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Owning a home near an industrial estate can make it more difficult to sell the property in the future, because some people will not want to live in the area. This guide outlines the potential barriers that you might face in trying to sell a house or flat situated close by an industrial estate, and also offers advice on how to boost your chances of getting a fast and fair sale.
- When is a home considered to be near an industrial estate?
- Why it can be hard to sell a house by an industrial estate
- Addressing concerns about living near an industrial estate
- Preparing your house or flat for sale
- Can you sell a problem property in its current state?
- Paying Capital Gains Tax on the sale of your home
- Your options for selling your house or flat near an industrial estate
- Top queries about selling a home near an industrial estate
When is a home considered to be near an industrial estate?
Across the UK, you can find freehold and leasehold houses or flats that are located within close vicinity of industrial estates (defined by Wikipedia) — typically covering several acres and consisting mostly of large steel buildings that house manufacturing facilities, factories, goods storage and more, as opposed to commercial properties like shops or offices.
There can be several reasons why an industrial estate might be located very close to one or more homes. Perhaps a residential neighbourhood existed for many years and then because of limited development space an industrial park was constructed nearby. Alternatively, the opposite can be true and there could be an industrial estate that was built many years ago and now because of a need to build more homes they are being constructed nearby.
Later sections of this guide will explain some of the common reasons why it can be more difficult to sell a property that is within a short distance of an industrial park. But if you own such a home you should not fear that it will be impossible to find a buyer, because you still have several viable options.
Why it can be hard to sell a house by an industrial estate
As researched by Wales Online, the closer that a home is to an industrial estate, the harder it might be to sell it to a private buyer because of the negative implications associated with living near the site.
Air pollution from the industries that are located on the estate can be a major concern, as well as emissions from the trucks and other vehicles that use the site every day. Emissions can drift from the industrial estate to nearby homes, which can sometimes lead to residents smelling foul odours in their properties and having to keep their windows permanently closed.
Another major concern about living near an industrial park is noise generated by the companies operating there, as well as from the traffic coming and going from the estate. Just like air pollution problems can lead nearby residents to always keep their windows closed, the noise from an industrial estate can also be a reason for this undesirable outcome.
Depending on how close a flat or house is located to an industrial estate, there could also be vibrations from the traffic servicing the park as well as the manufacturing processes and other work happening on the estate. These vibrations can affect residential properties that are located very close by, creating potential structural damage for the homes and annoying the owners.
Addressing concerns about living near an industrial estate
Whether you’re trying to sell a block flats or house, there are some small steps you can take to mitigate buyers’ concerns about the proximity to an industrial estate. But even with these potential minor fixes you should be aware that many buyers will see the nearby industrial park as reason enough to not buy your property.
To address the concern about noise and air pollution from the industries operating nearby, you could install double-glazing windows throughout your house or flat. However, this could end up being a very expensive project and therefore it’s not one that everyone will be able to do.
Unfortunately there’s not much you will be able to do for your property to reduce the impact of vibrations from the traffic and operations at the industrial estate, because having work done to your flat or house to limit how vibrations affect it would be an incredibly costly project.
Therefore, your best option when dealing with potential buyers is to give full and honest answers to buyers’ questions about air pollution, noise, vibrations and other possible negative implications from living so close to an industrial estate. Some buyers might appreciate the honesty and you can tell them steps you’ve taken to address concerns about the location.
One option available is to try selling your home to a quick buying company like LDN Properties, because they are specialists at making quick and fair offers to purchase almost any type of leasehold or freehold house or flat, including those with locations that some private buyers might consider to be too problematic, such as close proximity to an industrial estate.
Preparing your house or flat for sale
Part of the property selling process (discussed at length in The Homeowners Alliance guide) is getting your leasehold or freehold house or flat ready for sale, and this means making it look in its best condition for potential buyers.
First impressions count when selling a home, so if the exterior of your property has any kind of lawn or other green space you should mow this and remove and weeds. Next, you should look at the outside of the building to see whether there are any small problems that can be easily fixed and for a low cost, such as replacing broken windows or missing roof tiles.
Then you should assess what you can do to make the inside of your property look optimal for anyone prospective buyer that visits or sees photographs of the home in a listing.
There are several simple tips for preparing the interior of a home for sale, starting with basic cleaning to make sure there is no dust, dirt and the like inside. You should also remove any clutter from rooms so that they look as open as possible, as this will make the rooms appear larger, and therefore hopefully more valuable, to buyers. If you have any pets you should also keep them secured away from any buyers that come to visit the home on a viewing.
Having an untidy, cluttered house that does not look well maintained is typically a major turnoff for potential buyers, and they will at the very least think your home is less valuable than whatever price you are asking for it, so a little upfront cleaning work can be beneficial.
Can you sell a problem property in its current state?
As detailed earlier in this guide, some buyers might see your home’s proximity to an industrial estate as making your flat or house a problem property. But when you’re getting ready to sell you should also assess whether your home has any physical damage that might complicate a sale.
This can include a wide range of issues, such as high amounts of asbestos, widespread damp, increasing subsidence and many other factors. If the problem is large enough, some potential buyers will likely reduce the price that they offer for your property by the amount of money that they anticipate it will cost them to fix the issue after they have bought the home.
As a result, you have two options; either invest time, funds and effort into repairing the structural problem before selling or instead try to sell the property "as is" in its existing state.
If you decide to repair the fault ahead of selling, this will naturally eliminate the concern about buyers reducing their offer price by the amount they predict it will cost them to do the work. However, many homeowners will not have the resources available to pursue potentially lengthy and very expensive repair work before trying to secure a buyer for their properties.
If that’s your situation, then you can sell your home as is without making any fixes yet still get a competitive and speedy offer for it. To do this, get in touch with a fast home buyer like LDN Properties, because these companies have plenty of experience with purchasing problem homes, and they’ll often give you a fair price even without you pursuing any repair efforts.
Paying Capital Gains Tax on the sale of your home
Budgeting is always important when it comes to selling a property, and this means accounting for all your potential costs. One expense that you might face after selling your house near an industrial estate is having to pay Capital Gains Tax (as explained in this INews article).
This is a charge that the UK government imposes on the profit, also sometimes called the gain, that someone makes when they sell a home or another type of valuable tangible asset, which can also include artwork, vehicles and much more.
In practice, this means that in a situation where you first bought your property for £75,000 and sell it for £175,000, you have made a £100,000 profit and that could face Capital Gains Tax.
However, there are certain ways that you can either significantly reduce or completely remove your requirement to pay this tax, so consult with a financial professional about your options.
Your options for selling your house or flat near an industrial estate
Once you are ready to seek a buyer for your property located near an industrial estate, you’ll have to choose which approach you would like to use for selling your flat or house.
The four main choices are selling to a quick home buyer, selling on your own, selling with an estate agent or selling at an auction. You will discover that there are specific advantages associated with each of the four approaches, but that a few of the options also have major disadvantages, for example taking more than an entire year to sell your property.
As part of the selling planning process you should write down your top goals with finding a buyer, including how fast you would like to sell, whether you can accept paying a third party any commission for finding a buyer, and your preferred sale price. Then compare these details against the details of the four options below to find the best match for your situation.
Selling to a quick home buyer
Quick home buyers, like LDN Properties, are companies that have the financial resources available to purchase flats, houses and other properties immediately. They do not need to get approved for a mortgage to pay for the property, which significantly speeds up the process to just a few short weeks, and that includes the time that it takes to exchange contracts.
Not only is this typically the fastest way to sell a home, but it’s also one of the most cost-effective because the legitimate quick buying companies will never make owners pay any commission when selling their properties, which helps to lower your selling expenses.
Another great reason to contact a quick buyer about selling your home near an industrial estate is that they will make fair and fast offers to purchase properties regardless of their age, condition, location, shape, size or type – including those near industrial parks.
LDN Properties, by way of example, launched in 2003 and since then has bought and offered on a wide range of homes throughout the UK that includes properties near power lines, flats under noisy airport flight paths, vandalised houses, lock-up garages, plots of land, properties that are close to mobile phone masts, British Iron and Steel Federation houses, homes that have solar panels, properties that have low Energy Performance Certificate grades and many other scenarios.
Selling on your own
Alternatively, you might be interested in selling solo, which means you will have to handle every aspect of the process. This includes crafting a listing that describes your home and features photographs of it, advertising that listing in local media, organising viewings for potential buyers to visit your home, and hearing offers from buyers, hopefully taking one through to completion.
This can be a massive amount of work and it will affect your life daily because it’s not something that you can defer to just doing in your spare time. That’s why this method of selling is only really suggested for people with experience selling homes, or who have a qualified family member or friend who might be willing to assist with selling the property at zero fee. Otherwise you should be prepared for this to be a very slow process, and it make take over a year to sell your home.
The only obvious benefit of selling on your own is that you won’t have to pay an auctioneer or estate agent any commission, which could help reduce your costs. However, this saving might be eliminated by the money that you have to spend on advertising your property.
Instead of selling solo, you should think about selling to a quick buyer like LDN Properties. These companies will never charge you any commission, and they also have the additional benefit of being able to complete the purchase of your home in just a few short weeks, giving you the perfect combination of a speedy sale and also not having to pay any fees.
Selling with an estate agent
You could also try selling your home by an industrial estate using the services of an estate agent. They will prepare and advertise the listing for your home, organise viewings and field any buyers’ offers, which will mean you don’t have to do much work to sell the property.
However, estate agents do charge commission for their effort in finding you a buyer and, if they successfully sell your home, they will make you pay often as a percentage of the final sale price of your property. This charge will add to your selling expenses because it will be deducted from the proceeds immediately after the sale is completed.
Selling through an estate agent can also be a rather slow process, and you should not be surprised if you have to wait more than an entire year before you’re able to get a buyer. If you are looking to sell your property as quickly as feasible you should review other options.
Some estate agents might also not know how to get buyers interested in a property that is located close to an industrial park, which would delay a sale even further. You should ask individual estate agents about their past successes with selling houses or flats that are situated near to industrial parks, and avoid using any company that has never sold such a property.
Selling at an auction
The fourth way that you can sell your property near an industrial park is through a traditional auction or modern auction, where people will hopefully place bids of ever-increasing value to buy your house or flat during the auction.
Be aware that a bid on your home is considered a binding legal agreement to purchase the property that the buyer can sue to enforce if you try to walk away from the sale. That’s why you need to pick a reserve price – the lowest value at which you agree to sell the home – that will still generate a profit from the sale, even after the auctioneer has deducted their commission.
Auctioneers will usually charge commission as a percentage of whatever final sale price you are able to get for your home. It’s possible that some auctioneers may be willing to lower this fee or have the buyer pay some of your expenses, so inquire with individual companies.
You should also be prepared for the possibility that nobody places a bid on your property, which means that it does not sell, and you will have to start over with trying to find a buyer for it. This will likely add many months on to the process, delaying the sale of your home even further.
This is not a speedy way to sell your home because it will take at least many months, starting with a lengthy delay of many weeks between when you first list your flat or house for sale and when the auction takes place. If your property does sell during the auction, the buyer then usually has 28 days to sign all of their required legal papers and complete their other tasks to finalise the process. You might be able to negotiate with some auctioneers to set a shorter deadline for the buyer to do these tasks, which could help speed up the sale slightly.
Top queries and answers about selling a house near an industrial estate
Any homeowner thinking of selling their property quickly will have some questions that need answering, ranging from the areas where we buy property through to selling a business centre. These are a few of the questions we’re asked about selling property near an industrial estate:
Your top questions when selling property near an industrial estate
Throughout the UK you’ll find leasehold and freehold houses and flats situated near to an industrial park, which usually covers many acres and consists or large steel buildings that house factories, goods storage, manufacturing facilities and more. A home near an industrial estate can be harder to sell than other properties, but a fast and fair sale is still possible.
One of the biggest concerns that potential buyers might have about your home is suffering health harms from the air pollution generated by the industrial estate facilities as well as the traffic coming and going to the park each day. Another drawback for buyers can be the potential noise and vibrations that come from the estate and that can affect your property.
You should clean and tidy your home so that it appears very well maintained if any potential buyers come to visit, because this will make the property appear more valuable than one that is dirty. Inside your home you should remove clutter and outside the property you should repair any obvious small-scale problems such as chipped paint, broken windows or missing roof tiles.
Yes, there’s nothing to prevent you from trying to sell your house or flat near an industrial estate even if it has dry rot, damp, subsidence or any other prominent structural flaw. However, you should be aware that some buyers will lower their offers because of the problem. One way to avoid this is by selling to a quick buyer, because they will still give you a competitive offer.
If you sell your home at a loss compared to your original purchase price, or you break even by selling close to what you initially paid for the property, then Capital Gains Tax should not apply or be small. Make sure you speak with a qualified tax professional before making any decisions.
Generally, using a quick home buyer like LDN Properties will be the swiftest way to sell your flat or house because the whole process should take no longer than a handful of weeks. But if you decide to sell your property without any assistance or sell using an auctioneer or estate agent, all three of those methods might take at least many months, or possibly longer.
To avoid having to pay any fees on the sale of your home, you can either sell it on your own without any help or sell it to an honest zero-fee quick buying company such as LDN Properties. If you use an estate agent or an auctioneer to sell your property then they will charge you commission for their work, and this fee will be taken out of the sale proceeds right away.
