Does anyone live in a house with no outside access from the front to the back?

[Dottydot]

dp and I have seen a house we're interested in - it's bigger than ours, got a garden, just down the road, but it's had an extension which goes right up to the fence in between that house and its neighbour's - so no outside access from the front to the back.

I hadn't realised at first, but am now wondering if it would be a pain re: dp's bike and the boys' bikes in the future. Plus moving anything in/out of the garden will mean coming through the house. Bins would either have to live at the front of the house or be carried through each week.

Just not sure if this is a big enough 'down' point not to consider it. It's just sooooo much bigger than our house! I'm seeing it again tomorrow with my Mum (!) who's good at house buying and will be critical, which is good.

Any opinions would be good to hear.

Oh - and it's not like a terrace where you've usually got a back gate that leads out to an alley (which is what we're in now). The garden's at the back and then there's another house and its garden at the back.

My sister does. Is there anywhere the bins could be stored neatly and out the way at the front?

Yes - I think the bins wouldn't be a problem to be honest, it's more getting the bikes in and out. I'm trying to think of a practical way that this would be OK (even though we're in Manchester so it rains pretty much every day...). I really like the house, but it's no good if it'll drive us bonkers every time we want to get something from the garage/garden out of the house...

Fairly normal round here

We do. Well sort of. We are in a terrace with rear access (ooooh missus!) but we have a garage there which is totally blocked when DH's car is in it. Yes, the kids bikes have to come in and out through the house and yes it's a pain but not enough to put me off buying a house like it if all else was OK.

I don't but access to the rear of our property is a bit unconventional and the neighbours have very limited access. It's maintenance that causes a problem, eg if you ever need scaffolding up, I seem to recall people fitting a water meter to next door having a problem because they had to bring all their equipment through our garden by hand, couldn't bring any machinary in.

How will you get gardening stuff through to the back garden?

We lived in a terrace house with no back access, it wasn't a problem. Has it got a front garden or somewhere to keep the wheelie bin at the front? Our last house was in a terrace but we shared side access with our neighbour and middle terraces had a right of way across the gardens which was first used by the coal delivery men, it was never a problem. If it's a nice house then I wouldn't discount it because of no side access.

We live in a terrace and although it is a pain re gardeningetc it isn't a serious issue. My advice is not to have carpets rather wood/laminate so any muckis easily cleaned.

How often do you use the bikes? And is there somewhere things could drip dry before traling them thru?

Hmm... I think I'm leaning more towards being very interested in it - but then I'm not the one that rides bikes! It would be dp carting them in and out. But it's sooooo tempting - 4 bedrooms, a study downstairs (and lounge and dining room and morning room and kitchen and toilet!) and a biggish garden, all for our budget! The whole house needs redecorating, which I don't see as a problem - it'd get done in the end - but there's nothing else round here we could get that's as big for the price.

dp uses her bike 3 evenings a week and on a Sunday to get to work - so a fair amount. Ds's are too young at the moment really, but I can imagine they'll be on them all the time the minute they're old enough.

We live in a terrace with no back access (oooh missus)..yes, it is a pain with gardening stuff, but we only have a small unambitious garden, and don't do mucg gardening. Everyone keeps their bin behind the front wall - the conscientious and DIY minded build a little cubby for it. Bikes in the hall are the worst aspect of terrace housing, I think - and when I was considering buying a bike, I wondered about building a secure shelter for it behind the front wall.
It can be hard to get long ladders through to the back, as well.
But these are inconveniences rather than problems, ime.

Is there enough room at the front to have a lockable bike store as well as bins? That's what my BIL has at their terrace in London? Excuse brevity but typing one-handed!

Fio

As you will have all of that room downstairs could you possibly create an area off the hallway to store bikes etc... Our first terrace had two receptions and we didn't tend to us the front one much so could have taken part of it to use as storage. Go for it!!

i do, its a semi, but has had a side extension on it to incorporate a 4th bedroom, new kitchen and integral garage, its not a problem for me as the bikes all live in the garage and come out the garage way, i now dont have a huge garden so garden tools, etc now live in a neat storage bunker in the back garden. the good thing about not having outside access to the back is that i know the children are safe in the back garden and also, a potential burgalar would have to hop through my neighbours garden and then climb over the wall before he got to my garden.

Our previus house didn't have access and was, as other have said, an inconvenience rather than a problem.

TBH the only time I found the situation irritating was when changing the central heating. We used to live in a little village and when we changed the solid fuel central heating it came with.... we couldn't use oil as there was no space to place the tank at the front of the house and there was no access to the back so... were forced to go for the more expensive bottled gas. It costed a fortune to keep the house warm. However, I loved the house.

Our old house was front access only. We vowed never again. Everything used to have to come through the house and it was a pain in the neck tbh. I used to hate gardening times when my house got trashed with garden stuff being dragged through the house.

i didnt think it would be a problem when we bought the house but it was. So never again for us.

We live in a terrace atm and have lived in various semis etc- as others say more of an inconvience than a problem. I also like the security with no direct access to the back of the house. I wonder if there are statistics that show that terraced houses have a lower incidence of break and enter?

ooh, I just don't know now... Yes, I really like the security aspect of the house - if ds's are in the back, there's no way they could get out! But Poppies - I can see it could be a real pain. Dp's quite a keen gardener and for instance, the garden at the moment is all gravel and we would want to put grass down - but all the gravel/grass/etc would have to come through the house! Good point about ladders as well, although the back room's got patio doors so it's almost a straight run through. I was thinking about a bike thing at the front as well - there's definitely room at the front to put a bike shed thingy.

Oh I don't know - will need to see it again tomorrow and see what my no-nonsense Mum thinks!

I was thinking of doing a link to the house, but wasn't sure if I should?!

I live in a mid-terrace and find it a pain in the arse, to be honest. The problem becomes noticeable when your child starts to play out in the street. The front door is constantly opening and closing. The bike or scooter is in and out and hangs around the living room (in my case, no hall). All the heat goes out. I ruled out the same for next house.

We used to live in a block of 4 terrace, ours was one of 2 with no back access. Always dragging the rubbish through the house as the front garden was quite small. If we needed large items moved to/from the garden, we had a removeable fence panel to next door's garden and used their side entrance (always asking first, of course!).

It didn't really bother us for the 9 years we were there, but we decided to move because we wanted off-road parking.