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I am not a tax advisor, but I believe it works like this:
If it's not a primary residence CGT is due from the seller when they make a profit. It applies only to the profit between their original purchase price and the sale price, and is taxed at 28% (residential property) or 20% (all other assets). If this is land and not a house, then it should be 20%.
https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/rates
So... if you're offering to pay and she bought for £150k and is selling at £200k, £50k is profit and becomes taxable at 20%, so £10k (20% of £50k) is due as CGT tax that the seller must pay to HMRC. But... CGT is only applicable above an allowance https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/allowances and the allowance is £12.3k so in fact... no tax to pay.
With that in mind and if you can find the original price that they acquired the land for... and determine whether or not the land would be considered residential property (is there a house on it?). With those things you should be able to calculate the ballpark of the tax that she would be facing, and then be informed about whether you could be in a position to offer to cover or not.
Velocio-
@Velocio @aggi Thank you for your insights. The land is a portion of a garden. I know she owns a few properties but I vaguely recall her saying that this was listed as her primary residence.
I need to find out how the land would be valued. She paid £180k for the house (and land) in 2001. Would any profit be based on this value or how much it would be valued today? £500k according to Zoopla.
Hobo
I have finally found a plot of land for which the owner has not flat out said no to the possibility of selling it.
The issue is that she will have to pay Capital Gains Tax on the sale. In this area, I have little to no knowledge. I'm wondering whether it'd be best to contact an accountant or solicitor? One idea is that we would cover the CGT in the overall offer but this is dependent on her asking price.