How do I sell land to a neighbor?

Start with what is changing hands. A neighbor who buys the whole parcel, exactly as it sits on the land records, is buying an existing piece of property. A neighbor who buys the back five acres or a strip along the shared fence is buying a piece that does not exist yet as its own parcel, and that is where the county comes in before any deed does.

Va. Code 15.2-2275 lets a locality provide in its subdivision ordinance that the boundary lines of a lot or parcel may be vacated, relocated or otherwise altered as part of an otherwise valid and properly recorded plat of subdivision or resubdivision. Alternatively, a locality may allow lot lines to be vacated by recording a deed, and that deed must be approved in writing, on its face, by the governing body or its designee. Both are local options, so the answer depends on what the county has actually adopted.

Either way the new line has to be drawn by someone qualified to draw it. A land surveyor's boundary survey and plat describe the piece that moves, and the plat is what the county reviews. How plats work when any part of a tract is sold, to a neighbor or anyone else, is the subject of selling just part of your land.

One case looks similar and is not. Two neighbors who disagree about where the existing line runs are settling a dispute, not selling land, and that is covered in what a boundary line agreement is. A division to a relative has its own rules in family subdivisions in Virginia.

Knowing the buyer for years changes the conversation, not the paperwork. Every step that protects a sale to a stranger applies to the owner across the fence.

• The contract is written and signed. Virginia's writing rule, Va. Code 11-2, applies to a contract between neighbors exactly as it does to any other sale of real estate.
• The deed describes the piece. The statutory form in Va. Code 55.1-300 has the grantor state the consideration, nominal or actual, and describe the property conveyed, including the county or city where it lies. For a piece of a tract, the description has to match the line the county approved.
• Whatever belongs to the piece goes with it. Va. Code 55.1-303 construes every deed conveying land to include all buildings, privileges and appurtenances belonging to the land unless the deed makes an exception, so a barn standing on the strip goes to the neighbor unless the deed says otherwise.
• The deed is recorded. An unrecorded deed is void as to purchasers for value without notice and lien creditors under Va. Code 55.1-407, a point taken up in the first question below.
• The recording taxes are paid. The clerk records a deed upon payment of the fees and any tax on it, which on a sale can include the grantor tax under Va. Code 58.1-802 and the state recordation tax under 58.1-801. The rates and exemptions are worked through in the grantor tax in Virginia.

Which side pays each of those taxes is covered in who pays closing costs in Virginia. The complete set of papers, and who prepares each, is listed in the documents needed to sell land in Virginia.

Two side effects of carving off a piece belong to other pages. If the tract is taxed on its use value, a split can raise roll-back taxes, explained in what triggers rollback taxes. And what the piece is worth is a valuation question for a free valuation.