Anyone bought empty land before?

darknite · 24 Jun 2015 at 14:53

Just wondering if anyone has purchased or knows how to value empty land? A strip about 2m wide and 20m long. Basically the last building plot beside my house is now being developed. The build of mine (BloorHomes) reserved a strip of land between the development plots. The empty development has now been purchased by Kier, and I have been told they have not purchased this reserved strip of land. So it will over grow. So I am wondering how much it would roughly cost me for this thin strip.

Anyone done this kind of thing before? Or know how to work it out? I have contact Bloor already, waiting for a reply. But looking into myself too. Would be handy for future use. Large drive, double garage maybe.

Cheers all :-)

covenantuk · 24 Jun 2015 at 15:32

If it's not got any planning permission or subject to restrictions (it could be that planning has said that it CANNOT be used for building to provide a buffer zone) then it's worth whatever you and the owner agree upon.

It could even come cheap if you say that you're happy for restrictions on use and just want to keep it tidy

cheesyboy · 24 Jun 2015 at 15:53

Just build your fence around it, treat it as your garden, and claim adverse possession after 10 years;
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...guide-4-adverse-possession-of-registered-land

ash_scotland88 · 24 Jun 2015 at 16:08

I cant remember the term, as I've only been told about it, but new developements often need to leave empty spaces of land like the one you have described for some reason.

cheesyboy · 24 Jun 2015 at 16:14

cheesyboy said:
Just build your fence around it, treat it as your garden, and claim adverse possession after 10 years;
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...guide-4-adverse-possession-of-registered-land

Although, if it's cheap you may as well just buy it, of course

darknite · 24 Jun 2015 at 17:02

The people who have lived here longer than me are calling it a ransom strip? Not the best name ever! But if its cheap it would be handy.

Wizardskills · 24 Jun 2015 at 17:05

ash_scotland88 said:
I cant remember the term, as I've only been told about it, but new developements often need to leave empty spaces of land like the one you have described for some reason.

Yes I'm sure they do this as well. I believe it is to do with the enforcing of the restrictive covenants on the properties within the development.

Derek W · 24 Jun 2015 at 18:02

ash_scotland88 said:
I cant remember the term, as I've only been told about it, but new developements often need to leave empty spaces of land like the one you have described for some reason.

Wizardskills said:
Yes I'm sure they do this as well. I believe it is to do with the enforcing of the restrictive covenants on the properties within the development.

Possible service strip, wayleave or future pathway as part of the original planning permission? Check on your local council's website for the development and see if you can find it on the overall site plan.

JAzz · 24 Jun 2015 at 18:32

Just ask the owner, they might give it away for a few thousand pounds if it doesn't hold much value. Basically will come down to both you agreeing a price.

darknite said:
The people who have lived here longer than me are calling it a ransom strip? Not the best name ever! But if its cheap it would be handy.

It is only a ransom strip if it can be used for something which might increase value. For example if that strip of land led towards a bigger plot of land which requires it for parking/access. Then that strip has value because it will add a lot of value to their land.

Maccapacca · 24 Jun 2015 at 19:56

What ever you do don't tell your neighbours what you are doing, keep it quiet.

It may be an odd strip that was left between developers or it could have some underground service or something like a soakaway they can't build over or it could be part of a future development.

It's worth what someone is willing to pay for it, yes that's a rubbish answer but you could offer them £1 and they'd be happy to off load it and let you maintain it. A few £k isn't going to make a difference to Bloor Homes, the hassle is costly, even the hassle of transferring it, you might want to think about £1 plus all of yours and theirs legal costs.

Kuros · 24 Jun 2015 at 20:34

Pretty much what has been said. Don't mention it to the neighbours, as they might want to stake a claim into it, as well. That'll just bump up the price.

darknite · 25 Jun 2015 at 11:05

Well currently I have no neighbor. The house wont be built for at least a year. All water and bits going down first. Currently the developer building has drawn blue lines far closer to my property than I thought they would. Its come over half way into the unclaimed strip I am looking at buying. Though I think this is for water to go in. I'm informed usually blue painted lines means water pipe/investigation. So might be nothing. Though the same builders managed to put a boot size hole through my fence the other night. . . accident! And they are replacing the panel today apparently. But not the best of starts.

At the end of the day the land will be worthless. The current developer didn't buy it, I don't see why bloor would want to hang onto it. The neighbor across from me secured his part of the strip when he bought his house new. From what he tells me bloor actually included in the strip to get him to buy the house. Which was already stupidly cheap! So fingers crossed.

As for legal costs. I'm assuming a solicitor to edit the land registry record? I know updating and logging the record will cost me about £130. Maybe a surveyor to come and log the exact plot?

Well hopefully I'll get a quick answer :-)

cheesyboy · 25 Jun 2015 at 11:12

JAzz said:
It is only a ransom strip if it can be used for something which might increase value. For example if that strip of land led towards a bigger plot of land which requires it for parking/access. Then that strip has value because it will add a lot of value to their land.

My neighbour refers to a small bit of my garden as a "ransom strip". I'd never heard the term before. He wants to buy it. I don't particularly want to sell, as it would enable him to build a large extension which would overlook, and block light from, my patio area - I suspect that's why he wants it.

darknite · 25 Jun 2015 at 11:22

As it is a patch of your property I know how to work out its value per sqm. Basically work out the size of your plot, then check the value of your home, zoopla current prices are fairly good. Simply divide your house value by how many m square you have. Found that one out yesterday looking in this land issue.

cheesyboy · 25 Jun 2015 at 11:37

darknite said:
As it is a patch of your property I know how to work out its value per sqm. Basically work out the size of your plot, then check the value of your home, zoopla current prices are fairly good. Simply divide your house value by how many m square you have. Found that one out yesterday looking in this land issue.

I've got a fairly big garden (~1/8th of an acre), so that measure rather dilutes the worth of the land. Comes out at around £600-£650 per sq meter, so around £2k for the bit he wants. That's not terrible, actually, but I'm not sure I would take that in exchange for the potential extension I would have to put up with.

I've been tempted to see if he'll swap for a bit of his front garden- as access around the side of my house (which sits much closer to the road than his, I don't really have a front garden) is very tight. Still have that potential for the extension, though.....

Avenged7Fold · 25 Jun 2015 at 11:42

It will be cheaper. That method assumes the value of land your house sits upon is the same as the rest of the land (like your garden). Obviously your house increases the value of your property considerably.

sansnom · 25 Jun 2015 at 13:54

The value of the land would be derived from a number of factors:

1. Location

2. Area and shape (100m2 in a bizarre patchwork design of say 1m2 cubes wouldn't be worth anything to anyone for example)

3. What the current zoning status of the land is and what the potential zoning status could be

4. What you can do with the land

For example, if you had a plot of land say 1000m2 and the council gave you permission for a 15 storey multi family housing development, you could build hundreds of apartments on it. You would factor in the cost of building those apartments, then factor in the developer's profit of say 25% and then reverse price the land cost to determine the value of the land (or what the developer can afford to pay you)

In your case, the value of the land is probably very very low as
a) you're more likely to dance with Bill Nighey than get planning permission for erecting a structure on it
b) anything you would erect would likely be of very small area

Taking the value of the house and dividing it by the area of land it occupies to get the 'land value' is gibberish.

ash_scotland88 · 25 Jun 2015 at 23:08

The term I was looking for was factored land.

Basically a communal land owned by the residents of the new development, which would be listed in your title deeds. To by this you would need to ask all the home owners to effectively sell their share. Although reading up it seems a very scottish concept.

Turambar · 26 Jun 2015 at 01:35

ash_scotland88 said:
I cant remember the term, as I've only been told about it, but new developements often need to leave empty spaces of land like the one you have described for some reason.

I've seen some developments ordered to reserve strips of land for wildlife.

covenantuk · 26 Jun 2015 at 10:32

cheesyboy said:
My neighbour refers to a small bit of my garden as a "ransom strip". I'd never heard the term before. He wants to buy it. I don't particularly want to sell, as it would enable him to build a large extension which would overlook, and block light from, my patio area - I suspect that's why he wants it.

It's not a ransom strip, It's your garden and if you don't want to sell that his tough luck. He's trying to guilt you into selling, which would make me defintiely NOT sell.

Anyone bought empty land before?

Tea Drinker