To be put off a house because of this?

[Helloeyes]

Driveway parking at the rear of the house rather than at the front. Can then walk immediately round to the front (15 seconds).

A deal breaker or not?

@Helloeyes To get to the rear of the property it is on a different street and along what was a public right of way road not thoroughfare. The electricity board have decided to put up security gates and fencing as idiots we’re trying to get in the substation. So now we have to pay £100 every year to get a key to get access to our own driveways and garages. It’s not lit either. So a nightmare attempting to unlock/open/close/relock eight foot high and wide gates in the dark and bad weather just to get in or out. No access from rear of the property through garage to house either- no one has due to security issue and the fact that the driveways and garages were originally built for morris minors, meaning if you park on your drive, you can’t open a door to get into your garage as there’s simply not enough length in the driveways. Which means a lot of moving the car shuffling - and god help you if your neighbour also wants to get their car in or out whilst your are attempting to fill your freezer from your shopping in the car.

In reality, if you us your car everyday, then no one uses it and parks anywhere on the street at the front. If people are not using their car for any long length of time, then they park around the back. Ironically my car insurance is more expensive if I state it’s kept in my garage than if I just keep it on my drive or even just kerbside. It’s also a longish walk with shopping from the rear to the front door.

the layout from the road is house, garden, garage, drive, gated road, side street, main road.

My family home was like that when we were young and we just always used the back door. Why wouldn't you just do that?

@Mossyfox i would not buy with a shared drive or a private road either. That and this rear parking would be instant “no way” for me.
it can take me (without shopping) a good twenty minutes to go from front door to finally extracting my car and being off along the road if I park at the rear.
if I park on the road at the front (pot luck as to where) I’m in the car and gone in under a minute.
Absolutely never again for me. But we all have different preferences.

You can’t on our row of house due to the way things are built and having to navigate the electricity board gates. There isn’t the physical room for doors to open (or close) with cars parked up and cars cannot be left further away from the door as then no one could use the lane to get to their garage/drive or the workers to the substation. So you end up shuffling the car forwards and back to unload and get the car on the drive but then cannot access the garage door to get through yourself, plus you have to sort out the gates, by which time you are halfway back to your own front door…. Absolute ballache.

Is there a back door?

I think it sounds quite nice

Our garage is at the back of the house. Put the car away. Come in through the back garden. Not a problem at all.

depends...I'd need a diagram

Why wouldn’t you just use the back door

Parking post - diagram required.

Trying to keep the chickens out of the road could be a problem.

I have this. We use the back door.

I actually think this could be an advantage if you can access the house through the back door. Straight into the kitchen with your shopping, plus the car is in a more convenient place for washing and maintenance, and nicely tucked away from passers-by in the street.

Can you get a house you like just as much, is in budget and in the right location with off street parking at the front? If so, it's fine to a deal breaker. If not, what will you compromise on in parking at the front becomes non-negotiable?

Mine has this as its no issue. My kids are grown, but when they were babies I had to carry them / car seats over a main road and 2 streets away to park. A few steps is no big deal for me.

If it can walk around in that few aeconds, that ould be fine. We discounted few otherwise nice ones because only access would be via kitchen door unless you walk around half the block.
And I am not walking into my kitchen from outside all the time. We are shoes off house. We dif from garden (shoe change by the door)so I can see why my logic is weird🙈

How do you access the house? I grew up with a back drive and we entered through the back door straight into the kitchen.

Not sure of the configuration but if I was unable to secure the back garden completely and if it would be visible on a lovely summers evening when I was sat out there relaxing, then I wouldn’t buy it.

If the parking is separate from the garden then potentially.

Our house has this, but is on our back wall with door at back of garage into back garden. We also have a back gate adjacent to garage. We are fortunate enough to have a double drive at front of house, so vary rarely use back drive, however most of our neighbours just use their back door as the main entrance.

I had this. Perfectly happy with it for me because I could come in the utility door, take off shoes etc. BUT it annoyed the crap out of me that visitors also came to my utility door instead of walking to the front.

I think a driveway at the front can spoil the look of a property, depending on the type of property and the frontage. So tucked away at the back would be better in those cases.

I would have thought not a deal breaker but not a positive. Though Alphabet1spaghetti2's experience would have checking out the right of way to back driveway carefully.

Why on earth are you unloading shopping with 3 babies? Utterly bad timing

@AmnesiacDream sadly we do have right of way. Non of us have the funds or the fight left to go up against The National Grid. So we pay for keys that mysteriously go missing when houses change hands on a regular basis or alternatively get shared between houses. Which brings the cost down considerably.
i would also much prefer being able to see my car from inside my house - which being at the back and behind the garage I can’t. I just hope it’s there when I need it. On the plus side the house itself suits me fine.

Our first ever house had this. The road led up to the back entrance and everyone’s drive and garage were accessed that way. We came into the house through the back gate and then the back door. The front door was only ever used by the postman as it opened onto a wide walk way with grass areas and most visitors arrived by car so they parked at the back.

It was ok but I did get fed up of the fact that all visitors had to come in through the kitchen. When we bought the next house I avoided that set up.

DS was only a baby when we lived there but I did think that it would have been a nice house when the children were old enough to play outside as they could have been out at the front on the grassy area with their friends and in zero danger from cars. We didn’t stay there long enough to test it out though…