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Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

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Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Property/DIY

Buying a Terraced House

72 replies

HavePatience · 09/05/2011 09:47

We are considering buying a mid terraced house. It provides much more space for our budget/what we can afford as compared with an end of terrace or semi detached on the market at present.
Can anyone tell me of any pros/cons to buying a terraced property? Some people have said it's fine, others say they would never do it.
Anyone living in a terraced house and happy with it? Or unhappy with it? All thoughts and opinions welcome. :) TIA

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whydobirdssuddenlyappear · 09/05/2011 09:51

We live in a mid terrace. It's fine, as long as the neighbours are ok.

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wordsonascreen · 09/05/2011 09:51

Buy a detached house within large grounds (prefeably with staff annexe) its much better for the sanity.

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JarethTheGoblinKing · 09/05/2011 09:52

what pp said.. The only downside is lack of access to the garden really - when we did our garden everything had to come through the house.

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Tangfasticlady · 09/05/2011 09:53

We live in a mid terrace and again it's perfectly ok. Very economical on the heating bills too.

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bibbitybobbityhat · 09/05/2011 09:54

Pros: Costs less to heat. Cheaper than equivalent sized semi or detatched. Probably slightly more secure in terms of burglaries.

Cons: Neighbours on both sides (ours have never been any trouble in our last two terraced houses). If you want work done on the garden or back of the house the workmen/garden rubble all have to come through the house.

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mrsravelstein · 09/05/2011 09:55

i've lived in a terrace, a semi and a detached... the only issue with being attached on one or both sides is, i guess, about how noisy your neighbours are, but all the houses i've lived in have been victorian, so nice thick walls you can't hear anything through. i would probably think twice about it in a modern house, but in that case it's still down to luck as you could be in a semi but attached to bad neighbours.

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purpleflower123 · 09/05/2011 10:01

I've lived in 2 terraced houses. The first was a mid terrace with our own access into the garden from the bottom, heating was great, overall it was no problem, wouldn't hesitate to live in that situation again.

The second was an end terrace where 3 other houses had access to their garden by walking right through the middle of our garden, that was hell. People walking through your garden when you're having friends round etc. Never again!

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Laquitar · 09/05/2011 17:02

We are in a semi and i love the fact that workmens/widow cleaner dont come through the house. Also muddy bycicles go through the side. And the bins are on the side too.

Also it feels light and airy because of the window by the stairs.

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Laquitar · 09/05/2011 17:04

bycicles???

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diggingintheribs · 09/05/2011 17:08

love my mid terrace - rarely hear neighbours

lots of stairs though

and garden access through the house is a pain

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diggingintheribs · 09/05/2011 17:09

bicycles go in the vaults at the front

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GrungeBlobPrimpants · 09/05/2011 17:12

Always lived mid-terrace

We have no issues with workmen coming in our front door as we have a service 'Back Passage' for bins, builders and the like

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EldritchCleavage · 09/05/2011 17:14

As for neighbours, soundproofing is your friend. We did this on the kitchen party wall, and it is fantastic. Our lovely but screechy neighbours still tell us how quiet we and DS are. They have no idea.

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Firkytoodle · 09/05/2011 17:24

Its cheap to heat, we have good neighbours and havent had any problems there.

However our garden is more overlooked than when we lived in a semi previously, you have to have party wall agreements on two sides if you want to do a loft extension for example, crap or noisy neighbours are awful. My next door neighbour is always complaining that if her DH wants to work on his motorcycle he has to wheel it through the whole house . DD is friends with the girl next door and I see her mother in the playground everyday so I have to be very careful with what can be heard through the walls, but that was the case with our last house too, which was a semi.

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Fedupofdiets · 09/05/2011 17:41

We have lived in two mid terraces and I wouldn't chose to live in one again. The main reason being the noise. If we can hear them then they can hear us and we are a noisy family with the kids running around. In Our last mid terrace we didnt realise the next door house had been converted in to bed sits. We had to endure the neighbours tv on all through the night and as a light sleeper it drove me nuts! We live in a semi now and I still get really paranoid about our noise levels so a detached would probably be better but I had my heart set on a period house and there aren't many detached ones around here. of course it's personal choice but I just don't feel comfortable with the neighbours being able to hear us

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HavePatience · 09/05/2011 21:08

Thanks everyone for these very helpful replies! :) Some things I hadn't thought of, so thank you. I'd love to buy a detached house, but unfortunately our budget will not stretch that far for our area. :(

I'll have to go back and have a listen close to the walls. I didn't notice it when we viewed it. There is a large private garden at the back with high walls and trellis on the sides for privacy. Access to the garden is both through the house and from the back, so no bicycles or motorbikes through the house .

There is also parking and a garage just beyond the garden, so we would park there, and put bicycles in the garage right next to the parking space. There is also a front garden (smaller) with a gate, so I guess we could lock bikes there, but I like the garage idea better and makes more sense to put the bicycles from the back entrance.

Thanks again, everyone. I really appreciate your replies and will go back and consider them.... particularly the noise. I have no idea how old the house is

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diggingintheribs · 09/05/2011 21:12

Find out how old it is - the older the better for noise I believe!

Also check layout - we actually have the neighbours stairs on both sides of our house so less room to room contact!

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twolittlemonkeys · 09/05/2011 21:13

We lived in a mid-terrace and it was fine (there was a shared alleyway so we could bring bins round from our back gardens). Very rarely heard our neighbours. In fact the walls of our current semi are much thinner and I constantly hear neighbours' TV, phone ringing, dog etc if I'm in living room or main bedroom. Really depends on the building. The terrace we had was 1950s ex-council so really solidly built. A mid terrace is also great for saving on fuel bills as you have fewer external walls to lose heat from

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catsareevil · 09/05/2011 21:20

I live in an old mid-terrace. There are no issues with noise, and the houses on either side definately help with heat retention.

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HavePatience · 09/05/2011 21:20

I'm very happy about the saving on fuel bills :) There are 4 terraced houses together and quite a bit of space on both sides of this row of houses, so definitely plenty of space for everyone to bring their bins around.... though I think most people put their bins in this little wooden gated area within their front garden area. So I guess we could just do that and push the bin through the front garden gate on rubbish day.

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HavePatience · 09/05/2011 21:21

I think we'll go for it! Better than the alternative of a flat or maisonette with leasehold.

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Gentleness · 09/05/2011 21:37

Our first mid-terrace was so noisy it distressed me - neighbours arguing with each other, screaming at the kids - we could hear every single word and they weren't words I'd choose. We had access to the garden by an alley but then had to go through neighbour's garden and because of this their uncontrolled kids thought they had access through the broken fence into our garden.

Our second (current one) is so quiet we can't believe the difference. The things we'd look out for again are
~ solid wall construction - this house is maybe 40 yrs older and the walls must be thicker
~ layout - this time we have a hallway on one side of the ground floor and an alley on the other side - so our living area isn't right next to anyone else's
~ our neighbours are quiet. One side is very grumpy, but that doesn't matter in comparison.
~ we have access to the garden through the alley - makes a HUGE difference from the previous house
~ parking - the main reason I would like to upgrade at some point!

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HavePatience · 09/05/2011 22:05

Gentleness - where do you park? Do you not have access to the garden from the back of the garden?

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risingstar · 09/05/2011 22:13

we lived in a mid terrace- built 1911.

twas a nightmare- neighbours noise on both sides all the time. the kitchen and bathroom were at the back so couldnt see from the lounge- it was wrecked by next door neighbours kids.

when we moved out, we swore we would never buy another.

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LaWeasel · 09/05/2011 22:27

OOh! I typed all this out and then realised you'd decided to go for it: anyway, I will just explain the various crap garden situations:

1st house was only through house,
next had a bit of the garden down the whole road chopped off to make a path leaving you with a tiny garden and if the path is open at both ends can be a bit of a yoof/criminal magnet (if it's closed at one end it's usually okay, because they can't run off at speed so tend to avoid)
This one has open gates through everyone's gardens as access, which is just a bit uncomfortable and slightly awkward if you need to use it.