Combine back gardens with your neighbours in Marlow

Neighbours in Marlow sometimes find that one garden alone is too narrow, too short or too hard to reach, while the land behind several houses together would make a sensible site for new homes. That’s land assembly on a small scale.

We can look at the gardens as one site, show the group what a combined layout might allow, and explain how value is shared fairly through equalisation. Nobody has to commit until they’ve taken their own advice. If a single garden works perfectly well on its own, with its own route to the road, we’ll tell you that too.

Aerial view of a row of semi-detached houses whose garden ends have been combined into one plot with a new access
Planning authority
Buckinghamshire Council
Postcodes
SL7
Noon sun, 21 March
About 38°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.3 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Buckinghamshire

What shapes a plot in Marlow

A combined scheme in Marlow has a wider pool of buyers than a single plot. Once the land has planning, it can be offered to builders and developers working in Marlow and nearby places such as Maidenhead, High Wycombe and Gerrards Cross, or further afield, who are often more interested in a site for several homes than in one small plot.

If the neighbours choose a sale with planning, the collaboration agreement sets out how a buyer is agreed. If we buy the site, the price is set by the route chosen. Value depends on location, size, access and the permission Buckinghamshire Council grants, so we don’t quote figures before an appraisal.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Marlow: about 38 degrees on 21 March and 15 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 38°, shadow 6.3 m21 Dec, noon: sun 15°, shadow 18.7 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Marlow: around 38° of sun at midday in late March and about 15° at midwinter. It shows why the gap between your house and a new home behind it is about light as well as privacy. Garden assumed to face north.

From first call to decision

Once the group is interested, we meet the owners, together or one by one, and set out the routes and how equalisation would work. Heads of terms follow. Each owner’s own solicitor reviews the collaboration agreement and the sale, option or promotion documents, and lenders are asked to consent early. Then the single application goes to Buckinghamshire Council.

  1. Free appraisal of the combined land

    We look at all the titles together, the possible access points, the surrounding homes and the planning policies that apply, then explain whether a combined scheme looks realistic and roughly what it might allow.

  2. Meet the neighbours

    We meet the owners together or separately, explain how the scheme and the routes work, and answer questions. We don’t approach your neighbours without your agreement, and nobody is committed at this stage.

  3. Collaboration agreement

    Each owner’s own solicitor reviews the documents, and everyone signs a collaboration agreement alongside the sale, option or promotion agreement. Mortgage lenders are asked to consent early, and the agreements are usually protected on each title.

  4. Completion and shares paid

    When the site is sold with planning, or bought by us as agreed, each owner transfers their part, and the proceeds are divided through the solicitors exactly as the collaboration agreement sets out.

Worth checking early

  • If the garden providing the access drops out before signing, the whole scheme may not work.
  • Every owner’s mortgage lender, title and covenants have to be dealt with, and one problem can hold up everyone.
  • Tax depends on each owner’s circumstances, so each should take advice from a tax adviser.

Marlow: questions to ask

Who gets more if one garden in Marlow provides the access?

Usually the owner of the access garden receives an extra agreed share, because their land makes the scheme possible and their house is most affected by passing cars. The exact method is agreed by everyone in the collaboration agreement before planning starts.

How many neighbours in Marlow need to take part?

As few as two can be enough. What matters is that the gardens taking part make a workable site and that one of them provides access to the road. We tell you which gardens are essential and which would simply improve the scheme.

Who pays for planning on combined gardens in Marlow?

It depends on the route. On a sale subject to planning, we normally fund the application. On planning promotion, nothing is paid upfront and costs are recovered from the proceeds only if a sale with planning happens. On an outright sale, we buy the land as it stands.

Does each Marlow owner keep their own house and garden?

Yes. Each owner keeps their house and an agreed garden for it. Only the land behind is transferred, as a transfer of part at HM Land Registry. New boundaries and fencing for each house are agreed as part of the design.

Other options in Marlow

Combine neighbours’ gardens near Marlow

Find out what your garden could become

Free garden plot appraisal. No cost, no obligation, and a straight answer if it won’t work.