Back street parking

[Thelovelywhales]

We are hoping to buy a beautiful Edwardian house. We love the house and the area, but there is a compromise on the parking.

The house currently has a tandem garage at the back of the house, accessed by a back street. The current owners park two cars on the back street and use the garage for storage. I have driven past (a lot) at different times of day and they always seem to be able to park their cars in the back street in front of their house.

The garden is quite small (40ft by 30ft). Ideally we would knock the garage down and double the garden size. There is a huge basement so we wouldn't need the storage (current owner has a motorbike in there).

We will apply for planning to turn the front garden into parking, however have to accept we might not get it as its a busy road and a conservation area (though other houses have a dropped kerb).

We couldn't afford a house as amazing as this one in this area with front parking. If it was a total nightmare we could always replace the garage with a driveway or car port at the back and have a smaller garden.

Does anyone have this sort of parking arrangement, would it put you off buying the house?

Does parking on the backstreet affect the access of any other properties? I.e. is it shared, are there rights of way, etc.? Who owns the backstreet they park on? Is it an actual road adopted by the council or an alleyway giving access to the rear of the properties?

My thinking is that it might be okay at the moment because, say, the NDN doesn't have a car, but if they sold to someone with a car or a van or two or more vehicles would it cause a problem?

Are there any other dropped kerbs and off road parking at the front for other houses on the street? That's a pretty good indicator of whether it's permitted. Contact the local planning office for advice.

How about a single garage at the rear with storage in the roof area? That way one car can be parked under cover (lots of families have two). I'd think long and hard about demolishing a double garage and not replacing it. Also there may be things you'd happily store in the garage but not in the house, even in the cellar, and a garage is probably more secure than a shed. Plus lugging things up and down stairs can be hard work.

you might put some gravel hard-standing at the back, so you could put cars there, or use it for something else according to whim.

At least a garden shed will be useful.

I have a large car-port where one end is enclosed as a shed. If tastefully done you can make it look like a garden shelter.

You will need tall, secure gates at the back.

There is enough room across the back of the property to park two cars, one across the garage (dropped kerb) and one across the pedestrian gate and garden wall. Good point on who owns/maintains the road I will check. It's a back alley about 75m long with access to two streets, with lots of garages.

Most houses on thr road have front driveways but don't have the back street access at the back. Of the houses with access in the backstreet (there are maybe 8), the one next door to this has front driveway parking.

Multi use gravel is a good idea....