To move house for a drive way?

[MissHoneyPenny]

DH says I’m being unreasonable to want to move house purely because we don’t have a driveway.

We have a lovely terraced house with a beautiful garden (front and back) in a lovely area but no driveway and no scope to create one either. Since having DCs (2 under 3) parking spaces or the lack of has been playing on my mind non stop. I hate not knowing if there will be a space available outside my house. I obsess over it and have been known to not go out to places because I don’t want the stress of losing my spot.

There is an unspoken agreement amongst most of our neighbours that we won’t park outside each others houses but there are always work vans, visitors, etc. who park up. To be clear, I know I do not own the space outside my house and I would never dream of being rude to anyone who did park outside my house.

If we did move to a bigger house with a driveway, we would most likely have to move to a cheaper area.

My DH says the parking situation doesn’t bother him in the slightest.

AIBU to want to move due to this?

Agree.

I live in a similar sounding place and often have to park 3 roads over. Inconvenient yes but doesn't stop us getting out and about.

We love the area we live in, the location is perfect for us. Just not drive/garage. But for us, the location is more important than having a private driveway, since we can still park nearishby.

I agree with those who have said your fear will simply be transferred to someone parking across your driveway, trapping you in when you want to get out. Which will be far more inconvenient than having to walk 50 yards to your car.

A really nice thing about living on a terraced street with no room for driveways is that when they’re scooting age, you don’t have to worry about them getting hit by cars crossing the pavement.

I put the hazards on, block the road and empty my car of shopping/stuff when necessary, then go and park.

Honestly, I get it. We used to live in an appartment with street parking, and ended up paying for a reserved spot to reduce the parking stress. And that was before children. After we've had our DC, I just couldn't. I'd end up staying home to avoid risking not being able to find a parking spot close by. I have a chronic illness that's not severe enough for a blue badge but bad enough that I'll spent half a day's worth of energy if I'm already fatigued and I end up in a difficult parking situation and have to ferry my 3-year-old DS around far, especially during bad weather. My DS is a lovely and easy child - he's just 3 years old, that's all. We have a house with a drive, and I'd definitely feel it's worth moving for.

Same here. It was a bit of a pain before they could walk independently but when we moved when they were quite a bit older, we ended up buying a house with a garage (a nice extra that hadn't been on our must- have list) but no driveway. Mind you, parking is easier due to having a turning next to the house.

I couldn't imagine choosing a worse area just to get a driveway when in a few years the issue will be much diminished. Unless you have other reasons to want to move - another bedroom, closer to your preferred school etc.

YANBU

Totally justified reason, me and my hubby moved from our old house for the purpose of a driveway and we have not regretted it!!

I would hope there would be other advantages to moving such as a big garden for the kids or bigger rooms etc 🙂 good luck! Xx

I think YANBU but with a reservation. I do get why your husband doesn't see it as a problem because he doesn't do the child wrangling....maybe you could set things up so he gets a taste of it?? BUT I think not going out for fear of losing your space is perhaps a bit extreme? Have you looked at what you could get if you did move? Would you need to increase your mortgage and is this do-able or sensible in the current economic climate?

not necessarily!

One of the most important things on my list when I got a house was my own parking space. I got a drive, but now there's other ways of being inconvenienced.

If that's the only factor in you wanting to move, I would persevere

Yes, for me, its something that I would choose to move over, especially with young kids.
Though when we bought our house, it was a non negotiable even before kids because the stress of being able to park was something I knew would impact my life.
As it happens we didn't realise how steep our driveway actually was and I bought a car with a dodgy handbrake which we can't afford to replace yet so I never get to park on our driveway. Luckily at the moment I can almost always park on the road outside our house as most houses do have a driveway (but of course there are way more cars than driveways). 2 of our neighbours are very old without cars though so I do worry about when they move on and people with 2+ cars move in.

The only non negotiable i have, is i have to have at least a double driveway and a garage. so i absolutely would move for that if i were you.

We don't have a driveway, I would 100% move to a house with one if we could afford it. Unfortunately our budget was so tight we had to sacrifice it, it is a royal pain in the arse

I agree with previous posters. Moving from terraced housing with parking issues to a house with generous driveway has absolutely been life-changing.
I can now nip in and out as often as required with all the drop offs and pick ups family life necessitates. We never used to be able to pop out and collect a pizza or Chinese take away at will. I can pick my eldest up from the station and return her without the walk to/from the car defeating the purpose.
We/ our stuff don’t/ doesn’t get soaked when it’s raining. We don’t need to wear our coats just to get in the car if it’s cold.

To those talking about when your children get older it’s no longer such an issue surely haven’t thought about those same older children need picking up late from parties?

You wouldn't be picking up your own children from a party at your house though!

Team DH here. In the last 35 years I've had a car and no driveway and really don't care. I can sometimes park on my street but not always, and the space outside my house is sometimes free and sometimes not. My kids are grown up now but it didn't bother me when they were small either.

However, I do appreciate the fact that the street is wide enough to double park while loading and unloading shopping or luggage.

Actually, a bonus is that most neighbours don't have parking either, and quite often when walking from house to car I bump into one of them and have a chat, so I find it sociable.

It’s not unreasonable to want a driveway as with small kids it’s a pain if you can’t park close to your house. Our last house had a huge driveway but the house was too small for us and we couldn’t extend. We had to compromise to no driveway in this house to get the extra bedrooms/bigger rooms we needed. We do have a parking space and garage but our kids are grown up so doesn’t cause any issue but I wouldn’t have liked it with trying to get kids in and out of the car

Threads like this make you realise how incredibly and wonderfully diverse Mumsnet is. I doubt 10% of all the 8 million people living in London have a drive, let alone a drive for 2 or 3 cars! And yet some people genuinely feel they can't function without them?

Hop on Street View and take a tour round Eton Square or similar streets with literally the most expensive properties in the whole of the UK and see how many drives there are.

Your children will not be small forever, I am with your DH on this. Also thinking how much of your money would be spent on stamp duty, the spivs and chancers called estate agents, and other removal expenses.

Even things like, say you get your young DC in the car and suddenly you remember you forgot something, it's so much easier to be able to nip inside and retrieve it. If you're parked down the road, you may have to get the kids back out and back to the house then back to the car and strapped back in. Such a pain

Picking up without a parking space is fine - it’s collecting late at night - walking to car and then and then picking up before having to find another space to park and walk back in the dark again.

Well that’s because, yes I know this is hard to believe, but not everyone lives in London…

@MissHoneyPenny it's a difficult one to call. We had a house with no driveway or space to create one and parking on the street. We rarely got parked outside the house. We lived in a prime street/area. We moved to a lesser area but a house with a huge driveway, enough for 3 or 4 cars. The driveway was the deal breaker for us. But I missed the nicer street/area. Then we moved to a bigger house, same area as the house with the big driveway, but with a smaller driveway, only just enough for 2 cars, if that. I miss the bigger driveway tbh, but looking back now I don't like the house, and prefer the house we have now.

Well that’s because, yes I know this is hard to believe, but not everyone lives in London…

Good sarcasm but sadly you haven't been able to grasp my point.

YANBU having your own drive is great, I would not consider a property without one. I would definitely move to get a drive, much more convenient and less hassle.

Oh well you’re clearly too clever for me, want to explain then why your point about how the majority of London deals without one matters if the majority of people on this thread saying they need one (presumably OP also) are not in London?