Buying a piece of land off a neighbour

[d000hg]

Sorry, this doesn't seem to fit elsewhere and is not technically DIY but I don't know another community so full of informed people...

Behind our back garden is a narrow private lane, which also backs up against the back gardens of another street. Being a new-build development, our estate butts right up against the older gardens.

Directly opposite us is a house with a long, narrow garden. The bottom third is totally overgrown and seems to effectively be separated off from the rest of the (quite neat) garden by bushes, so there's a roughly square parcel of land just sitting there, probably about 10m x 10m.

Since we have only a tiny garden with our townhouse I've wondered about trying to buy that bit of land as a separate garden. Can anyone advise me how to proceed, both in terms of what's required legally and approaching the owner? I've no idea at all how much land like this might go for but given the house is a student let, I can't see it making any difference to the house's valuation.

Is buying the best option even, or could leasing be an option?

 

[it's not that hard]

offer £500 and to pay all legal fees

 

[geraldthehamster]

You could try asking the sad sacks over at http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk

 

[d000hg]

You could try asking the sad sacks over at http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk

Looks like a handy site

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

//www.diynot.com/diy/search/4518808/?q=buying+a+piece+of+land&o=relevance

 

[^woody^]

There is no set price for land. It is just negotiated, and the main driver is its value/use to the purchaser.

Its relatively simple, you agree a price and a Solicitor draws up the documents and the title is transfered at the Land Registery. A surveyor may need to draw the plot and boundaries, or dimensions if the area is not that obvious.

The other options are to licence or lease the land. There are various pros and cons for either, but these can be cheaper but will grant use but not ownership - this might be more attractive to the current owner

 

[d000hg]

Would there be a huge amount of work for the solicitor to find/validate they own the land to start with, or are these sort of deeds easy to obtain if the place was sold in recentish history?

An idea what the legal fees for this kind of thing are likely to be would be useful.

I have no idea if this would increase my property value because there's that to consider but I'd mainly be doing it for my own benefit.

 

[^woody^]

You need to get a quote off a conveyance solicitor or other suitable legally knowledgeable person. They will tell you what they need and what you need to do.

The land registry will normally state who has legal title in the land and any other ownership implications or conditions. If it does not then its more work for the Solicitor

 

[d000hg]

OK, thanks that's helpful.

 

[nickjb]

You can usually download the title plan yourself from the Land Registry. Pretty easy to do assuming you can find the right property and costs a couple of quid. Might be worth looking at before you go too far. The transfer can be done without a solicitor on either party but it would be easy to make a mistake if you don't know what you are doing so will likely be worthwhile. Price is very hard to work out but is basically what both parties will accept and there are loads of factors. 10x10 is a reasonable building plot and round here that would go for maybe £50k but if there is no other access then that may be moot.

 

[d000hg]

I've got a feeling it would be untenable to build on - but clearly it would be a big factor to the cost if there was any question. Presumably I can not only tell the owner I have no intention of doing this, but have it as a stipulation on the sale contract. Not just because you wouldn't want to get ripped off selling for peanuts, but a house looming over your garden would be horrible.

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

"narrow private lane" , could be a problem. I once nearly bought a house with this feature, has a double garage and an orchard on the other side of the lane which went with house. (Raynes Park SW20).
Frank