Value of land?

[Buenchico]

My neighbour would like to buy a wedge-shaped slice of my rear garden. Basically it's a right-angled triangle, with the two sides forming the right-angle measuring roughly 6.8m and 2.2m. So that's a total area of about 7.5 sq.m.

Giving up the slice of garden wouldn't harm the look of the garden (which I never use anyway) and it's unlikely that the value of the house would be adversely affected. (There are also no problems with such things as covenants or access rights). The neighbour has offered to pay all of the legal fees, and to provide fencing along the new boundary. I'm perfectly happy to sell him the land, which only leaves the matter of agreeing a price.

The neighbour has offered me �500, which is probably rather more than I'd have suggested myself, so it seems reasonable to me. I'm currently unemployed and struggling to make ends meet, so �500 for doing nothing (and losing nothing of value to me) sounds like a good idea.

Thoughts anyone?

Chris

[carlton23]

Ask at your local council office Chris.

[wildwood]

It all depends on how much land you have left. If your whole plot is under 300m� to start with it will take a fair bit out of the actual (back) garden which may effect the resale value of your property.
Whatever, �500 seems a bit cheap to me for over 80 square feet of land in an buildup area.

[bednobs]

firstly
1) i am actually flabergasted there is a question you don't know the answer to chris. I am surprised in a former job you were not a land surveyor/pricer-upperer. (please take this comment in the sprirt in which it was given i.e. nicely!)

2) although i know nothing about land prices instinctively 500 quid seemed quite small to me. dont forget even in these economic times, land is a valuable assest. After all, they aren't making any more of it. I wouls pay more than that for an extra 7 sqm of garden i think (but then i do live in Berkshire, and land may be worth more here than where you come from

3) although land is worth what somebody wants to pay for it i would imagine he has given you a low offer and expects to be beaten up (not literally) and i dont think there would be any harm in saying "what do you think of �750" or asking for �1000 and being prepared to come down

[cassa333]

You have to ask yourself 'what benifit does he get from your land and what value do you loose?'

It might not be much land but could it be enough for him to put another building up blocking you view? etc etc

Look at what space he will have with your bit of garden and think like you owned it and ask ' could I put a structure on it?' or 'how will it improve the value of my property?'



If it means his property goes up in value more than �500 then think about what you want from it.

[PeasAndRice]

Why dont you ask him if he wants to lease it? For say 100 years, for a cost of �500....

This could perhaps stop him building anything too permanant....?

[tigerlelly]

Peas and Rice has the best suggestion.
A friend of mine sold the back of her garden to her neighbour at the bottom and eventually, after a couple of years and a lot of hassle, found herself overlooked by a block of flats!
If you do decide to sell, and they are paying all costs, get your solicitor to put in a covenant preventing them from developing it whilst you are still lliving there. Or, if you don't mind it being developed put in a clause giving you a slice of any profit.

[Twenty20]

Initially, to me, it seems very cheap but I have absolutely nothing to base that feeling on.

I think I'd be asking why he wanted it. If, as you say, its a small piece of land, why does he want it?

I suppose you could look on some of the auction sites (no, not Ebay!) as some do sell small tracts of land and see how much they go for in your area. Allsop's may be one worth looking at.

[jenniprice]

i worked at an estate agents and one neighbor wanted to buy a piece of land off the other to extend his house-in the end they agreed nearly �5000.

Like others have said, it may devalue your house in the future, so need toe expect more.

Maybe not 5grand but maybe should atleast go back with �1500.
Think �500 sounds really low.

other thing is to ring estate agents for advice. However sometimes they can be a bit rude about giving out info without benefiting themsleves.

This may sound a bit cheeky, but my advice is ring few estate agents and say thinking of selling house, and also bit of land.

Get valuer out(most are free-check thow) then ask value of house, then say thinking of selling this to neighbor.
Ask- 1; would it de-value your house, and 2; how much think sell for?
get a few out so get a good figure, then go back to your neighbor with that.
Most want to give an exceptional service to get you on the market with them so they should give you a figure, or come back to you with one.

Only other advice is that some estate agents may pesture you after (ring/post letters) to say do you want to put on market, but with current climate just say need to sell for more and cant afford to sell, then they'll soon leave you alone.

[heathfield]

Before I bought my present house, the previous owner had sold a similarly sized area of the back garden to the local council, who wanted to widen the adjoining pavement. He got �38. They did move, and rebuild, a 30 ft long and 5 ft high stone wall for him that had been in distinct need of repair, making it as new. He was quite pleased.

[Buenchico]

Thanks for all of the replies.

The relevant neighbour's house is actually behind mine, as we live in a square block of 4 one-bedroomed houses, so that everyone has one neighbour next door to them and one neighbour behind them,

The existing fence between our gardens doesn't (as would seem logical) run at a right-angle to our common side wall. Instead, it goes off at an angle, effectively giving me what would logically seem to be a chunk of 'his' garden. He simply wants to straighten it up, so that he will be able to fit an extra shed into his garden. It's unlikely that the value of my house would be affected, since the change would simply bring my garden back to a 'proper' (i.e. rectangular) shape. It wouldn't matter much to me if the value of the house was slightly lowered anyway, as I don't expect to move before I die.

I'm still considering the offer but I might well go with it. The price of (useful) building land around here (Suffolk) is probably about �200 per square metre, which would make the 'true' value of the piece of my garden as around �1500. However, the land isn't particularly useful to me, so selling at a third of the true value doesn't seem unreasonable. After all, if it was simply grazing land around here, it would only be worth around �25.

Thanks again for the replies,

Chris

[alavahalf]

What does he want this small patch for ?....About 2 years ago I was doing a job for a pensioner, and he asked me if I knew the price of land in his area....''In actual fact I do'' I said....approximately �500,000 per acre if it has planning permission....''Really''... he said....
What it is, my neighbour has offered me �3000 for a small piece at the end of my garden...do you think I should take it..he said he will pay all the costs...and he only wants to grow some vegetables on it..!
The old chaps garden was easily 1/4 acre and totaly overgrown and out of control....
I had a look over the fence at the neighbours garden, his also was unkept, and equally as large as the old chaps.....
The only difference being the old chaps backed onto an adjoining road by means of a garage entrance...the garage was also falling down, and unused.
My advice was not to sell as I felt the neighbour had more plans than a vegetable plot...!
Anyhow I had to nip off to the shop to buy materials and when I returned the old boy had only gone next door and told the neighbour, that he had been told that the area he wanted was big enough to build a house on and that it was worth more than the �3000 he was offering.
The neighbour then said he could only go to �20,000...and he definitely wanted to grow vegetables, not build on it...''he's a very nice chap'' said the old man.
I advised him that I thought it was worth at least �100,000..and to get an agent round to value it..

You've got to be keen to spend twenty grand to grow veg.

......BEWARE AND GET SOME PROPER ADVICE....