Resale on (London) home with AstroTurf instead of grass?

[Chocochocolate]

I am considering putting AstroTurf in my garden. We have kids, the space isn’t huge, and I have sliding doors that lead directly out - so I like the idea of it being mega easy out there, if that makes sense, and no lawn-mowing!

But my question is: would astroturf put buyers off? We plan to sell in a few years. Would buyers prefer grass? (It’s onlt a 20ft london garden.)

We want the best quality AstroTurf we can afford, so it will be a big investment, I just want to make sure it isn’t a bad one!

I wouldn’t buy a house with astroturf.

It’s not like the grass needs mowing that often. Use the money you save on astroturf to pay someone to do it.

If you don't see yourself moving out for a few years do it now.
I guess someone who suffers from hayfever or prefers a maintenance free lawn would be pleased to buy a house with astro turf.
NB a child running at speed can get a nasty friction burn if they fall over on it.

Sounds like a great idea to me. Wouldn’t put me off at all and could relatively easily be changed if someone didn’t like it. If you are intending to stay there for a few years I would go for it. The better quality stuff is really good as well.

Astroturf in London is fairly standard and unlikely to put buyers off imho

It's incredibly easy to change if you don't like it. It's genuinely one of the last things that would bother me when looking at a house.

I would prefer it - we’ve just ripped the Grass out of our london townhouse and laid Astro instead. It looks incredibly real and is so much easier. And if you’re in a “family house” most families will probably agree with you!

It would put me off, but my kids are grown up and living elsewhere. I do remember them kicking the hell out of a lawn in a previous house, when they were going through the football phase, but I wouldn't have considered AstroTurf, it would have been synonymous with school sporting areas. It's the aesthetic, or lack of it that would put me off. I understand what you are saying about a London garden, we are 12 miles or so from the centre of London, we live in a development where the houses have patio paved gardens, opening on to communal grounds so plenty of space for children to play outside their own back yard. Hopefully you will get a wider feedback and you may find that those with young children might well find such a space appealing, but when you come to sell your home you will be trying to attract all demographics, not just those with youngsters.

I can't stand the stuff. It is just always so obviously fake from the minute you see it and seems so pointless.

I'd rather a hard landscaped garden than astroturf. It would absolutely put me off buying a house because I'd be suspicious about what was so so awful about the ground underneath/what you were hiding.

But as pp say, if you are planning on staying there years, it doesn't matter really.

I prefer astroturf to real grass as I hate garden maintenance.

The Lazy Lawn Wonder Yarn 36mm won the Which best buy award. They provide free samples on their website:

www.lazylawn.co.uk/wonder-yarn36.html

What on earth could be "wrong with" or hidden underneath astroturf that couldn't equally be hidden under hard landscaping, ShotsFired?!!
Astroturf is far easier to return to a real lawn than patio slabs.

It’s a mixed response on mumsnet, I hate the stuff but lots love it.
Yes it would put me off a house but wouldn’t necessarily be a deal breaker though i would wonder why it needed it - lack of sun, poor drainage etc? I would factor the cost of replacing with real grass into any offer I made though.
Weigh up the cost of install vs how many years you’ll be there and go from there.

Where in London are you? If you are in London London then go for it. But in suburban london I would expect a proper garden.

lamagreyhound bindweed. I speak from experience.

I have friends who have it (long thin garden). I quite like it. There are plenty of things that are often apparently deal breakers in house buying

1. No parking
2. Noisy road
3. Too rural and no pubic transport
4. Something funny next door i.e take away open all hours, pub etc
5. Too big (yes one of our viewers said that!)
6. Too far from station to walk. Too close to station and you can hear the trains
7. Not a nice area
8. No in the right catchment for a certain school.
9. Don't like the tiles in the bathroom (got that one too!)

And it goes on and on and on...

Having said that hard landscaping might be better but probably rather expensive

We have the top end easigrass and it’s transformed our garden - south facing but the lawn area overshadowed by a tree, so it’s a much more inviting garden now. Can’t see it putting many people off

Is that like knotweed, Dairy?

What price bracket is your house in? The higher you go the less acceptable I'd say t is. Personally I think it's a shocking thing to do for the environment and it would put me off a house.

Higher house price brackets have no bearing on garden size in London, there's not much correlation. Especially in older properties. Op has said it's small, a lot of small gardens have been hard landscaped.

I wasn't implying house price and garden size had a correlation in london. My point was that what is acceptable and wouldn't devalue a 400k flat would devalue and put buyers off in a 1.5k house. Different finishes/amenities are expected at different price points.

I’m also in London and would have loved to buy a house with AstroTurf, save me the expense of installing it.

Yes, as Dairy said, depends on where you are. Central OK, suburbs not so much. Also, whereas a turfed lawn can get away with looking 'knock about' on resale - (Londoners happy to have any outside space), a garden with astro will need to look really smart and styled - as if it was an outside room, so good lighting, 'statment' pots etc.

*statement

I hate it. It is ecologically so unsound. It will increase the run off into the drains, increase air pollution - plants help reduce this, and it is bad for biodiversity. Paving over everything is also not good for similar reasons.

Mind you, I wouldn't want to live in London anyway - so my POV is probably irrelevant.

@Iamagreyhoundhearmeroar What on earth could be "wrong with" or hidden underneath astroturf that couldn't equally be hidden under hard landscaping, ShotsFired?!!
To me (and I appreciate others think differently) it looks like you wanted a proper garden with lawn, but for some reason couldn't do it, so have pretended with fake stuff instead.

Astroturf is far easier to return to a real lawn than patio slabs.
Who said patio slabs? There are tons of ideas with aggregates, water, architectural features etc. I meant something that looks done and deliberate, not just thrown down as an easy job (or indeed possible cover up for bigger problems).

However I'm not in the market for a new house in London, so OP is safe from me

Again, completely dependant on how central you are. Tiny gardens don't put people off £1.5m+ houses in central London. Neither would however it's landscaped.