Just need to vent - neighbour wants £60,000 for an acre of land

[livelaughlambada]

Urgh, I just want to vent. We love our home - it's in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields. We would really like to buy one acre of land. It's owned by some people who don't farm and don't do anything with it. Land around here is probably £10,000 an acre for farmland. They want £60,000 for the acre. We just don't have it. And if we did, we couldn't possibly justify buying it - as in even if we could borrow the money, there is other stuff that we would spend it on first that is much more 'necessary'. I don't think they believe us, but it is just what it is. One of our kids loves football and would love to play on that land. It's just such a shame that there isn't a way around it. I know that it's absolutely their right and I also know it would add value to our house to buy it (although we will not be moving ever, so that is a long way off - and we just can't spend £60,000 on land that we might actually just have to sell off before the house one day). These people don't do anything at all with the land -- they have about 20 acres and it's just getting covered with brambles and crap (not in a nice rewilding way - just actual crap they've dumped there). They come here maybe once a month. I think their logic is that it would add £60,000 in value to our house (possibly true, I have no idea, but we will not move until the kids have left home and that's a couple of decades away). The MOST annoying thing is that they're somewhere in their sixties/seventies and have told us they don't want to sell because you don't pay inheritance tax on land. So it's worth just having it sit and rot rather than anything else. It's just SO ANNOYING.

Presumably they're hoping that this land will be worth more to you than some other bit of land that isn't by your house.

Just decline or make a counter offer. No need to get cross about it.

Better still, how about the OP keeps her nose out of the owner's business and accepts that they simply can't afford the land. They not entitled to anything and the owner doesn't need to engage with this ridiculous, timewasting nonsense.

I'd snap their hand off for an acre garden for £60k. Add it into your mortgage.
Since the govt relaxed rules for planning permission you could possibly even build another house on it in the future.

Land near me is at least £20k an acre and I’d suspect yours is higher than £10k because you’re in a national park.

If I was you I would look for very recent land that has been sold and work out a price that you are willing to counter offer and just call their bluff and say that you cannot afford to go above that (potentially have £5k leeway or something).

They’re silly to themselves because they could be enjoying that money without having to do anything and you could be making use of the land.

Tell them you really want it for your kids to have a bigger garden but that other land in the area sells for X amount and you simply can’t afford to pay what they want.

Then I would leave it.
They probably will come back to you but it may not be for a few years which may be too late for your kids to enjoy it.

If they know you’re desperate for it then they’ll hold out for a higher price but if you seem less keen then they may come down.

You are entitled for expecting someone to sell property of theirs for a price they do not want to sell for, because you think your kid deserves a football pitch to play on and that somehow trumps their wishes.

Yes, actually, the OP did in their original post ☺️

Actually I'd be worried they'd sell to someone else who will build on it or put caravans on it.

They want to avoid inheritance tax. Your kids getting enjoyment isn’t their problem.

You sound unreasonable to me , you want their land , they don’t want to sell it for your chosen price and they can leave it full of brambles if they want to .

Its very annoying, I would be peeved off too.
Our neighbours have a large garden, they dont use it, its very overgrown and its a shame they don't want to sell part of it

Not read the whole thread, but if by ‘crap’ you actually mean brambles and scrub rather than discarded rubbish, then you are being v v unreasonable to say is not a ‘nice’ rewilding project. It may or may not be deliberate, but that kind of ecosystem is really valuable to our wildlife, and increasingly rare as so many people just don’t realise…. Plus the brambles provide protection for young trees - in 10 years time it could be a naturally regenerated (and hence much more resilient) young woodland ❤️

By the time you factor in marriage value with your existing property and the fact they weren't looking to sell this really doesn't sound unreasonable. And anyway, it's there's land so their prerogative whether they even entertain selling it at any price

As others have said, you could see if they would lease it to you

I’m struggling to believe this is real. OPs entitlement if this is true is outrageous. It can’t be real.

Why should they? It's no-one else's business - they are free to do exactly what they want with it. Just because someone isn't using something in the way you or the OP thinks they should doesn't mean it's up for grabs at a knockdown price (or indeed, any price).

Have you ever tried to maintain an acre of garden, OP? It's bloody hard work and expensive. Of course, that's assuming you actually want it as garden.

Sadly, it is. Many people feel like this about land. I have other horsey people get very annoyed at me for not letting their horses move in up here for £10 a week as apparently, I hardly use my land. I do, but I rest my fields for part of the year so grass can grow without being grazed. This makes me very unreasonable.

💯% - I agree. A one acre plot with planning would be worth close to £300k depending on where in the country you are.

It would probably add more than £60k to the value of your house. I think it's a very fair price.

I really don’t think we get to dictate what is the “better” use of land that someone else owns. It’s entirely up to them what they do with it, seeing as it’s their land, and honestly you do sound really really entitled. I know you said you just want to vent, but you come across as entitled just because you have decreed they’re not making the most of the land and because your child would enjoy playing on it you’re somehow justified in being so cross that they won’t sell it at a price you have deemed to be reasonable.

So long as you didn't turn it into pristine lawns and flower beds or structures, you're unlikely to need change of use but worth checking with your local council.

A few fruit trees, veg, some chickens and a bit grass to kick a football around should be fine.

On price, amenity land always costs far more, 25 ish years years ago, 1 acre of land nr me went for £30k, agri land was around £3k per acre back then, we were all amazed, it sold again last year for over £80k.

Buying land is a great investment, they aren't making anymore.... and if they want £60k i'd be offering £45 to £50k.

However, if the land has turned to brambles etc, then its a lot of work to clear it, large bush cutter and then some form of strong weedkiller and you'll need some means to cut grass in the future.

OPs entitlement if this is true is outrageous. It can’t be real.

Some of the replies are just as bad.

Is this what happens when you have a generation of adults who were never told 'No' as children?

Well as others have said YABU.

Maybe they have other people interested or are approaching others - farming, dog park, livestock field, area for horses, looking to build another family home for their family etc etc etc.

You aren't the only person involved here. They are giving you first right of refusal at an elevated price as they are almost certainly considering options.

You bought the house knowing it had a small garden and now because YOU want the land and they won't sell it for the price YOU want this is somehow wrong?

They can do what they like and I would suggest the land will go to someone else and your next rant will be the field behind you being farmed.

oh I have known people like this, not over land though.....it was my car😃!

.

we paid 16k for 300 sqm for a small patch of garden

that's the equivalent of 216k per acre.

Still worth it for us.