Help! Should we buy house with an unusual garden

[Gillki]

My husband and I are looking for our first house to buy. We currently live in a one bed flat and are desperate to move. Before we started looking we said that a garden was one of the biggest criteria for us as we currently have no garden.

We have found a house to buy that is exactly what we are looking for on the inside and is in a really lovely village location however there is a compromise with the garden. At the back of the house there is tiny courtyard (not really big enough for table and chairs or anything). The main garden is at the front of the house. The house is basically in a row of terraces, all with gardens at the front. There is then a small village green area (about 15 metres wide) in front of all the gardens and then a road which can be quite busy. Due to there being a right of way in front of all the houses there is also a small gap between the front of the house and the garden.

We just don't know if the garden is too much of a compromise. It could be made quite private if we plant it up but we are worried that it is not the type of garden that you can just open up the door and go in and out of. Also due to the closeness of the garden to the road it might be quite noisy. We are planing to start a family at the beginning of next year and are wondering if a garden will matter even more when we have a baby.

However we could get the house for quite a good price. Houses in the area we are looking with a back garden tend to be about 10-15k more in price. The other thing that confuses us is that the house and location is exactly what we are looking for, but the garden just lets it all down. We just don't know if we should keep looking or buy this house at a good price despite the garden.

Please help!

Hmmmm my dn rented with a house with that sort of access and they found it hard when great dns came along

Oh I just remebered, I lived in a house like that from age 7 to 11. There was an alley up the terrace and we were to the left and no one went across our garden as we were the last. We did however, drive the man next doors absolutely mad as we would walk thru his garden and his neighbours to get in and out of our friends. He couldn't stop us but he'd shout if we ran in and out like kids do. It also meant his garden wasn't secure as such.

With your house, you couldn't rely on gates between you and the neighbours being left shut so you'd in effect have to NEVER leave small kids out alone or fence off your garden on the other side of the access strip.

Ours was out the back which was much easier.

I think, knowing how Pfb and scared I was about leaving dd in the back garden alone as there was a caravan holiday park the other side of the field out the back where we used to live when she was 1 to 6 that it would drive you mad and worry you a lot. Especially the road

I'd keep looking. If you buy this house you are likely to be paying for a garden that you don't use. With small children you need an enclosed garden to enjoy the garden with them. I would also be unhappy with a front garden as my real garden as there's just no privacy and people will chat to the kids and you'll feel a bit spied on. IMO, this is the wrong thing to compromise on.

Buying a house is expensive, you don't want to buy the wrong one and have to shell out on stamp duty and conveyancing again in 2 years time.

Exactly what kindlemum said. You need an enclosed rear garden for children. Especially as they get a little older and want things like sandpits, trampolines, football etc...

If you buy this house I can see you will tire of the garden arrangement quickly and there will be resell issues because not many people would want to buy with this arrangement.

Thanks for your replies!

It's a really difficult decision for my husband and I and we change our mind on the issue at least twice a day. We sat in the car opposite the house yesterday for an hour or so and thought we had reached a decision. By tea time we had changed our minds!

Just to add, the house is in a very small village in the Surrey Hills, which seems to have a good community. While the road is busy, it's only linking the village with the nearest town!

Any other views would be appreciated!!!

Thanks.

I wouldn't in your shoes as it would not be suitable with small children. My kids are teenagers and it would be fine for us

I lived in a house like this when DS was 6m to 2 yrs. Technically it was a back garden but it wasn't properly enclosed and couldn't be because of right of way. I couldn't leave DS there at all.

It felt like a front garden because it was between the house and a towpath and lots of people used the towpath so if I was in the garden with DS I had no privacy. It was a small community and that made me feel more spied on as I knew most people who went past. And so many people stop to talk, sometimes that's nice but it's also the town drunk who stops, and the dodgy guy you really don't want anywhere near your daughter etc. And if you're in your garden, people obviously think that you're doing nothing and so they will chat for ages even if you don't want them too. And people will use the right of way.

It was only a rental and I would never buy a house like that.

I couldn't buy a house with a right of way through the garden. My Parents house there was a right of way through the garden into next door (very rural semi detached, the next house was a 5 minute walk away!)

Anyway, there was a falling out with next door but we couldn't legally stop them coming in our garden. Dad ended up fencing off the footpath -which fortunately was only a small strip at the bottom of the garden. This was after the next doors teenage son had been peeping on Mum! This also is why I wouldn't buy a house with the bedrooms downstairs....

it wouldnt bother me personally. I dont sunbathe naked or anything.

It's a really difficult decision for my husband and I and we change our mind on the issue at least twice a day.

Then don't buy it - never buy somewhere that you are so undecided about - and I don't mean that in a nasty way - you will always have regrets.

Personally, I wouldn't want my garden to be the front garden & not if I had DCs. Wouldn't be so happy about letting young ones out there on their own - only takes a careless delivery person to leave a gate open etc...............

This right of way between your front door and the garden, how big is it and realistically how many people would use it? Doesn't sound too much of a problem to me if it is only a couple of houses.

A garden / outside space is so important i wouldn't buy unless it was south/ south west facing at the back. Just think of lovely sunny days enjoying barbeques with friends in your garden

Our main garden is at the front and we have young children. It is very private with a tall hedge separating it from the road, a lockable gate and 6 foot fences on either side. To be honest, it didn't even occur to me that it was unusual, but I'm South African and we have gardens that go all the way round the house! It was only after we bought the house that the sellers said how many people had been put off by the garden set up. And delivery men often apologise for coming to what they think is the back door saying they couldn't find the front.

If you can make it private and secure I don't really see a problem.

If it could be like beamae it would be fine by me, it's the access and what ether that means gates to each side and or frequent passing thru