. The land can't be built on as it has no access (surrounded by other gardens). I have two questions

1. we're struggling to work out how much to offer, it's about 20 square foot, it won't detract value from his house but might add a tiny bit to ours - quite hard to tell.
2. I imagine we'll need a solicitor to draw up contracts and manage the sale, any idea how much that would cost?

Appreciate any pearls of wisdom from anyone who's done similar. Thanks.

Regarding price, the easiest starting point is to simply ask how much they were expecting: if they say £100,000 and you were anticipating more like £10,000 then it probably isn’t a goer to begin with?

If you’re both roughly in the same ballpark but can’t agree a final figure then you can have a RICS valuation carried out which will base the value on the worth of the land to the parties involved. 20sqft of land which is only of any use or worth to you or your neighbour won’t have the same value as 20sqft of land which could potentially be sold to somebody else.

The actual creation of boundaries and conveyance of land shouldn’t be too expensive. It cost me about £3,000 when I did it in 2012 - although this was Scotland and previously consecrated ground being bought from the Church of Scotland, which probably would have had an impact.

We bought extra garden from a neighbour, and our neighbour also purchased some. We paid £10k between us for about 90 square metres in total (30m x 30m) plot.

You’d need to get a quote from a solicitor but the conveyancing shouldn’t be too complicated - my neighbour (who also bought) is a solicitor so took care of it.

I'm watching this with interest as I am hoping to ask my neighbour whether they would like to sell part of their garden to us. If we do, we will be offering to pay for their conveyancing fees and the cost of a new boundary fence, so that the money they receive from us won't be taken up with fees.

You can only offer what it is worth to you and hope that your neighbour is happy with the amount. There may be some "wiggle" room, but there comes a point when the price outweighs the benefits. Good luck

One thing to consider is if your neighbour has a mortgage on their property they need the mortgage provider's permission to divide up their land for sale.

This is all so incredibly helpful thank you. I have a ballpark figure that it would cost around £5-6k total, which I was thinking would be £2k solicitor and the rest to the neighbour. We've asked how much he wants for it and he said he wants us to make an offer, I obviously don't want to insult him but also don't want to pay over the odds and don't really know what to go in with!!

20sqft? That's 4 ft by 5ft - really that little would make a difference?
The land is only worth money to you (he can't sell it to anyone else) - and I can't see, without a plan, how such a small amount would add much value to be honest.
If £5-6k is what you are prepared to pay offer that.

Are you sure that’s the size of it?

Oh no, maths never was my strong point. I mean 20 ft by 20 ft, slightly bigger!!

Regarding price, the easiest starting point is to simply ask how much they were expecting: if they say £100,000 and you were anticipating more like £10,000 then it probably isn’t a goer to begin with?

This.

I can’t imagine they’d sell it for only 3/4k though?

I think it's got to be worth the trouble for them. I doubt they would sell it for less than 10k. The conveyancing fees you will need to pay, so won't come out of the price.
So 400 sq ft?

We tried to buy a piece of neighbour's garden not long ago of a similar size, maybe a little bigger. It went for £45k in the end. Same situation, landlocked, couldn't be built on and could only be sold to adjoining neighbours.

Where are you based? We are expensive, leafy South East so not cheap but not London either. An extension to your plot of that size could have a big impact on your property price if it doubles your garden say. I think £10k would be a steal, frankly, unless you live somewhere where property prices are very low.

it won't detract value from his house but might add a tiny bit to ours

400 square feet?

I think you are underplaying the impact to both properties.