Rear garden access

[JudysDreamHorse]

Hello

I was wondering if you could give me some opinions on some work we are thinking of having done to our house.

We are have a 3 bed link detached house with a car port which means there is more space upstairs than downstairs. Currently downstairs there is a living room/diner and a kitchen with just enough space to squeeze a small table into. We are thinking of extending into the carport and out the back to add a downstairs shower room, utility room and dining room . It essentially involves bricking up two ends of walls that are already there so it would be a relatively cheap way of getting extra space.

However, this will mean that the only access to the rear garden will be through the house (though there will be a very direct route from the front door to back over hard floors). Do you think this would make the house impossible to sell in the future? We'd like to do the work so that we could live comfortably in the house for a good few more years but I don't think this is the house we will live in for the rest of our lives. I'm feeling excited about the idea of the extra space but there's a little voice saying if we do it we will never manage to sell when we want to move. Thanks.

Could you not leave a passageway at one side of the car port?

Where are you going to store bikes?

Will you have to bring your bin through the house? No direct access to back garden would put me off as a buyer, TBH.

I think it would be too narrow to leave a passageway. The car port is about 2.5m wide so there is not much room for 2 walkway (one inside and one out) and rooms.

I am planning that the utility room would have the washing machine and a freezer and the rest would be storage as we do need somewhere for bikes. I think it could work for us really well but might put people off.

The bins are out the front anyway but you would need to bring any garden waste through the house. When we were looking we saw houses with no rear garden access and it put me off so know I am not being entirely sensible but really want more space and it is much cheaper than moving.

I know people that don't have access and it isn't an issue - extra secure from theft for a start.

If you have plenty of storage for bikes and bins still then not too much of an issue.

Thanks for the replies - positives and negatives. I can see it both ways and am resigned that if we do it a sale might be slow but I wanted to check it is not a completely ridiculous thing to do.

It would put me off buying if there was a back garden as it would make re-landscaping very difficult.

I think it totally depends on the local market.

Where I live (London) no back access is completely normal, and in fact most people prefer it (lower burglary risk).

However if it's the norm round your way and people value the access then you might find you get a few people who are put off by it. I'm sure it wouldn't make your house unsellable - even the worst house will sell for the right price - but it will be a factor they take into account when deciding how much they want it.

Why don't you get a local estate agent round to do a valuation, explain you're going to have work done and ask his advice on what people want most? I suspect they will say that yes, direct access is a plus, but there are lots of people who would value a utility room more than direct garden access.

What I would say is solve people's problems for them. Ie - make sure you have front garden storage for bins and bikes, so people don't have to imagine wheeling their wheelie bin through the house, etc etc. If you have a lawn out the front, make sure you have a front garden hose as well as a rear one. All that kind of thing.

I would pay more for side access and consequently I would also pay less for a house without it.
My friend did what you're proposing and has had difficulties replacing fence panels, getting builders to work on the back of the house (everything was walked through - doors had to be left open all day) and so on.

Will affect the value of your house esp if others on your street retain side access.

Better to move or extend out into the back garden - but I know, that will be more expensive.

Our old house had this, but that was a garage in the way IYSWIM so we had a "mucky" route into the back garden.

Was a right pain for bins (they ended up in front of the garage) but secure for stuff in the garden.

It caused us no issues in selling - the family that bought it commented on the security as they had an escapologist as a DC

Was a few years ago when the market was more buoyant though.

Thanks again. I will speak to an estate agent. I think all the houses round here have garden access so it will be good to investigate. Hmmmm....

I think if the extension makes your house that much bigger than the others on the street that might be much more of a positive that the lack of back access won't matter so much.

Also, I'm not sure that rear access is something that everyone will notice on viewings anyway - I'm sure it's the kind of thing that I'd miss. I'd be madly looking at the house and garden without noticing anything as mundane as rear garden access!

Is no access even allowed ? I was told by a builder I think that there had to be a route from the front to the back of the house without going through the living space.
I'll be delighted if he's wrong.

Of course it's allowed. How does he think people in terraces cope?

There's rear access though isn't there or a side gate of some description, we lived in a terrace where you cut across the neighbours garden to get to the side gate, such fun, not.

We personally do but not all our neighbours do.

I know people living in 1960/70s terrace that do not have rear access and I know someone who in order to build over the garage had to lose the footpath down the side and were allowed to do so.

I redesigned a garden that belonged to a basement flat that had no direct rear access. We had to transport a skip-full of rubbish out, and four tonnes of topsoil, a load of plants and a reasonably large tree all back in all through the flat in buckets. It wasn't fun, but it was do-able. Most houses have drawbacks somewhere; you would be creating one but you would also be improving the house in terms of room space, so it's just a question of whether the improvements out-weigh the drawbacks, and asking an estate agent is a good way to establish that.

I might convert my garage after all then, after i've sorted the garden out.

We have no back access and I like the fact the Dc's can play out and not gt anywhere ( they are 2 and 3yrs 8 m).

but when we had a conservatory put on the house, everything came through the house, including the cement mixer and 2 skip loads of stuff.

Our next door neightbour has done the same thing so I think it is allowed (though I don't think he had to get planning permission). I actually have the perfect test case as his house is a mirror image of ours and I have found out that they are going to sell. If I am patient enough I can wait and see how that goes before getting the work done!

What's behind your back garden?

We lived in a terrace with no rear access, but the people before us had a rear extension done by speaking nicely to the owners of the office block behind and bringing all the heavy stuff across their car park.

We are currently looking at a house with no rear access, but the rear garden backs onto a footpath. So replace a chunk of fence with a gate, and DH could bring his bike in that way.

If you need an indoor passageway, could you have a door at either end to give you a "garden route"? so a door straight into the utility room and then out at the other side. How well this would work and how necessary it is would depend on your house layout though.

Thanks again for all the advice. We are surrounded by other people's gardens so maybe it would be an option to smile sweetly at someone if we needed to take stuff through.

I have asked for a quote for just the downstairs shower room and the utility which would then allow a fairly short route to out the back. If we get the dining room done as well though you would have to go through that to get to the garden. I am thinking of it being a kind of conservatory style room with hard floors - maybe even tiles - so that it will be a clear route to the back.

I need to think about how we're going to finance it as well so we're a long way from building!

We did what you're planning but left a small passageway. What if your next door neighbour on the drive side did the same - you could end up living in a terraced house, effectively.