devonholistic
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Buying land-advice?Hi, my chum is thinking of buying a small plot of land, but knows nothing yet and would like advice first, so I thought I'd ask here.
When buying the land are there any tricks vendors/agents/solitors do to make money, how to spot/prevent this happening? Pitfall and bonuses of owning land, cost of maintainance once owned etc etc.
Any useful websites?
Advice most welcome, thanking you very muchly 
Posted in Finance and Property too, btw
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RichardW
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What do you call small?
1/2 acre 10 acres 100 acres?
For what purpose (does sound like an investment to me)
Richard
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Mary-Jane
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Re: Buying land-advice? | devonholistic wrote: | | When buying the land are there any tricks vendors/agents/solitors do to make money, how to spot/prevent this happening? |
I'm not entirely sure exactly how you imagine that solicitors play 'tricks to make money' out of buying land on behalf of their clients. Any fees would be made clear to you in advance of them acting for you so it would be your choice whether to engage their services or not. And if you suspected any unprofessional or fraudulent dealings, you would simply report them to the Law Society and they would investigate whether the solicitors were in breach of the Solicitors' Code of Conduct - and pass it on to be dealt with accordingly by the Solicitors' Regulation Authority.
Please do not assume that rather tiresome old chestnut that if a person is a lawyer, they must be on the make. It's a gross generalisation and frankly very discourteous.
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Bebo
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Re: Buying land-advice? | Mary-Jane wrote: |
Please do not assume that rather tiresome old chestnut that if a person is a lawyer, they must be on the make. It's a gross generalisation and frankly very discourteous. |
Bet you can't guess what M-J does for a living 
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Gervase
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Blooming estate agents...
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mutti
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I'd make sure that your mate knows exactly what the land is categorised as under the local council. Then (assuming that is agricultural...), to work out, whether it is 'unoffically' deemed as - pastureland or amenity or p'haps whether it could potentially be someone's back garden. This will help determine a realistic price. Round our way £5,000 per acre for agri, double for pasture/amenity plus more depending on access/location.
Get survey done, check pipes/water etc (cost into your price).
All fairly straightfwd really....
Legalities tend to be very straightfwd. You can always ask for a breakdown of your bill and query anything...you get asked what you want done up front, fees are estimated etc.
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crofter
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Re: Buying land-advice? | Mary-Jane wrote: |
I'm not entirely sure exactly how you imagine that solicitors play 'tricks to make money' out of buying land on behalf of their clients. |
It is something to do with the hourly rate. (Courteously charged per minute by my solicitor) No "tricks" required, although a good solicitor is worth every penny, a bad one, maybe not.
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dpack
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only offer what it is worth to him,i have been out bid from my top end bid for cow land by folk who think they may get planning for residential in the future ,they payed a stupid price and are very unlikely to be able to build 
know what you want it for and price accordingly
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crofter
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One "trick" the vendor may use is to advertise the land in the summertime. It will look very different in December.
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beean
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It does depend what your friend wants it for, and what it's official designation is.
But I reckon it's worth considering the soil type (clay? sand? rubble? how deep is it?), what it's used for in the past, what condition it's in, drainage, accessibility from road, state of fencing, rights of way, shelter, water sources, size, neighbouring properties (no-one would than you for putting a polly-tunnel 2ft from their patio for instance)....
As to maintenance costs, entirely depends on why you have it: if it's as an investment then worth figuring out if you could rent it as grazing. If it's for use as land, then it should be giving you an income/produce!
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yummersetter
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we've been alerted to check Chancel Repair Liability and to insure against it
I totally don't understand what it is but expenses regarding it have come to £100 before a land purchase can safely go ahead
It seems that Jesus wants to put money in the hands of insurers, must read my bible for the small print on that. Or is it a legalised scam?
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wipka84
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Certain land contains covenant that where the local church requires a new roof etc, they can exercise their right to claim the cost of replacement from the local community.
You're insuring yourself against the unlikely event that your local rev. will want a nice spangly new roof and make the village pay for it, which he in theory could.
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yummersetter
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We don't have a church  We'd be paying for a new roof for the church in the next village. As far as I'm concerned they can pray under umbrellas.
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devonholistic
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Re: Buying land-advice?Many thanks for your swift replies, they will be passed on asap. In answer to some questions: I believe they want a half acre paddock/field upwards (more if woodland with it). Uses convert to organic allotment/own veg patch self sufficiency (this would gererate a small income). Long term I think they'd like to build an ecofriendly house and be offgrid. They're passionate about it - which with sound advice - is a good thing. On paper it sounds ok and viable but with their chosen area being up to 2hrs drive away and a young family in tow and not too much money, I do wonder!
| Mary-Jane wrote: | | devonholistic wrote: | | When buying the land are there any tricks vendors/agents/solitors do to make money, how to spot/prevent this happening? |
I'm not entirely sure exactly how you imagine that solicitors play 'tricks to make money' out of buying land on behalf of their clients. ...
>added by dm: useful info, thankyou<
...Please do not assume that rather tiresome old chestnut that if a person is a lawyer, they must be on the make. It's a gross generalisation and frankly very discourteous. |
By simply asking the above question, I am not making any "gross generalisations" about anyone in the chain, like you are assuming. You interpetation of my words did though - which I find very discourteous. 
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yummersetter
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| wipka84 wrote: | Certain land contains covenant that where the local church requires a new roof etc, they can exercise their right to claim the cost of replacement from the local community.
You're insuring yourself against the unlikely event that your local rev. will want a nice spangly new roof and make the village pay for it, which he in theory could. |
I've been looking further into this ( internet info, of course, so it must be true!)- the rector can only claim against certain medievally assigned properties which have to listed by 2013 for the liability to continue. If you ask the church to look up if your property is one of those and it is, it's likely to go on the register and be marked as such on the Land Registry. If you say nothing but insure against it, even if it is at present liable, they may miss it off their list. The detailed search cost to find out if you are or aren't individually liable costs £100 and insurance should be £10-£50 for under 5 acres up to £100,000 cover, more if you're proved to be liable. The probable max claim by the church on 1 acre in a large parish would be about £40 and there have been very few cases where it has been levied. However, irritatingly, our solicitor has charged us £100 for the insurance and £18 for a rough search which says that some unspecified property in the parish is liable. Feels like 'tricks' to me.
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Drewsephine
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Re: Buying land-advice? | Bebo wrote: |
Bet you can't guess what M-J does for a living |
Looking at her profile picture I reckon its being a Miss Universe contestant.
Or a bionic woman stunt double.
Maybe an arm wrestler.
Hmmmmmm.
May have to go and think about this one some more..................
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Gervase
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Re: Buying land-advice? | devonholistic wrote: | | Long term I think they'd like to build an ecofriendly house and be offgrid. |
They'd probably have better luck giving flying lessons to local piglets. Getting residential PP on on that is not 'zoned' or designated for such is extremely difficult if not impossible these days. A couple of million in bribes might be able to grease a few wheels, but otherwise forget it. Far better to buy a property, however horrible, decrepit or inefficient, with half an acre and work from there.
Dreams of living in the woods in a proper house and being off grid were feasible up to the eighties, but in the UK in the 21st century they have to remain largely dreams. The only way around it is if you work the land and can conclusively demonstrate a need to be on-site 24 hours a day. Even then you will only get restrictive permission, perhaps for a moveable structure or one that will stay up only for the duration of your custody of the land (so when you pop your clogs, the house is razed).
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Dr Rob
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Re: Buying land-advice? | Mary-Jane wrote: | | Please do not assume that rather tiresome old chestnut that if a person is a lawyer, they must be on the make. It's a gross generalisation and frankly very discourteous. |
I think I'm probably with you on that one, M-J - I replied on the other thread but rather more politely
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