Buying a mid terrace house

[gunnernat]

Hi all,

Was hoping for a bit of advice. Myself and my partner are looking at buying a mid terrace house - it’s the middle one of three houses. Both houses either side (end terraces) have a garage and driveway attached. The one that we’re looking at has grass directly in front of the house, but has a garage and driveway that is essentially next door but one (next to the neighbours garage). The property also has access to the garden through a locked gate to the side of the garage that goes round the back of the neighbours garden.

We like the house but ideally we wanted a semi detached house however we haven’t been able to find one that we like that is in budget!

Anyone living in a terraced house and happy with it? Or unhappy with it? All thoughts and opinions welcome. Thanks in advance!

We love our Victorian mid-terrace but like the poster above, find the noise of our neighbours coming and going really comforting. I think like most people they are loud sometimes and quiet others, and I’m sure we are the same. I grew up in a detached house in a very rural location and find it very strange to be there now because it is so quiet! I love knowing my neighbours are right there, especially if I’m here on my own. Also although sometimes it’s a pain to only be able to access the garden through the house, it makes me feel like the property is much more secure than those at the ends. No one could get to the back of our house except by scaling a minimum of 4 fences, all at least 6ft!

We live mid terrace and haven’t had any issues. We cannot hear either of our neighbours nor can they hear us and we all like each other. We have lived here for 11 years this year. We got the biggest garden plot, our garage is attached to our garden and not our house but has given us more parking spaces than others. The square footage of the house was huge, we’ve added an extension and loft conversion, in great school catchments. Our boys are happy. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Maybe we were lucky. But I agree with PP that heating bills are much lower too. You have to go for the house that works for you. The semis and detached that we viewed in our budget were just too small and had too many compromises for us. Do what’s best for you and visit at different times and on bin day!

We've lived in two mid terraces. One was a new build, heated up easily and cheaply and we never heard our neighbours apart from when the ones on the left were trying out their new power drills.

The other was a Victorian terrace and the heating was just bizarre - the downstairs would get toasty warm whereas the upstairs would be freezing even though the radiators appeared to work perfectly well. We could actually feel the divide between the cold air and the warm air when walking up and down the stairs. We could also hear our neighbours constantly. The thickness of the walls is definitely worth looking into!

When I buy next (I’m in a semi)
I want either a detached (dreams)
Or a semi that has the living areas at opposite ends. I’d rather hear the occasional pan banging than my neighbors tv or them talking / kids screaming etc

My neighbors are pretty good to be fair and this still upsets me as I’m noise sensitive.

I use earplugs if I want to just sit and be quiet. Luckily we have a detached extension so we only really use the joined room in the evening to watch tv.

I’d think very carefully about it if your a noise adverse person.

I own a mid terrace and this thread makes me realise how lucky I am with my neighbours. Or maybe we just have very thick walls (possible, as my neighbor commented that she never hears me shouting at my kids or them making much noise - so it's either great walls or she has a hearing problem ).

I have never had any issues with being mid terrace. The opposite if anything, one side has a woodburner which heats their house and one side of mine extremely effectively, very handy in winter. If my neighbours were noisy or antisocial though, it would be awful. That would be the one thing I'd investigate more than anything else tbh.

Thank you everyone for your responses, it definitely helped us make a decision! We ended up putting an offer in last Thursday which has been accepted .

The most commonly suggested thing to think about seemed to be the noise. Having grown up in a semi-detached house with a very noisy neighbour before I purchased my flat in July 2017, I know that noise can be just as much of an issue in a semi-detached property so we decided not to let that put us off.

We're not sure if it will be our forever home, but its a step in the right direction from the flat that we currently live in and we are both looking forward to it. Thank you all once again!

I live in a mid terraced house and love it. I wouldn't move. We have decent neighbours and live in quite a community minded street. It's a lovely way to live. We don't get a lot of noise. The odd hearing neighbours close doors but that's it and I think you'd get that in a semi as well depending on how it's all laid out. Where you live, I think, is about your surroundings. If they're good for you then you've got it cracked!

I bought a dehumidifier.... arrived on Friday to my mid terrace. 12 times I’ve emptied the 8lt tank since Friday lunchtime 😳