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

[LivingOnABuildingSite]

Dealbreaker definitely.

We don’t have one but there are a few on our road. Have had neighbours full on shouting and screaming at other neighbours about it. Police called etc.
Luckily the nasty shouty man had to sell up and the new lady who bought it asked about fencing down the middle beforehand. Other neighbours (who’d been shouted at) jumped at it. They’ve lost access to their garage but have clear boundaries.

Don’t do it.

[Hogwarts4Christmas]

Just NO!!!!!

[Hogwarts4Christmas]

We've had one and never again. Doesn't matter how nice the neighbours are, people move, and people are funny about their car, etc.

All it takes is an inconsiderate neighbour or regular visitor and you're stuffed.

[Bathshebahardy]

I have a shared driveway and it is no problem. I previously always lived in a terrace so it's an advantage to have side access. The houses here all sell quickly so the driveway is not a negative. The houses are 1930s and people don't park in the garages, just use as storage or knock them down to increase garden size.
Most people park in the street and some have changed the front garden into a parking area.

[TheHouseILiveIn]

www.bowfin.co.uk/should-you-buy-a-house-with-a-shared-driveway-what-are-the-problems/

[Penguin24]

We have a shared drive and it’s absolutely fine. Sounds like ours is a bit bigger (room for 5 cars) but we all reverse on and drive out. Our neighbours are great though.

[parietal]

We have a shared driveway and manage fine. We do have to be considerate but the neighbours are too so it works.

We are in London and the options are shared driveway or no driveway. I'd be much more cautious in an area where other houses have a private driveway.

[DobbyTheHouseElk]

We share a driveway. Not in the convention sense. It’s more a private road with two houses spurred off.

Occasionally the drive is blocked by someone delivering, but never for long. NDN isn’t a dick and neither are we so it’s ok.

Previous neighbour was a dick, but it wasn’t ever a problem.

[OnTheBenchOfDoom]

No. Never. Lived opposite a shared drive and witnessed all the shenanigans and fall outs. In a previous house we had a parking space, also never again because no one pays any attention to the fact they shouldn't be parking there. Hard to enforce.

A shared drive is a deal breaker for Dh and I.

[userxx]

I've got a shared driveway, it's not been an issue so far. Luckily it's only been cars that have parked on it, would probably be pissed off if it was a big van.

[itsgettingwierd]

I think as it's about parking we need a diagram

Shared drives are fine if there is space, can't be blocked and the NDN aren't dickheads!

[ballsdeep]

Hell no. We used to love next door to a crazy woman who had a white line painted down the middle of her shared drive and the angle which the other house should drive.out of. I'd never ever have a shared drive.

[PanicStationsAhh]

I 100% wouldn't even view a house with a shared drive (or shared anything), sorry, I'm with your DH.

[ballsdeep]

And my other neighbours were fine until their sons started driving and all of a sudden there were four cars on the drive LL belonging to one house

[TurquoiseDress]

@parietal

We're suburban SE London and looking on Google street view the vast majority of other houses on the road are semis with a private driveway.

Only half a dozen or so houses have this set up with shared driveway so it's not like everyone has to share just a small minority

[Lampan]

Absolutely not. Also consider that is would be off putting to many potential buyers if you need to sell in future

[GunsNMoses]

nope, wouldn't even view.
There are plenty of houses that dont have that added complication.

[TurquoiseDress]

From Google street view we can see there is on street parking although lots of cars parked

I guess an option might be to turn the front lawn into a private driveway, but the dropped curb would mean going sideways to get on to it, unless you could drop it directly in front of lawn.

Don't know anything about it but sounds complicated to get permission and going to be £££ to do that

Might be easier to look for a 3 bed semi with a private driveway already!

[FurierTransform]

Sounds like there's minimal to go wrong in this case OP, as it's a simple single access to rear garages, and if one of you blocks it it will be pretty obvious it's wrong, so I wouldn't see it as an issue.

[arrangeyourface]

I would not touch a shared driveway with a bargepole, no matter how lovely the house. Too much potential for hassle.

[Timeforachangetoday12]

My friend has a similar set up. But both neighbours have converted the front garden to a parking bay also. They haven’t be able to extend the drop curb that’s just where the single shared driveway entrance is.
It is difficult to reverse out if you’ve driven to the garage end but both very rarely drive their cars down it other than for washing the car!!
Because a lot of the neighbours have the same set up parking on the road is a nightmare!! As no one uses the shared drive!

[LizzieBet14]

We rented a house which had a shared driveway. Neighbour moved her partner in who proceeded to park his car in a position meaning we couldn't put our wheelie bin out. He couldn't care less and ignored us when we knocked on to ask him to move it.
When we were looking for a house to buy one of the 'must have's' was our own driveway.....

[CharlieBrown65]

We had a shared drive for years and had absolutely no issues with it. When it came to sell we had no problems with that either - we had 13 offers on the house in 5 days! I appreciate the housing market is mad but the house was on a main road, next to a bus stop with a shared driveway so not perfect. If the house is lovely I would definitely go and look x

[TurquoiseDress]

@CharlieBrown65

That's reassuring! It just feels like it might be worth looking at because the house itself looks good, decent sized rooms & large garden.

Plus the area has good schools, lots of families, station close by with trains into central London and lots of shops/amenities within walking distance

It just feels like an opportunity to buy somewhere which will give us the space we need

But DH making very valid points and the house itself is over 500k but that's quite cheap for a 3 bed semi round here! A lot of other houses in surrounding roads with 3/4 bedrooms are going for at least 600/700k and more

[Kite22]

It is like everything when you are buying a house - it depends what you can afford and what the total sum of the property is.

Ideally I wouldn't want a shared drive, and it would be on my "cons" list BUT, if everything else were on your "pros" list, then I'd take a serious look.
I don't think "the perfect house" exists, whatever your budget, and it certainly doesn't for most of us on a restricted budget.

Yes, if you have neighbours that are a pain, then it could be an issue, but quite frankly, dickhead neighbours are an issue anyway, and you can't guarantee you won't get them whatever you buy. Or, if you start with lovely neighbours, that they won't sell to idiots later. I think, like all things, you will start a thread on here, if there is a problem. Thousands of neighbours use shared driveways all the time without any issues, and don't start threads to say "we've had another non eventful day".

Go and drive round at different times of day and at weekend and see if it is possible to park on the road, as you do now. If you can't, then that is a 'con', if you can, then I'd go and look at the house, and then start comparing with other houses you see.
IME you need to really get inside a house to see if you can imagine living there, and, if the things you think might be a deal breaker really are, when balanced against all the positives.