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.

I’ve recently been offered 140k for a 4 acre field so 35k an acre. It’s worth more to me as amenity land though so it’s staying mine.

I'm also baffled at your needing to vent about someone not bowing to your command to sell their property to you at the price you want to pay, and then feeling annoyed with them about it. Entitled, much?

Does farm land really only cost £10K an acre? Where? Everything I've seen online goes for much more than that unless it's somewhere with no access - so basically you can't get to your own land without an easement over someone else's. Where can I buy land for £10K an acre and where is it advertised?

Wow, you are angry OP. Somebody owns something and you want to buy it. 60k doesn’t sound unreasonable for an acre of land next to a property. It may not fit your budget, that’s no different to finding a house you’d like to buy but can’t afford. It’s life. Why are you so cross?

I am confused though as you’ve said they don’t want to sell and that they approached you. What’s really going on OP.

Exactly this ^
So presumptive.

I suspect a professional Land Agent would tell you that an acre of level land adjoining a dwelling priced at £60k is very much a sane price.

I'm baffled that you're on Mumsnet being surprised about someone being annoyed by something that has a not insignificant effect on their kids? I've literally not spoken to anyone apart from my husband about this. I want to vent. That's it.

Then you should of brought a house with land to begin with

I'm not that angry. As I said, I just want to vent. My goodness, Mumsnet's basic existence revolves around people venting. I am annoyed that these people are hanging onto land to avoid inheritance tax. Ultimately the land will be sold (their kids live in a different county) and ultimately absolutely no one local is going to buy it at an inflated price. It's just a shame that while my kid is small and enjoys football, he won't be able to use it. And it is getting covered in brambles. We're in the middle of nowhere in protected land at the end of a long bumpy lane. It wouldn't in a million years get planning permission.

is the land part of the council's building plan?
if yes 60k is cheap
if no - they just don't want to sell (to you) and have priced accordingly

The vast majority of kids manage absolutely fine without an acre of land to kick a football about.

Why are yours not able to cope with what they have?

Would they sell you half an acre? Or a third? That's plenty big enough to play football on.

No, it's at the end of a long bumpy lane in a national park, with no other houses for a genuinely long distance around it. And most of it is bog. It genuinely is the last bit of land in the country that would get planning permission.

They haven't even thought about it! I just know they would enjoy it. The end.

Can you ask them if they'd allow you to use a bit of space for your son to play? As a neighbour, I'd allow this no problem especially if it meant you clearing the brambles etc.

The acre is fenced off - so it would make sense, if that makes sense?

You would be suprised they build on slag heaps these days. They can pretty much build anywhere.

I definitely would too. But they're convinced we're suddenly going to find 60k, so I don't think they'd do this.

If it has building permission it will be a much higher price than land without. Neighbours are not a charity If you can't afford it that's not their problem, or them being mean.

They're not going to be putting up newbuilds in open countryside in a national park.

It would be worth you getting a valuation on your house, with and without that land. If it doesn't add much value, you would have evidence to take to your neighbours to politely explain why you can't pay that much for it. You never know, this might open up negotiations for a lower price.

If it would significantly increase the value of your property, as your neighbours have assumed, (and as seems likely, TBH) then I think it would take the sting out of the amount your neighbours want to charge you. As at that point it becomes unfortunate that you can't afford it, rather than them trying to fleece you.

It would also be useful for you to know what a sensible price is for you to pay for the land, given how much it would increase your property's value, in case your neighbour's suddenly change their mind and ask for an offer, or in event of their children inheriting and approaching you.

hmm, you'd be surprised..........

Thank you - that is a helpful comment. I appreciate it. I will have a think about getting it valued on those terms.

Can't you just counter offer? £60k doesn't sound too bad for adding an acre of garden/playing field to your property, here in South Manchester/Cheshire area it would add up to £200k to a detatched property's value. I don't think £10k is realistic, maybe if it was bought as a package of several acres that could ONLY be used as farmland. But for recreational use next to a property it's just worth more than that. Xx

Do you need permission to sell and buy land in a national,park? If its mostly bog it could be peat, no drainage, maybe not really safe as a play area.