Buying a mid terrace house

[gunnernat]

Hi all,

Was hoping for a bit of advice. Myself and my partner are looking at buying a mid terrace house - it’s the middle one of three houses. Both houses either side (end terraces) have a garage and driveway attached. The one that we’re looking at has grass directly in front of the house, but has a garage and driveway that is essentially next door but one (next to the neighbours garage). The property also has access to the garden through a locked gate to the side of the garage that goes round the back of the neighbours garden.

We like the house but ideally we wanted a semi detached house however we haven’t been able to find one that we like that is in budget!

Anyone living in a terraced house and happy with it? Or unhappy with it? All thoughts and opinions welcome. Thanks in advance!

[MrsPear]

Be prepared to hear other people. If you are not don’t think about. You cannot complain about domestic noises otherwise you are an arse. So can you and partner live with it?

[Alabasterangel6]

Same re. noise.

Is it old or new?

I lived in an old mid-terrace and both neighbours drove me to the brink with noise. If it wasn’t one it was the other. At least with a semi you stand a chance of having a couple of rooms which don’t have a neighbour through the wall. I’d be inclined to visit at a busy time of day and see what you hear. I’d also be inclined to knock on one of the adjoining neighbours and ask for their perspective on noise?

[Disfordarkchocolate]

I'm mid terrace and it's fine. I can hear one neighbour more than I want but I too had a budget. Our garage is in a separate block with access to the back garden and that works fine. I would prefer it if the staircases were beside each other as one of our neighbours has a guest who is part elephant. I would suggest checking out the parking at various times incase your neighbours don't use their drives.

[TickleMeEmo]

We bought a mid terrace house last year, down to similar reasons, we needed a 3rd bedroom and wanted a garden but found semi detached in that criteria were well out of our price range.
We hear very minimal noise from neighbours but this could be due to thick walls and our neighbours aren’t very noisy! Definetly less noise than our 2 bed semi detached rental that had paper thin walls.

So far no regrets, but we’ve only been here 6 months!

[AutumnCrow]

I agree about the noise. Be very careful about understanding how thin/thick the walls are.

[Timeforabiscuit]

I love living in a mid terrace - lower heating bills than being on the end

As long as your comfortable with family noise it will be fine. Is there anything that concerns you? Do you know what the neighbours are like?

Mine are lovely which makes a massive difference. I did have a neighbour who went through a bad breakup, me and dh charted his emotional recovery by his very dubuious album choices played at length in the evenings.

[troubleswillbeoutofsight]

I live mid terrace. It's wonderful. However that is because I have like minded and respectful neighbours. We have about a million covenants in place as it's a pretty unique set up on an 'estate' and everyone is courteous. Saying that I can hear the everyday general sounds of my neighbours, I can hear them walking around, coughing, TV in the background, their water running etc. If I didn't live in this set up where there's very unlikely to be awful noisy neighbours I wouldn't do it.

[Bobojangles]

I live in an old mid terrace house, thick solid walls - noise isn't a problem

[adaisy1394]

Hi!

We have lived mid terrace for 6 months now and like it but we are lucky/ unlucky (difficult when it came to legals during purchase) to have a flying freehold so our bottom floor is detached on one side as there is a mid terrace alley/ through way to the back gardens.

Its luck of the draw, we have great neighbours who are very quiet, sometimes the little lad next door does singing concerts for his family (very cute) but we have a single old lady on the other side who doesn't make a peep but is lovely to live next to as she is very friendly and helpful (lends us her garden equipment etc). I think if you had awful neighbours though it would be miserable and would feel quite trapped.

The great thing is that you don't lose so much heat with having 2 (presumably) heated houses either side, we lived in a semi (rented) previously and the staircase was against the external wall and it was damp and cold, like leaving the living room and stepping into your shed and on the other side, the chap was never in so didn't heat his house so we had to have the heating on a lot more than we do now.

To further emphasise the need for good neighbours - when we lived in a semi we were utterly miserable, although we weren't joined, our NDN were always outside and they made such a racket even with the windows and doors closed, screaming at their kids, letting the dogs run wild etc so it can happen wherever you go, whether you are joined or not.

Ours was build in 1830 so its a lovely characterful, solid house but I know new builds can be a bit flimsy so you may be more aware of being in the middle if thats the case.

Hope that helps!

[OnlyFoolsnMothers]

I live in a mid terrace, no issues- people either side arent loud enough for me to hear- and, touch wood, never been burgled like the end terrace!

[MrDarcyWillBeMine]

We live in a city centre terrace (which cost more than a 3/4 bed detached in the suburbs- very upmarket area) and now we have students on one side who we can hear drinking/ screaming at night and who refuse to deal with their bins so leave them piled up in the street out front!!

😒

Our plan is to wait until summer after next (when we’re ready to start a family) and put it on the market the moment they leave for summer break- stuff usually sells within a couple of weeks around here so hopefully by the time they come back in end of Sept they’ll be someone else’s problem!

Terraces are fine for young professionals who want the location over sleep quality/privacy but they are not good family houses!

[jessstan2]

The house sounds quite charming.

If it is a good, solid, old house with thick walls, you won't hear much from next door.

When first married, we bought a small mid terraced house and could hear our neighbours, even the telephone ringing on one side, they heard our baby crying at 5am (& mentioned it); it wasn't very private and I was glad to move and buy a semi.

However a few years ago we rented a mid terraced property in another part of the country because husband was working there. It was extremely solidly built (quite old) and you could hear nothing through the walls. It was lovely. I think we had it for about five years and only gave up the tenancy because we bought a modern flat.

So I advise you to check how much you can hear through the walls, you might be lucky. Your surveyor should be able to tell what sort of walls the house has.

Good luck.

[Inliverpool1]

I’m in a mid terrace currently, the dogs barking drive me up the fcuking wall. I work from home and interviewing people with that going on is awful. I wouldn’t buy one personally

[Racecardriver]

What kind of build is the property? We live in a row of terraces. Haven’t heard a peep from neighbours. The only evidence we have that they exist is the bin bags that appear on bin morning.

[Racecardriver]

*properties are Georgian stone built type things.

[Careofcell44]

We live mid terrace and it's a risk we took due to budget. We've been lucky and both sides are pretty quiet, houses on the street don't come up for sale often so hopefully they'll be here for a long time.
If it's practical you should visit the street at different times of day, a quiet house during the day may have a drum kit in the evening.

[PinkGin24]

When we were looking detached or semi-detached was the deal breaker for me. Partly noise but mainly we have dogs and horses and I didn't want to be going through the front door with wet dogs/muddy shoes.

Then there are the practicalities of getting things like lawn mowers or bikes through to the back garden.

[CherryBlossom321]

We moved last year into a Victorian mid-terrace and it's fine. Occasional domestic sounds can be heard but otherwise we don't find noise to be an issue. They are pretty thick walls. If anything, we might be the noisy neighbours due to a lot of laughter and playful behaviour. Haven't had any complaints though.

[MrsMoastyToasty]

It doesn't have to be your "forever home" , but just a stepping stone to the place of your dreams. Is there any room to improve it to make a profit when you sell it?

[Oblomov19]

Depends on the house.
End of terrace here. 3 staggered houses in each terrace. So only part of our house is attached to the next. Thick walls. Never heard a thing. Ever. She can't hear us. She told us so. No one can hear any neighbour. I know because 15-20 houses, all friendly and we all chat about these things.

[MrsRubyMonday]

Visit the house a few times at different times of day and see how the noise is if you can arrange it. We've just moved from an end of terrace next to an empty property to a mid terrace with neighbours on both sides. It's been.. an adjustment. I have no issue with day to day noise or the noise from the kids on one side but our neighbour on the other side, whilst lovely when we've spoken to her, coughs constantly with that old smoker cough, plays very old fashioned (we'll meet again style) music all evening, went on until gone 1am Christmas Eve. She also yells at her family constantly. I'm in the bath right now and she could be in the room with me, I can hear every word. Luckily it's a rental so we will move once we've saved up a deposit but it can't come soon enough. I will be looking for end terrace or semi at the very least to minimise the risks of this in our own home.

[WishIwas19again]

Our last house was mid terrace, but it was 1920's so thick walls. We could hear our neighbours but luckily they were relatively quiet and we got on well.

Our new house is end terrace 1960's construction and we could not believe how thin the walls were, could hear everything our (quite loud) neighbours said and did so had to invest in sound proofing.

A lot depends on your neighbours, and the risk of quiet neighbours moving and being replaced with noisy ones in future.

To be honest the garden access sounds more off putting than the noise but we have young children so direct access to a garden was essential.

But realistically you know how far your budget stretches and which compromises you're willing to make

[Fooferella]

We're in a small mid-terrace and there are pros and cons.
Pros:
Our location is amazing and we're an easy distance from the city centre. We couldn't afford a semi-detached or detached house in this area.
We're very lucky with our neighbours who are both middle age single professionals and very quiet. We have an 8 yr old DS so I'm sure it's us that makes the most noise .
The garden is small and easily manageable.

Cons:
We have no access to our back garden except through the house. Bikes, tools, garden waste and soon, building materials, all have to come through the house.

[79andnotout]

I like in a mid terrace stone cottage in the Peak district, built 1890 or so. I can hear my neighbours very clearly. However they are all lovely so this doesn't bother me at all, in fact I find it comforting listening to their comings and goings.