To the rear of our cottage there is a plot of land. Used to belong to the cottages, but the original landowner decided on a substantial chunk of garden grabbing and earmarked it for development.

After several years and several failed attempts at planning permission, he's preparing to sell the plot.

So, I've asked whether he'll consider divvying it up and selling it back to our cottages based upon the old layout of the original gardens.

Question is, how much is the strip of land worth? the garden would be about 7m wide by around 25m long.

It's in a conservation area too, with protected trees, hence no planning permission pretty much ever 🙂

Whole garden area is about 0.3 acres, including an old smiddy building, and it's just north of Glasgow.

Any ideas?

Only way to do this is by the book, this means getting estate agents and solicitors involved.

Worth checking the Land Registry site – if it's been valued recently, it'll be on there.

Maybe getting on for a million an acre as development land with planning permission. Rather less as gardens.

I suspect the key issue will be how much your neighbours want to extend their gardens – if you can get together and buy equal shares on an amicable basis, it could go pretty cheaply. If one of you decides they want a bigger garden, then the price could escalate.

Somewhere between £50 and £1000.

It is only in an auction that you find out what people would pay for it.

For example some ex-watertreatment works and other odd bits of land are sold through SVA.

Its easy to see which ones will or have got planning permission.
http://www.sva-auctions.co.uk/html/results.html

bear-uk – Only way to do this is by the book, this means getting estate agents involved.

er… why?
the only role the estate agent plays is to put the buyer and seller in touch with each other. that bit is already done.

as for value, the one document which adds value to land is planning permission. no planning permission means no development means no way to make money which means it's worth very little.

this guy wanted to make money for nothing and it hasn't worked. there is no market for a strip of ex-garden other than back to owner of the rest of the garden which is you and your neighbours. you have this guy by the bollocks, either he makes a (very) little amount of money now or dies and passes his useless land on to his kids. you'll need a solicitor which costs money so bear that in mind and seriously you should be offering him a nominal amount and tell him you're doing him a favour. (which you would be!)

Stu, that;s what I was thinking.

I've approached him via email to see if he's up for it, but I'm not entirely hopeful.

Fortunately our local MSP is dead against the practice of garden grabbing so, if we don't get any joy we'll probably get her involved.

🙂

fun fun fun..

as for value, the one document which adds value to land is planning permission. no planning permission means no development means no way to make money which means it's worth very little.

Except planning rules change and individual planning officers die or move jobs. Just because he can't get planning permission now doesn't mean that he wouldn't be able to in the next 5 years or so. I know this doesn't help you, but you need to be aware of it when trying to value the land.

As a comparison for a different area of the country, my inlaws have just purchased a plot of land to extend their garden (approx 25 x 15 metres). Admittedly it is Hampshire but it has cost them the wrong side of 15K, though that has included legal fees. No estate agents were invloved, just solicitors and the land was sold at the market value (ie not through a private arrangement).

Shirley the value is what you and your neighbours are prepared to pay? – because there are no other potential buyers. If the owner has paid a lot for it he may want to sit things our for possible future planning – or recoup the price he paid.

I'd involve a surveyor so you don't get stiffed!

Maybe getting on for a million an acre as development land with planning permission. Rather less as gardens.

Dear god, do you live in London or something?

Arable / pasture land with no development rights is around £5000 an acre in most areas. A third of that is around £1600 – Divvy that up between the number of cottages….

nbt, that's more like it 😉

I think the planning side of things is pretty much sewn up. East Dunbartonshire council are strict when it comes to conservation areas. the Smiddy will get planning consent, but the remainder has issues with access for any residential development.

The original landowner has made a fir bit of cash from the sale of the cottages, so the land doesn't really owe him anything. But, he's a manager of a well known glasgow estate agents and doens't seem to give a shit.

At the moment though, there is an onus on him to keep the land in a good state (clear of rubbish) and keep any building structures safe.

We'll see how it goes, if it gets valued at £1600 we'll buy the whole bloody lot 😉 well, maybe.

Difficult to comment without knowingth efullfacts – but we occassionally get involved with people wanting to buy bits of forest at the bottom of their garden.

The whole forest may have been sold for say £XK per hectare and they say we we want half an acre so they just divide it pro-rata.

In general anythign less than £10K is not worth the legal fees.

Get on to the land reegistry and find out exactly where the boundaries not just where the vendor thinks they are. THen go to the planning office, smile sweetly and ask for a chat with the local office – they will give you a good idea of any potential for future planning potential.
Have a chat to a friendly solicitor and get a price on the legals.
Then when you are armed fully with the facts – make the guy an offer and offer to pay his legal fees. Its got to be worth his while otherwise he could just sit on it forever in the hope that he or his grand kids will get planning some day. As Mr Clegg his finding out, deals always require some compromise on both sides!

Where's the conservation area north of glasgow? I live north of Glas and have been house hunting about there and haven't as yet found one that was supposed to be in one? Incidentally I'd like to buy a chunk of land at my new place that is a triangle of sides ~1.5m. I suspect it won't happen as it won't work legally – too much writing for not enough land/cash.