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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To buy a house with no rear/side garden access

30 replies

Housesearch25 · 29/06/2025 18:43

Insight welcome please Mumsnetters - a couple of the properties we’ve looked at have no side or rear access to the back garden. Would this be a deal breaker for you?

House 1 - semi detached, has a garage which runs most the length of the house up to a small utility so in theory stuff could go through there but not ideal if packed with stuff and only a small door at the back which may be an issue if tradespeople are bringing stuff through (garden would need some work).

House 2 - detached, has been extended to the side and no access. Garage does not run the length of the house. Only option would be going through the house itself.

Both houses have kitchens at the back so would ideally want to keep bins/recycling in the garden

I am edging to these both being a ‘no’ but DH says he could look beyond it.

OP posts:
Ineedanewsofa · 29/06/2025 18:54

Used to live in a mid terrace with a 30ft garden. Technically there was a footpath at the back that you could take bins up and down but everyone on the row kept them at the front as it was PITA to drag the bin down the garden, along the path and back up to the front. We also had to bring all garden rubbish through the house as the path was too narrow to get a wheelbarrow down. Never again!

Carcrash123 · 29/06/2025 18:54

If you cut your grass do you have to bring the cuttings through the house?

Are the bins out front? Do you have to bring your kitchen waste through the house?

SparklyGlitterballs · 29/06/2025 18:50

Our house got extended like your first example (but with no utility). There's so much I'd like done to the garden but there's always stuff in the garage, or the access door is too narrow to get things through. I wanted a huge bushy yew tree removed at the beginning of the year but no room to get branches through, or to get a chipper machine into the garden. If I ever move again I'll definitely make sure there's better access to the rear as it's a pain in the backside.

Radionowhere · 29/06/2025 18:48

It's not ideal, I think it would devalue a house. I would be willing to compromise if it meant getting more house than was otherwise affordable, or a better area.

FrenchandSaunders · 29/06/2025 18:46

Our neighbours are extending and their house will be like this … I don’t get it. And I wouldn’t like it, but compromises have to be made so it depends on the rest.