# Selling part of your garden.



## Skibird (9 Nov 2020)

Hi All,
We are hopefully buying a new house very soon, which has a decent size garden (bigger than what we currently have which is quite big) and our EA lives the other side of it. All of her road have very small back gardens and she has asked if we would sell some of ours to her.
We don't need to sell, but are wondering if there is a standard price for selling off some of your garden, or is it just a case of 'how much do they want it'?

Thanks in advance
Bev


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## alicat (9 Nov 2020)

Yes, it's a question of how much do they want it. I'd be tempted to get a surveyor to negotiate for me.


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## weareHKR (9 Nov 2020)

If you have a mortgage over your property, you will need the mortgagee’s consent to release part of the land from your ownership. Whether the lender will consent is likely to depend on the amount left on your mortgage and the value of the land. The lender may refer this to an independent valuer and they must make sure that releasing the land will not jeopardise their interest in the land.


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## alicat (9 Nov 2020)

The OP hasn't bought the house yet so they could make it clear to the mortgagee that the land registry title is going to be split and then the garden could be sold at the same time as the OP buys the house. 

Oh and get the estate agent to pay your legal fees for splitting the title and the sale.


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## I like Skol (9 Nov 2020)

How much land are we talking about? Are you sure your estate agent isn't after obtaining enough ground to sneak up another property?


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## Skibird (9 Nov 2020)

weareHKR said:


> If you have a mortgage over your property, you will need the mortgagee’s consent to release part of the land from your ownership. Whether the lender will consent is likely to depend on the amount left on your mortgage and the value of the land. The lender may refer this to an independent valuer and they must make sure that releasing the land will not jeopardise their interest in the land.


No mortgage, thanks.


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## Skibird (9 Nov 2020)

I like Skol said:


> How much land are we talking about? Are you sure your estate agent isn't after obtaining enough ground to sneak up another property?


Not a lot, around 12 foot we think, which would double what she already has. She said she had asked the owner (who died aged 98), but she wasn't interested, and there are massive trees on the boundary, which as well as blocking the sun from her garden, has caused problems with her drainage.


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## Tail End Charlie (9 Nov 2020)

Each side will need a solicitor, as the details to the Land Registry need verifying. (It isn't just a case of agreeing a line on a drawing, although that helps). So there are two lots of fees there (it should be around £400 per side). Your EA should be paying the fees IMO. 
The value of the land depends very much on what someone is prepared to pay for it. 

I went through a similar process recently. For a small patch of land to enable me to build a big garage, my neighbour wanted 10K and I was prepared to go to 2K. So that deal wasn't done. However he did give me another bit of land (just tidying up the boundary really as it was unclear where it was (I live in the country)) and I paid both sets of sols fees. I thought we'd simply be able to draw up a plan, with measurements, and send off to Land Registry, but there's a part on the forms which has to be verified by a sol (I presume to stop any suggestion of undue pressure.


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## Skibird (9 Nov 2020)

Tail End Charlie said:


> Each side will need a solicitor, as the details to the Land Registry need verifying. (It isn't just a case of agreeing a line on a drawing, although that helps). So there are two lots of fees there (it should be around £400 per side). Your EA should be paying the fees IMO.
> The value of the land depends very much on what someone is prepared to pay for it.
> 
> I went through a similar process recently. For a small patch of land to enable me to build a big garage, my neighbour wanted 10K and I was prepared to go to 2K. So that deal wasn't done. However he did give me another bit of land (just tidying up the boundary really as it was unclear where it was (I live in the country)) and I paid both sets of sols fees. I thought we'd simply be able to draw up a plan, with measurements, and send off to Land Registry, but there's a part on the forms which has to be verified by a sol (I presume to stop any suggestion of undue pressure.


Thanks for the info, very useful to know.


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## I like Skol (9 Nov 2020)

Skibird said:


> Not a lot, around 12 foot we think, which would double what she already has. She said she had asked the owner (who died aged 98), but she wasn't interested, and there are massive trees on the boundary, which as well as blocking the sun from her garden, has caused problems with her drainage.


Doesn't really rule out my question! Might be worth putting some legal conditions into any purchase (like no property developments!). Would be a shame to find yourself overshadowed by a quarter million pound property while the estate agent has rapidly departed clutching a big bag of £££££. Just my cynical contribution.......


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## Drago (9 Nov 2020)

It's not a lot, about £4 per square metre is the norm outside of Larndon, a fairly standard fee. Legal fees and land searches extra, and will likely cost more than the land. I know this, because my old Feller has just bought a load of land from the garden over the back of him (he's in Kent), about 20 x 15 metres, which extends his patch somewhat.

That's just for garden. If it's to be built upon it'll have greater value as a commercial proposition, and more still if there is outline or confirmed planning consent in place.


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## Skibird (10 Nov 2020)

I like Skol said:


> Doesn't really rule out my question! Might be worth putting some legal conditions into any purchase (like no property developments!). Would be a shame to find yourself overshadowed by a quarter million pound property while the estate agent has rapidly departed clutching a big bag of £££££. Just my cynical contribution.......


Thanks, but If you saw the location and her garden, you would know that is never going to be a possibility.


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## Skibird (10 Nov 2020)

Drago said:


> It's not a lot, about £4 per square metre is the norm outside of Larndon, a fairly standard fee. Legal fees and land searches extra, and will likely cost more than the land. I know this, because my old Feller has just bought a load of land from the garden over the back of him (he's in Kent), about 20 x 15 metres, which extends his patch somewhat.
> 
> That's just for garden. If it's to be built upon it'll have greater value as a commercial proposition, and more still if there is outline or confirmed planning consent in place.


It is just for garden, but if it isn't worth our bother financially, we won't sell any of it.


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## T4tomo (10 Nov 2020)

reading between the lines, getting control of the massive trees to get them sorted out is probably part of the motivation too, as if they don't impact your sunlight, you're not going to go to the expense of tree surgeons to sort them out.


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## Skibird (10 Nov 2020)

T4tomo said:


> reading between the lines, getting control of the massive trees to get them sorted out is probably part of the motivation too, as if they don't impact your sunlight, you're not going to go to the expense of tree surgeons to sort them out.


Possibly, but we have already told her that whatever the outcome, we will get rid of the trees as they actually block our view of the downs (we are only moving 2 doors up for another project).


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## Alex H (10 Nov 2020)

EA?


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## jay clock (10 Nov 2020)

Skibird said:


> Hi All,
> We are hopefully buying a new house very soon, which has a decent size garden (bigger than what we currently have which is quite big) and our EA lives the other side of it. All of her road have very small back gardens and she has asked if we would sell some of ours to her.
> We don't need to sell, but are wondering if there is a standard price for selling off some of your garden, or is it just a case of 'how much do they want it'?
> 
> ...


what is an EA?


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## Skibird (10 Nov 2020)

Alex H said:


> EA?


Estate Agent


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## Archie_tect (10 Nov 2020)

You've bought an unrenovated house from the family of the old lady to do up, two doors up from the house you've just done up? Are you going to move as soon as you've done the new one up? if you are then it could impact a lot on the value of the new house if you've split the garden compared to the others in the street.

But it would be a generous thing to do for your estate agent- rather than value the land as a square meterage, or you could get his house and your house valued with and without the extra garden and offset that as that's the size of the loss you'd make losing it.

The alternative is to get the family selling your new house to reduce the price of the house before you buy it without the garden and the estate agent can offset his fees from the family by the value of the garden land against the sale of the house. EA gets the garden without having to lay out the money with reduced fees, you buy the house for less money... and the family don't lose out as they get cheaper EA fees.

A Win-Win if ever I've heard one!


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## Skibird (10 Nov 2020)

Archie_tect said:


> You've bought an unrenovated house from the family of the old lady to do up, two doors up from the house you've just done up? Are you going to move as soon as you've done the new one up? if you are then it could impact a lot on the value of the new house if you've split the garden compared to the others in the street.
> 
> But it would be a generous thing to do for your estate agent- rather than value the land as a square meterage, or you could get her house and your house valued with and without the extra garden and offset that as that's the size of the loss you'd make losing it.
> 
> ...


We will probably stay there. We love the road and it's one of the most sought after in the village. We are only really moving because hubby wants another project, rather than to continue to do work for our neighbours, as they just keep asking (he has a list of people waiting for him in to next year and is currently doing next door's extension). 

The stamp duty holiday, low infections rates and continued house price rises here, make it the perfect time to move, plus we have been able to get the new house without the involvement of an EA (he got it valued then gave us first refusal) as we knew the executor (the owners son). 

We are only considering selling some of the back garden as it's bigger than our current house. We will have a smaller front garden, as the house next door is further forward and the one we are buying, even more further forward, but still big enough to get two cars in the drive so not an issue for us. We are not going to tell the sellers we are considering selling some of the garden, just in case they start seeing £ signs and do something to delay the sale.


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## Archie_tect (10 Nov 2020)

With the close relationship between EA and executor they've probably already talked it all through. Sounds a little bit dodgy with all the back-room shenanigans, but if that's how the executor and EA are going about it then fair enough. The EA is doing the executor a massive favour so I wouldn't be so sure it isn't being done without some benefit to the EA somewhere... which makes me wonder why the executor and EA aren't just transferring the garden before the sale by offsetting/ waiving the EA's fees...


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## Skibird (10 Nov 2020)

Archie_tect said:


> With the close relationship between EA and executor they've probably already talked it all through. Sounds a little bit dodgy with all the back-room shenanigans, but if that's how the executor and EA are going about it then fair enough. The EA is doing the executor a massive favour so I wouldn't be so sure it isn't being done without some benefit to the EA somewhere... which makes me wonder why the executor and EA aren't just transferring the garden before the sale by offsetting/ waiving the EA's fees...


The executor didn't use our EA to get it valued (ours is a small very local EA), he used 3 others that we actually saw ourselves, our EA wasn't even aware that it was going to come on the market until we told her (she was a little put out she wasn't asked to value it). If we sell some to her, it will have come from her 'jokingly' telling us that if we got it, would we sell some of the garden to her. The executor is not using any EA, although ours will now keep him updated on how things are progressing.


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## Archie_tect (10 Nov 2020)

Ah, sorry- misunderstood with the references to EAs- thought they were the same person! It did seem a bit cosy the way I'd read it!

Good luck with it- I'd be tempted not to sell as the money you get for the land won't gain interest as much as the value of the land will.


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## Skibird (10 Nov 2020)

Archie_tect said:


> Ah, sorry- misunderstood with the references to EAs- thought they were the same person! It did seem a bit cosy the way I'd read it!
> 
> Good luck with it- I'd be tempted not to sell as the money you get for the land won't gain interest as much as the value of the land will.


Lol, no probs. Tbh, unless she makes it worth our while we won't sell as it's not for the money. Either way she will benefit, as she will get the trees she hates so much removed by us.


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