OT - Cost of obtaining a land valuation

[Edward]

My family has an interest in a piece of farmland which we wish to sell to another beneficial owner. We have instructed valuers to provide a value, but they have given an estimate for providing the valuation of between =A3750 and =A31200 (priced at =A3120 per hour). I am not a surveyor, but given that the plans show the area, and that calculators are cheap (I've got a free one on my computer), how can this involve anything more than a) visiting the plot and determining the quality of the land, and b) having decided what the price of that type of land in that area generally goes for, multiplying cost-per-acre x number-of- acres.

The plot is less than half an hour's driving time from the surveyor's office. I can't see how this could involve more than three hours work.

Thoughts?

Thanks

Edward

[stuart noble]

So ring another surveyor and tell him you've been quoted £500, which you consider a little on the high side.

[Nightjar]

Sounds about right, based upon getting my factory units valued every three years to keep the pension fund auditors happy.

IME valuers work on the principle that plans can be wrong, so they always take their own measurements.

Colin Bignell

[stuart noble]

Ring another valuer and tell them you want it done for £400. There's always somebody prepared to work for less than £120 an hour in a recession.

[dom]

They re-measure the same buildings every three years, in case they've shrunk?

[Owain]

Presumably they have to make sure the buildings are still there and haven't burnt/fallen down or even been dismantled and sold, which quite a lot of steel frame and clad buildings can be.

Owain

[Nightjar]

I can think of several buildings on the same estate that have been extended or have had a mezzanine floor added.

Colin Bignell

[Roger Chapman]

You don't say how large the plot is or whether there is any development potential. If it is just farmland and being sold as such the value is not likely to be much above the average for bare land which (last time I checked the Valuation Agency website) was about £5000 an acre in most parts of the country.

'Plot' tends to suggest something small and maybe valuable in which case a valuation by a knowledgeable valuer is surely a must particularly if it is a subdivision of an existing field for which accurate dimensions are required.

If OTOH it is only farmland and what is being sold is one or more fields then the farmer should have the land registered with the RPA who will have measured the plan area of each field to the nearest 0.01 of a hectare which is surely accurate enough for farmland transactions and your valuer may not need even to leave his office to make his valuation.

[Bill Taylor]

Only needs to be registered with the RPA if subsidies are being claimed.

Judging from complaints about the RPA I wouldn't be too sure about the accuracy of their mapping either!

[geoff]

In message , Edward writes

£1 for the hammer, £1000 for knowing where to hit it

[Roger Chapman]

You know a farmer who can't be bothered to claim subsidies?

RPA maps are based on large scale OS mapping. OS maps may not be up to date but they are generally very accurate.

[Andrew Mawson]

calculators

involve

number-of-

Don't forget to include an uplift clause in the sale contract in case the next Milton Keynes gets built on it.

AWEM

[Tim Lamb]

In message , geoff writes

Exactly.

It might be as well to ask about *conflict of interest*. There are very few agricultural valuers in a district so it is likely there will be business overlaps.

If you were approached to sell the land, it is important that you look beyond the immediate agricultural value and try to spot what the buyer knows that you don't.

I recently missed a modest uplift where land sold for agricultural use was sold on quickly to the Woodland Trust for forestry development.

regards

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Andrew Mawson writes

It is very difficult to enforce uplift clauses unless you retain some of the land or keep the deeds. The latter can be done by arranging a

*non-redeemable* mortgage.

IANAL

regards