My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

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

Property/DIY

Shared driveway- yay or nay?

93 replies

TurquoiseDress · 26/09/2021 18:31

Hello all

We are looking to move and get a 3rd bedroom (currently in a 2 bed ground floor maisonette), we finally bought our first home last year during lockdown.

Normally would have waited a few more years to upsize but DH has inherited some money and we feel may as well go for it, 2 bed is proving a big squeeze with 2 primary age children!

We are due to visit a 3 bed semi which ticks all the boxes, however, I noticed there is shared driveway which leads to two garages side by side- one would ours & the other belonging to the other semi next door.

So essentially, we'd have to go all the way in and park in front of the garage, then reverse back out onto road, no space for turning from what I can see in photographs. Not sure what the situation is with on street parking for visitors etc.

DH feels that a shared driveway is a deal breaker and we shouldn't even bother with viewing, however, I want to take a look at least. He thinks we'd struggle to sell on in the future...I'm not sure as there a couple of decent schools nearby and local shops, train station etc so imagine it would be a popular location.

At the moment where we live is on street parking with a kind of free of all for all the residents in the maisonettes, sometimes it's a bit of a trek and this is a pain with 2 young children and shopping bags etc.

It just feels rather exciting the prospect of having an actual driveway to park on, however I do feel wary that it's shared.

Any thoughts or experiences of shared driveways? Should we just forget about it or worth considering the property?
Thanks in advance

OP posts:
Report
Whentheydontmeanwhattheysay · 26/09/2021 18:34

Have you never read the parking threads on here about the neighbours parking too far over on the shared drive, leaving the op no room?

I’d be thinking like your DH.

Report
OneRingToRuleThemAll · 26/09/2021 18:35

I currently live in a flat conversion with a shared drive. Never again. It only takes a neighbour to block the drive or be selfish over it and there is nothing you can do about it.

Report
DamnYouAutoCarRental · 26/09/2021 18:38

If there is plenty of on street parking I'd consider it, if the drive is the only parking anywhere near, then no way.

You'd really need to be reversing in to pull out forwards if parking on drive, ideally you shouldn't be reversing on to the road.

Report
TurquoiseDress · 26/09/2021 18:41

Have you never read the parking threads on here about the neighbours parking too far over on the shared drive, leaving the op no room?

Off to do a search right now!

But also wanted to hear directly from those who have had experience of a shared driveway

OP posts:
Report
AmandaHoldensLips · 26/09/2021 18:44

Nope.

Report
TurquoiseDress · 26/09/2021 18:45

You'd really need to be reversing in to pull out forwards if parking on drive, ideally you shouldn't be reversing on to the road

Yes this is true, but from looking at the photos both cars have been driven onto the driveway. The space between the wall of the semi we're interested in and the one on the other side looks to be on the narrow side i.e. can only get one car in at a time, then the space opens up once you're in and in front of the garage

OP posts:
Report
GreyhoundG1rl · 26/09/2021 18:45

I'm with your dh.

Report
TurquoiseDress · 26/09/2021 18:45

Hmm the more I type and explain the situation, the more I do wonder whether it's not worth pursuing!

OP posts:
Report
Wombat96 · 26/09/2021 18:47

Nothing shared, particularly if access is required. Too much scope for aggro.

Report
BonnyandPoppy · 26/09/2021 18:48

I think in the older type semis where there is a clear marking or small wall down the middle it’s fine but new builds with just one double shared driveway I wouldn’t touch.

Report
user89000005 · 26/09/2021 18:53

It depends on what your budget gets you, realistically not everyone can prioritise parking, but if you are able to get a private driveway I hugely recommend it. It's not something we were willing to compromise on this time around. Having gone from a shared driveway to private last year it was honestly life changing, our neighbours were lovely but some of the things they did that made parking a nightmare set me on edge every time I got in the car.

Report
TurquoiseDress · 26/09/2021 18:54

This semi detached is at least 50 years old judging by the other properties on the road

I've seen new builds with shared driveways and they seem more logical with a line down the middle or more that it's a driveway split down the middle and not actually shared

OP posts:
Report
FreeBritnee · 26/09/2021 18:55

Definite nay.

Report
WTF475878237NC · 26/09/2021 18:58

Definitely no. I've walked away from several houses like this. Too much potential for major hassle. Google Mumsnet shared driveway and you'll soon be thinking the same as your husband.

Even with new builds there is often more complexity than meets the eye when you start getting into covenants and ownership versus access.

Report
CoronaPeroni · 26/09/2021 19:01

I wouldn't unless the price is amazing for the accommodation you're getting. Having had a shared drive it's one thing I would never consider again. Are the front doors facing each other across the drive? They could be coming up the drive as your children are coming out of the house.

Report
Sleepinghyena · 26/09/2021 19:01

Definate dealbreaker. Wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.

Report
TiddleTaddleTat · 26/09/2021 19:07

We have one and it's a total non-issue.
But we all park on the road.
Perhaps with tricky neighbours things would be different.
DH wants ours to be split again (as it was originally, like all houses on the road)
But the work involved is a bit of a ball ache.
Will look into it in future though.

Report
AluckyEllie · 26/09/2021 19:07

We have a shared driveway. When we bought the house we didn’t even consider it as we didn’t drive or own a car- now we do. We’ve never had a problem, our neighbours are very considerate and if either of us has tradesmen round we leave the drive free. We’d both happily knock on each other doors and it happens very rarely. However we have good, free on road parking as well. We also have the potential to put parking on the front garden if we ended up with horrible neighbours.

I don’t know if I’d do it again if you didn’t have an alternative- and now I’m worried about selling the house 😂

Report
MadisonAvenue · 26/09/2021 19:09

I’d never have a shared drive again. We had an old house which would originally have had two garden paths but at some point the two householders had knocked down the wall in the middle to create a shared drive.

The first neighbours we had there were great, no problem at all, but they sold to a family who made using the drive very difficult and frequently blocked it. On one occasion I was late getting my son from school because they had a visitor and allowed them to park at the start of the drive, between the gate posts, and the only way I could’ve got off would’ve been to climb over the wall and somehow get my toddler and his buggy over too. And I did knock and ask if they’d move as I needed to go out but got told they were going in five minutes so I’d have to wait.
Also, the drive went between the houses and up to the back gardens and we’d often get their older son playing football on the drive at night, bouncing the ball off the roof and hitting the windows while our young children were in bed.

Report
Seeingadistance · 26/09/2021 19:11

I’ve lived, for a year or so, in a house with shared driveway, giving access to back garden. We made very sure that it was all legal re access etc, and we didn’t have any problems. But a lot will depend on the neighbour. Ours was a nutter - I had to stop him cutting branches off a tree in our garden - but the driveway wasn’t an issue.

Report
MissMarplesGoddaughter · 26/09/2021 19:15

I have lived in a house with a shared driveway for over 30 years and during that time have shared with 4 different sets of neighbours. Maybe I have just been fortunate, but it has never been an issue.

@AluckyEllie
My neighbours have never had any difficulty selling their house. The reasons for selling were death, school catchment areas and moving for their job. Never because of the share driveway. I hope this reassures you.

Report
Schoolchoicesucks · 26/09/2021 19:19

We have the situation you describe.

Neither of us park our cars on the driveway or in garages. Neighbours have paved front garden and park their cars there. We pay for a permit to park on the street.

We both use the shared driveway for visitors - on 1st come 1st served basis so any subsequent cars either park on the road, or have to be willing to shuffle on and off.

If we or the neighbours were inconsiderate about it, it would be a bit of a pain. But we don't need to park on it.

Do you have on street parking as an option? Or ability to create separate parking in front of the house?

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

samwitwicky · 26/09/2021 19:25

We had a shared driveway exactly as you describe. Never had a problem.

It depends entirely on whether your neighbours are normal or not Grin

Report
Georgyporky · 26/09/2021 19:25

NEVER AGAIN ! Won't bore you, but the superficially "naice NDNs" were really nasty about their visitors blocking access.

Report
CoronaPeroni · 26/09/2021 19:30

That's a good idea about paving front garden and parking on that.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.