Shared driveway- yay or nay?

[TurquoiseDress]

Hello all

We are looking to move and get a 3rd bedroom (currently in a 2 bed ground floor maisonette), we finally bought our first home last year during lockdown.

Normally would have waited a few more years to upsize but DH has inherited some money and we feel may as well go for it, 2 bed is proving a big squeeze with 2 primary age children!

We are due to visit a 3 bed semi which ticks all the boxes, however, I noticed there is shared driveway which leads to two garages side by side- one would ours & the other belonging to the other semi next door.

So essentially, we'd have to go all the way in and park in front of the garage, then reverse back out onto road, no space for turning from what I can see in photographs. Not sure what the situation is with on street parking for visitors etc.

DH feels that a shared driveway is a deal breaker and we shouldn't even bother with viewing, however, I want to take a look at least. He thinks we'd struggle to sell on in the future...I'm not sure as there a couple of decent schools nearby and local shops, train station etc so imagine it would be a popular location.

At the moment where we live is on street parking with a kind of free of all for all the residents in the maisonettes, sometimes it's a bit of a trek and this is a pain with 2 young children and shopping bags etc.

It just feels rather exciting the prospect of having an actual driveway to park on, however I do feel wary that it's shared.

Any thoughts or experiences of shared driveways? Should we just forget about it or worth considering the property?
Thanks in advance

[Gatekeeper]

We have a shared drive and I would run a mile from the same again. Been here over ten years and we've been able to drive up to our garage for only a couple of months out of that. Next door has it blocked off with old bangers

[EdgeOfTheSky]

All the 1920 /30s semis in our swathe of London are like this, people understand the system and just get in with it. I know about 20 families locally, none have had issues.

However, the drives and garages were built when cars were much smaller, and in reality, no one uses the drive or garages to park, they just park in the street. Which is quiet enough, no problems.

London, though, and people seemed less concerned with private parking because so few have it.

[ginghamstarfish]

Would not have shared anything with neighbours. Too many twats about.

[chitchatchatter]

Never in a million years.

[Samedaysame]

Absolutely not, never.

[TurquoiseDress]

And not want to do a massive renovation project with £££ that we do not have spare!

[TurquoiseDress]

@BustPipes

Yes I know Lee, a good friend of mine lives there!

Yes we're in SE London suburbia and there is (free) on street parking but it's a struggle to get close to our home at times.

Where we live it's not allocated parking and it serves many residents who live in the maisonettes.

Yes, I guess we want better. I'd love to have our own driveway so I don't have to struggle with the kids & shopping especially in the pouring rain!

Anyway, my mother has put me in my place saying I want the moon on a stick & that's why we can't find somewhere

I don't think it's that outrageous or entitled to want our own private driveway?

[TurquoiseDress]

@traka

Yes it's true, I've definitely come around to DH way of thinking re shared driveways!

In the end the EA just annoyed me a lot by saying more than a few times that we could pave over the driveway.

What's the point in the shared driveway then? And presumably this 'value' added to the asking price.

When I pointed out the work needed on the property, the EA and the vendor didn't seem to like it. Whoops

Well I'm just a green ish 2nd time buyer!

[BustPipes]

We used to live in Lee (SE London) and had a shared driveway. Absolutely no bother - both we and our neighbours parked on the street (permit parking) as the driveway was really narrow and the garages were titchy and on an awkward angle.
Part of the 'deal' of going somewhere suburban like Lee was ease of parking - more of a schlep to get anywhere, so you had to rely on a car a bit, but at least you could park it.
If you're already in SE London suburb though, I think you've probably made the right choice OP, as you presumably already have decent on street parking, but want better. I wouldn't rule it out entirely though for future houses - there's a lot more to life than cars, and you may find somewhere where the benefits of the house itself outweigh the inconvenience.

[CrimbleCrumble1]

It’s a massive nah from me.

[MaggieFS]

Thanks for coming back to update the thread - good luck with your search.

[traka]

Shared anything is a bad idea

Don't forget that EA's will tell you whatever you want to hear. They shouldn't ever be trusted

The current neighbour may be great but guess what? Neighbour's move on and the new one might be awkward

You've dodged a potential bullet

[Dougieowner]

Currently living in my late parents house which they had owned since new (1955).
Shared driveway leading to separate garages behind the property.
Never been an issue in all those years. Both houses have parking at the front and rear so unless there are visitors parking on the driveway itself it doesn't become an issue and if there are visitors (either theirs or ours) and the other party HAVE to get out we just ask the offending car to move for a couple of minutes.
Like I said, no issues since 1955.

[Roselilly36]

No from me I would never consider a property with a shared driveway.

[TurquoiseDress]

Update to this thread-

I did finally convince DH to go and view this property

We both decided that it was not suitable for us- the shared driveway being a massive part of this

I asked lots of questions to the agent and owner, obviously they played it down massively- EA kept repeating that we could pave over the front lawn to create out own private driveway space.

The owner insisted there was there was no issue at all with the neighbour next door who shares the driveway but then she admitted that she hadn't been driving for the last year or so (not sure why)

Anyhow, we decided not to go for it, the property had may other issues and would need £££ to renovate, let alone the however much for turning the lawn into a driveway

[Schoolchoicesucks]

@Fizzy because the shared driveway only fits one car width (but cod fit e cars in length). So if we parked on it, neighbour couldn't (without blocking us in) and vice versa. Neither of us want to be constantly having to ask to shuffle cars. The garages at the end are small for modern cars - they've converted theirs to a storage area and teenage pool table den. We knocked ours down to have a larger garden. The permit costs about £100 a year - a bargain for being able to park outside our house and avoid neighbour disputes!

[Treecreature]

We have one. First come first served. It works fine for us, neighbours are dead canny. If I ask them to move, they do. If they ask me to me, I do. Just takes a bit of cooperation but no real hardship.

[GinIronic]

We share a drive. My neighbour has the occasional visitor that parks on our side. We have more problems with randoms that think it’s ok to park there even though it’s sign posted “No Parking”. It’s obvious that it’s a driveway and not a car park - but some people don’t care if they block you in as “they are only going to be 5 minutes”. If I ever move, I will live with a remote controlled gate on a single driveway.

[PrincessPaws]

Or have a look at nightmare neighbour next door - they always seem to have shared driveways/access/parking in general as a catalyst

[Fuss]

I think it’s only on mumsnet you get so many put off

It really isn’t. Go spend an hour on the Garden Law forums, I’d Reddits UK Legal section. Even the Neighbours from hell uk forum. You’ll find tales that will amaze you on a regular basis.

People can be twats in every part of the country.

[Onandoff]

I think it’s only on mumsnet you get so many put off. Perhaps because many live outside of the southeast where there is more room for your money.

We sold our house with a shared access to garages (up the middle of the 2 houses) last year. I’d say it was access as no way could you get a modern car up there, too narrow.

It became a nuisance towards the end as NDN (very nice person despite what I’m about to say) would drive his old bangers up there and spend days tinkering with them. Oil over the drive and junk everywhere. Ideally we would have wanted to split it with fencing and remove the garage to give more back garden width. And then redo the hard standing with nice block paving. But no point asking. So this was part of the reason we moved.

[BrushMySmush]

We share with our neighbour and it sounds very similar as this set up. We have zero problems but then we and them are nice neighbours. It wasn't a deal breaker for us as it ticked almost every other box!

[SBAM]

@TurquoiseDress when we had two cars it was one on the paved front garden and one on the road. With covid we’ve got rid of one car, so usually on the front.
However, we use the shared drive space sometimes for a skip/delivery etc so sometimes park on the road. And guests park on the road, or sometimes we agree with the neighbours that guests (ours or theirs) can park on the shared bit between the houses

[TurquoiseDress]

@SBAM

So do you tend to park on the street or have had the front garden paved?

[SBAM]

We have a shared drive, it’s never been an issue, but neither us nor the neighbours uses it to park (not enough room in front of the garages and the garages are the old tiny type that wouldn’t easily fit a modern car). Everyone here parks on the street or has their front garden paved and parks there