Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Buying a Terraced House

72 replies

HavePatience · 09/05/2011 09:47

We are considering buying a mid terraced house. It provides much more space for our budget/what we can afford as compared with an end of terrace or semi detached on the market at present.

Can anyone tell me of any pros/cons to buying a terraced property? Some people have said it's fine, others say they would never do it. Confused
Anyone living in a terraced house and happy with it? Or unhappy with it? All thoughts and opinions welcome. :) TIA

OP posts:
LaWeasel · 09/05/2011 22:29

But to add, I love terraces and they're usually easy to sell on, so a good investment I think. (I just wouldn't spend too much money and expect to make it back, there's definately a ceiling price)

manchurian · 10/05/2011 10:12

Live in a victorian terrace and (touch wood) have never had ANY problems with noise. Once you are in the house you could quite easily believe it was detached - save for the lack of windows on the side. But this could be different in a new build maybe? I've only ever lived in old houses so can't really speak for new builds.

BalloonSlayer · 10/05/2011 10:42

It depends on the age.

We get practically no noise from the neighbours, but our house is quite old.

I like the no access round the side thing (although we do have access at the back) because it means that when the DCs are in the garden you know they can't escape. It also means that when you are right up the end of the garden you don't have to worry about some burglar creeping in the side doors and into your house.

Gentleness · 10/05/2011 10:54

HavePatience - it is on-road parking only - only 2 houses on the road fit the council's requirements to convert the front garden to drive. We just about manage because although there is a 4-car house opposite, there are also 2 houses with no cars and one of the ones with a drive in our section of the street. Once there are a few visitor's cars on the road, it gets tricky.

wonkylegs · 11/05/2011 13:16

we live in an edwardian terrace....we love it
made a lot more civilised by having a back lane for access to our rear yard & bins & neighbours we get on with
noise - we have a family with 2 kids and 2 dogs on one side and a couple who are very sociable on the other...not too bad really, occassionaly if the kids shout on the stairs we can hear them
its toasty warm
main downside is the parking - its a narrow edwardian street now populated by professional families all with approx 2 cars and we're close to the high street so get overspill parking
but otherwise overwhelmingly positive will be sad if we need to move

Original poster
HavePatience · 13/06/2011 08:56

Thank you for all of your messages. I've come back because I have just discovered that it may not have central heating? Is this normal? We are asking about it now, but not sure...

OP posts:
dexter73 · 13/06/2011 11:38

I don't think it is normal to have no central heating. Everyone here does, and also where my mum lives (terrace too). What heating do they have?

Original poster
HavePatience · 13/06/2011 13:15

I do'nt know, we just both remembered that we hadn't seen any radiators. They have a chimney/fireplace and an electric flat radiator on the wall upstairs (??). Is it possible that there is another sort of heating?

OP posts:
iskra · 13/06/2011 13:44

It might not have central heating because some houses don't. That's not a terrace thing. It is normally one of the details on estate agent bumpf, look it up.

We live in a Victorian terrace, no noise at all from either side, but noise from the flat above! Carrying bikes through the house is a pain though.

BertieBotts · 13/06/2011 13:49

You could install central heating, though. Better in some ways than an ancient system installed when CH was first invented. Look up how much it costs though. You could get a combi-boiler put in at the same time.

It's not normal or abnormal, really. Houses built after around 1990 will usually have it, others, it depends whether it was installed retroactively. Our last (80s built) house didn't have it until our landlord did it up.

katz · 13/06/2011 13:50

we had a mid terrace with no central heating - just electric storage heaters, didn't need anything more as both sides of us had central heating.

EldonAve · 13/06/2011 13:54

Some can have v thin walls. Where I used to live you could hear the light switch, people coughing, the lot

Cattleprod · 13/06/2011 14:00

If you do buy an old mid terrace (or end of terrace) check that the walls in the loft are complete and secure.

I've heard of two cases where unsavoury neighbours (sometimes from way down the road) were able to creep through the entire terrace through the roof space and access all the houses through the loft hatches.

dexter73 · 13/06/2011 15:49

What a creepy thing to do Cattleprod! Luckily we don't have this (quickly padlocks loft access just in case!).

TakeItOnTheChins · 13/06/2011 15:52

It's fine as long as your neighbours are quiet, and you spend less on heating.

Original poster
HavePatience · 13/06/2011 17:28

Shock cattleprod!
Ok I just thought everyone had central heating Blush

OP posts:
JarethTheGoblinKing · 13/06/2011 17:31

Loads of houses still have storage heaters.. definitely steer clear of those, they cost a fortune to run and are crap

Original poster
HavePatience · 13/06/2011 17:33

What does a storage heater look like? There's a (gas?) fireplace and an electric heater that's flat on wall upstairs.. Didn't see much else but it's not heating weather now so we weren't looking Blush

OP posts:
JarethTheGoblinKing · 13/06/2011 17:37

like this

Also, when looking at a house that does have central heating, check that there is a thermostat. We didn't check this, and stupidly assumed that if there were radiators then there would be a thermostat, and there wasn't..The central heating and hot water wasn't separated, so if we needed the hot water on, the central heating came on. Really fun in the middle of summer!

BikeRunSki · 13/06/2011 17:37

I grew up in an 1850ish mid terrace.
No probs, but we were the "bad" neighbours with 4DC!

Original poster
HavePatience · 13/06/2011 19:15

I wonder if that flat thing on the wall upstairs is a storage heaterConfused
It plugs in but doesn't have the grating bit at the top that all of these do.. Looks like a White thin tray stuck on the wall with a plug.
Gas fire downstairs... What's that like? Ugh. We are quite far into the process now, too Blush

OP posts:
Fifis25StottieCakes · 13/06/2011 19:23

My mam lives in an old terrace. Its lovely and plenty of room, she has lovely neighbours. The parkings not too good as the front street has decorative bollards with no access to cars and they can only park in the lane outside the gate. My brother has to get his in wherever he can.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 13/06/2011 19:24

I used to have an 80s house that had storage heaters downstairs and the ones you describe upstairs, they were all crap. Best to ask.

supadupapupascupa · 13/06/2011 19:33

I wouldn't live in a mid terrace again. The last one we lived in had an extremely noisy 'party' family in it and it reduced me to tears. Our house filled with their fag smoke and one of our bedrooms was unusable.
I was sick of having to 'move out' when they had a DJ night on, and my DS never did get to sleep in his own nursery.

Northernlurker · 13/06/2011 19:36

We lived in one for 9 years. It ws fine but that's because the neighbours were fine. On one occasion next door were away leaving teenage children at home. They had a party starting at 5pm (summer). Dh and I were amused at 5, tolerant at 9, slightly less so a 11.30 and at 2am when the little darlings started singing 'I want to know what love is.........' at top volume I went round and read them the riot act. Bless them they shut straight up.

We did get dd1 to practice her clarinet at 9am the next day Grin

The neighbours are everything basically.