Paving large front garden and renting out 2 car park spaces - advice and experiences?

[TwitterQueen1]

I don't like the idea of paving over really, but the garden is very large and getting very overgrown. I need to do something with it. I also need to get some extra cash for the next few years because from Sept i will have 3 - yes 3 - DCs at uni with no financial support from ex.

I live very close to a railway station so I believe I would have no trouble in renting on 2 spaces on a Mon-Fri basis.

Has anyone done this? Does it work for you? How much do you charge?
And will it cost me a fortune to pave?

The grass garden (ie excluding current driveway) is probably 25ft wide and 75ft long. I was thinking of putting some shrubs to screen the cars from my living-room window (I have enough space to do this).

And yes, I'll do it legally with the council.

You might need public liability insurance in case the person renting a space is injured on your property.

There might also be issues regarding permission - I don't know what the rules are, but your council will tell you - as you said, you will be going through the right channels.

Might your neighbour's have objections?

I looked into renting out loft space and do think things like this can be useful to both parties.

There are companies that do this. However you could do find people through your local facebook group. Design a simple contract. If it is a good station there are bound to be parking shortages.

Consider payback time (ie future revenue over cost of repaving, plus application costs, lowering kerbs?)

Think of problems and how you would want them resolved. Consider how you would want payment - in advance, notice period on both sides, what if one car was damaged by the other - who would cover?

What if someone wanted to leave their car overnight? Would you ask for spare keys. What happens if you need the spaces for any purpose (eg children at home over the holidays)

Good point about insurance... thanks
Ref neighbours...
It's a private garden although it's on a road (obviously). So the front hedge is probably 15ft high. to the right, neighbours wouldn't see as their house is set back and there is a tall hedge between us.

Other neighbour to the left I really, really don't care about, and he has his drive immediately adjacent to my front garden so he would have no grounds for complaining because he looks out over his 2 cars before he gets to bamboo hedge and garden.

there is a parkonmydrive site to put you in touch with others.

watch that you don't create a flood issue.

It costs about a grand just to drop a kerb where I live. Have a look on your council website - should give you a price per foot or similar.

I'd look at a cheaper option of gravel rather than paving as the payback of approx £25pw per car income will take a long time to pay back the initial cost of paving. If a walk is involved to the station for the user and there are no roads near the station you could park on for free, you'll need to be slightly cheaper than the day rate at the station.Great idea though and as you say,an easy way to generate income.

Use a water permeable base so you don't create drainage problems. Those honeycomb shaped concrete bricks? They will green up a bit rather than being a concrete desert.

Or there's heeavy duty plastic matting that might be sufficient (goes over the grass) - if each car just comes and goes once per day it might be enough?

Another way to make a lot more money (especially if you live close to a station) is take in a lodger or 2... It may cover a large portion of your university costs and fewer upfront costs. Not for everyone though

thanks everyone. I hadn't thought about flood / drainage. I clearly need to get proper advice.

Not sure about the lodgers! I think my 3 DC might object even if they're at uni...

If you are taking in lodgers to help pay for DCs at uni I don't see how they could complain.

I'd do the calculations. Work out how much the original will cost and how much you can rent the spaces for. Not sure what the rates are in your area but I suspect it could take years to break even.