Land Pros and Cons of selling Back Garden

I obviously do not know the size etc of your garden but the one thing which springs to my mind is you may have difficulty selling your house.

Why does your neighbour want it? Do they intend to build? I would be very wary.

Or to set up an Airbnb cabin??

I would not, but I don't do your money either, nor know the size of your garden and the neighbours reasoning.

Land is scarce, more won't be made. We invest in all available near land as it typically goes up in value and is easy long term.

Not unless you’re desperate for the money.

If you decide to go ahead get two or three professional valuations of both how much it will take from the value of your house and how much it will add to theirs. Take into account possible building on both plots in a more distant future. You may be surprised.

They are the ones who want it so you can ask absolutely top whack. This isn’t a time for neighbourly concessions.

My parents let a neighbour have a 1ft strip of land to enable him to fit a garage onto his plot. He built as huge one with an upstairs flat that totally blocked their view of the sea!

If you do decide to go ahead make sure you get a proper valuation - which should be based in the value it adds to their property not just for a random patch of ground. When we farmed we were often approached by neighbours who had a very different idea of the value from ours!

Don't do it , unless you are desperate for money!
We have 2 rogue builders in this village and their stock in trade is buying up people's gardens, bits of land to facilitate entrances to other pieces of land, and it always results in disaster.

The most common is building too close to boundaries,
3 storey properties where 2 storeys planned,
one room single-storey bungalow sprouting dormer windows and an upper floor, (denied to existing bungalows)
always more dwellings than originally planned;
access driveways too narrow and existing properties damaged by trade vehicles;
access demanded through existing properties;
light and access blocked,
absolutely no support from planning departments because fees always paid upfront and they have housing targets to meet.
Lack of parking, cars parked on narrow roads or blocking access;
unsaleable(because too small) houses let out to unsuitable tenants;

Really think hard first.

Juliet27

Or to set up an Airbnb cabin??

Yes he did say very large shed (Cabin?) Thanks

Thanks everyone made me think again

Think well and think hard. Your neighbours have some plan in mind. Does your back garden have direct access to a public road? Perhaps they are applying for planning permission to build a house and need access.
This is a chance to monetise your assets, but please make sure your rights are well protected .

It’s relatively straightforward, in my (limited) experience, and it shouldn’t cause any legal problems with selling your home in the future, provided you register the new boundary with the land registry, and have the conveyancing done properly (that may mean paying a solicitor). It might however reduce the value or desirability/saleability - ask a couple of local estate agents. They will also give you advice on value. Your neighbour should also do this.

We bought a smallish piece of garden land from a neighbour, and agreeing a value was an interesting process, because he wanted to sell at residential prices (which would have been about £10k) and we wanted to buy at agricultural land prices (c£2k). We compromised somewhere in the low middle, and we paid the legal costs, (just one solicitor, as there was no dispute), a surveyor to draw up a new boundary plan, and a few quid for the Land Registry fee. There were no mortgage companies involved; I understand there is a little additional work (and costs) if there are.

It was very quick, weeks not months. It did not reduce the value of his property.. There was a small increase in the value of our house, but our neighbour disregarded that as he was planning to move, so didn’t care if we built on it. (We haven’t, we’ve made a small meadow, which annoys some other neighbours more than an extension would!)

You need to factor any legal costs, and potential reduction in the value of your house, and - equally important - any uplift in the value of your neighbours property, into the price you’d sell the land for.

And once you’ve sold, you have very little control over what happens on the land.

Not at any price! Whatever he wants to do is unlikely to be to your benefit.

The people behind us did ask if we would sell them a small part of our garden so that they could have a little sort of courtyard patio to put a table and chairs on. My husband said no because he wanted to make a large shed to store all our bikes in, which he did and we would be lost without it.

Good advice already given and no unless you really need the money, I wouldn't consider it. We own 12 acres which surround our house and keeps it very private. I don't use the land as I no longer keep horses at home and currently it is well outside the planning envelope for development. However, we've had two unsolicited requests to buy some of the land, clearly building companies looking for long term investments. We've said we are not interested.

Thanks more cons than pros don't think I'll chance it. Money would have been nice though lol!!!

Don’t do it!

Surely the first thing is "why would you ask me that".

No no no you have lost control then and anything could go up even large fast growing trees can cause a big problem, let alone sheds, cabins or granny flats
Unless your garden is acres big and you wouldn’t even see anything put up then don’t touch it with a barge pole

You don’t have to lose control. You can place restrictions on what may be done with the land (known as restrictive covenants). Your solicitor will advise.

If you decide to go ahead make sure your boundaries are very clearly defined.

I think it depends on how big your garden is and would it impact on your life or the sale of your property. 4 of our neighbours at each of our road have sold off part of their gardens to different developers who have built just one house on the plots . They do have huge gardens though and the only issue was during the building work . Two neighbours had various restrictions put on what could be built such as size and height . Tbh we were quite relieved as it stopped developers buying up swathes of gardens and building an estate.

I would say think long and hard about selling as problems can arise when you come to sell.

The ends of the gardens either side of us were sold many years ago and the current occupiers both say they wish it hadn't been done as they would like the extra 50ft. as part of their gardens.