To request access to garden to check sun levels when buying a house

[howmuchsun]

Basically a sunny garden is very important to me. I absolutely love the sun and if a garden doesn’t get any, or much sun, it’s a deal breaker when looking at houses.

We’re viewing a house today and we’ve already fallen in love with it. It’s perfect, other than not knowing how much sun the garden gets. The house is on a corner plot in a cul de sac and the garden goes around the side of the house and around to the back. The garden backs on to a brook which we LOVE and there are a lot of really big high trees on the other side of the brook. Because these trees are so tall, I’m worried that they’ll block out all the sun. The pictures online show a sunny garden but these were taken a couple of months ago when the trees were bare and you can see the shadows of their branches go up to the house. I’m thinking when the trees are full in the summer, there won’t be any sun in the garden. Or, hopefully, the sun will be high enough in the summer that the garden will be sunny.

We’ve asked the estate agent to ask the owner how much sun the garden gets but they’re surely going to lie and say it’s sunny even if it’s not. So here’s my AIBU - could I ask to go and visit the garden periodically tomorrow? There’s an entrance around the side of the house I could just walk though and peek into the garden so wouldn’t need to go through the house. Or is that totally unreasonable?

The current owner is an 85 year old lady if that makes any difference. It’ll just me be (30y/o female) and my baby checking out the garden.

I don’t see the harm in asking

No harm at all. Very wise, actually.

Why don't you just go into the garden when you view the house later today? I don't see why you'd have to peek through a gate. Or is it raining where you are today?

And also, while you're there, use the compass on your phone to check what way the garden faces. People selling houses tend to think that 'sunny back garden' is interchangeable with 'south facing garden' IME.

I wouldn’t like someone “peeking” in my garden periodically!

They could look at arranged times with an estate agent though.

We did this - we were buying a N facing house, and wanted to know how much sun the garden got in the evening.
All I wanted to do was to pop round about 6pm on a sunny day and see how the garden looked. I wasn't interested in going in the house again. The estate agent said no, because the lady who lived there said she didn't want to do any viewings herself, but was happy for them (the agent) to do viewings any time. The agent wouldn't do viewings after 5!

I was prepared to walk away - seeing the garden in the evening was important to me. The agent didn't believe me, but soon realised I was serious and managed to make an exception for the 5 long minutes it took for me to check the garden. Definitely worth doing, and I'd do it again.

A visit should be pre-arranged, but I am with you that you should see it in person. Though you may have to wait a few days for a sunny day depending on where you are.

Why can't you look during the visit today?

I think randomly calling in throughout the day is a bit much. Regardless of age or occupation, its a bit rude to expect someone to let you in their garden all day, with no guarantee you're even putting an offer in.

Certainly, ask for a second viewing, and time it when either the sun should be at its best (based on which was the gardens facing) or when you are most likely to go out for the sun.

We only asked for a second viewing after we'd made an offer, near the end of the process, so we could measure up for furniture.

I'll be honest, based on some of the stories here, I'd be a little worried you'd be a difficult buyer if you're already asking for multiple viewings - whether I was there or not in one day to see where the sun is and before you'd even made an offer. What if its raining the day you plan to visit?

Is it the weather that’s stopping you from getting an idea of how sunny it is on today’s viewing? If you like it then I’d just request a second viewing, which is wise anyway, and try to organise it for the weather is good which I think for most of the U.K. is about Wednesday onwards. If by requesting to view it ‘periodically’ you really mean going through the side entrance into to the garden, multiple times, whenever you feel like it, then that’s a bit much and I can’t imagine many people agreeing to that (I wouldn’t!).

completely agree - you should always look at a house at different times of the day, even if just from the outside. A house that is quiet on a Sunday morning could be hell on a weekday because of commuter parking etc. I'd just knock and ask

@IliveonCoffee

I think randomly calling in throughout the day is a bit much. Regardless of age or occupation, its a bit rude to expect someone to let you in their garden all day, with no guarantee you're even putting an offer in.

Certainly, ask for a second viewing, and time it when either the sun should be at its best (based on which was the gardens facing) or when you are most likely to go out for the sun.

We only asked for a second viewing after we'd made an offer, near the end of the process, so we could measure up for furniture.

I'll be honest, based on some of the stories here, I'd be a little worried you'd be a difficult buyer if you're already asking for multiple viewings - whether I was there or not in one day to see where the sun is and before you'd even made an offer. What if its raining the day you plan to visit?

But she's not asking for actual access to the garden. And it's not just any old random, it's someone the owner is hoping will buy her house!

How often is periodically?

The 3D globe view in Google Maps is pretty good for identifying the height of neighbouring trees. It doesn't show shadow but it gives you compass orientation and you can rotate the view north/south/east/west to gauge whether the trees will block the sun.

I would book a couple of viewings at times you'd be likely to use the garden. A few times a day sounds quite intrusive.

Which way is the garden facing? Can you you at the sun situation when you visit today? Then you could have a second viewing at a different time to see the difference.

Ask the vendor about the sun.
Ask which way the garden faces
Ask about the trees and who the land belongs to on which the trees are growing.
But don't go peeping through her fencing!that's odd!😀

You can ask - I personally wouldn't let anyone periodically pop into my garden but you could come for a look at a set time (that's a different time to today's viewing). I guess it depends on the market too, houses are selling so quickly here that you basically have to put an offer in the second you leave the house to stand a chance. There's no second viewings.

I think its a bit strange that you need to physically visit her garden at various stages through a day to check sunlight. Can you not just book an appointment one lunchtime and judge the level of the trees etc? You know where the sun sits in the sky through the day. If it was my grandmother of a similar age multiple visits through a day would stress her. She would have to have my mother around for the day, who would then have to be up and down unlocking the gate to let you in. They would say yes because they would do everything to accommodate a buyer.

They would say yes because they would do everything to accommodate a buyer.
Well, there you go... 🤦‍♀️
How stressful can opening a gate possibly be, in the context of trying to sell your house?

It would stressful for my grandmother @GreyhoundG1rl or perhaps you know her better then I?

Sunlight in a garden is important. Just book a couple more viewings at different times of the day or stand somewhere in the street in the same position of the back garden, if you can, and try and judge the light.

I wouldn't give permission to someone to just pop into my back garden a few times whenever they felt like it, that's cheeky. Is the brook/trees on your land potentially? If no, can you walk through them freely to try and gauge sunlight but remember that others would also be able to do that if you become the owner.

Very mixed voting! In response to a few comments, we’re booked in to see it a at 5pm today which is luckily when it’s forecast to have a sunny spell between all the rain. But that’ll only show us how sunny the garden is at 5pm, not at other times. Although it would probably give us a better idea.

I’ve looked on Google satellite and the garden is completely shaded but I don’t know what time of day/year it is. I think it was in the morning though which wouldn’t be too bad because I’d much rather have afternoon sun.

The trees don’t belong to anyone, they aren’t on anyone’s property but are part of a small nature reserve.

Good idea about potentially booking in to see it at a different time on another day though. That’s a good compromise and hopefully won’t make the seller uncomfortable so I’ll probably ask to do that. If I’m seeing it today at 5pm, I’ll see if I can see the garden tomorrow mid morning. Although houses are selling so quickly even delaying making an offer by a day might mean I miss out

@Overdueanamechange

It would stressful for my grandmother *@GreyhoundG1rl* or perhaps you know her better then I?

Well obviously not... But she'll surely encounter far more upheaval between selling her house and settling into her new place. Opening a gate would seem to pale into insignificance in the wider context. The lady in question isn't your relative anyway.

I don't think it's an unreasonable request. You would be buying the garden as well as the house.