Buying a neighbour's Garage.

[m4tt]

We have a garage in a block at the back of the house, one of the neighbour's is in a pretty dire state (roof collapsed, timbers rotten and door long gone). They never use it so was considering making an approach to buy it, as could definitely do with the extra space. However wanted a couple of questions answered:

1 - What would a guide price be for an un-attached garage in a block for houses worth ~£210k?
2 - How much should I expect for conveyance fees?
3 - If the house is mortgaged, could they sell the garage or would it be a lengthy wrangle with the mortgage company?
4 - Could I just own it on it's own or would I have to place it on the deeds for my house?

Thanks in advance.

[nomisesor]

1. Value depends on market price - which, as ever depends on demand and location.
2. Conveyancing round here is about £400 - 500 (inc. land registry fees - you won't need power & water searches).
3. Getting it off the deeds - that can be a problem. I've just been in the process of buying a second garage but was let down by a vendor who wasted the estate agents', my, and his & my solicitors' time (and time certainly = money with solicitors) when he discovered that his mortgage company wanted half the price of the garage in exchange for releasing it from the deeds. I presume he was heavily mortgaged and would breach a LTV ratio when the value of the garage was removed from the security held by the lender. Pity he didn't think of that earlier.
4. You can have a garage as a stand-alone freehold - I do. What I've not been able to get is stand-alone insurance. If you put it on your deeds you probably can, but you will have the cost of putting it on, and should you not want to sell both garages with your property when the time comes, or should you wish to sell the garage, you'll have to pay to have it taken off again.

You'll know the size as you already have one. Many people don't realise how small 1960s lockups are - fine for '60s cars, but most modern cars will barely fit - our local agents advertise them as "for a motorbike or storage". I'll be putting a Caterham in there - so the size is fine.

[davepoth]

Around here garages go for about £20k, a 3-bed semi is about £230k.

[lewes]

We did exactly this a few years ago but ours came with the neighbours back garden.

It cost us about £25k but for us its worth it as parking is very limited. We had it deeded separately incase we wanted to build on it in future years.

[YorkshirePudding]

Bought a detached garage plot, long enough for our 2 cars, at the end of 2009 for £4500 with fees of £250.

There was a part built garage on the plot but we pulled that down just leaving the concrete base
for parking on.

[m4tt]

Thanks chaps, will probably start off with a cheeky offer and see how it progresses from there.