Misled about south facing garden

[heregoes74]

Hmmm... Just wondering if anyone has any advice as to what I should do (if anything) about being sold a house with a south facing garden but now we are living in the house it's very quickly dawned on me that it's not in fact a south facing garden 🤔And the compass confirms this.

Does having a south facing garden add to the value of a house (I would have thought so) so should I contact estate agents, or will they think I'm nuts. Hate the thought we have been lied to. Yes, we didn't take a compass with us and check when we viewed, on the 3 viewings it was summer and bright and sunny. Gah, it doesn't spoil the garden but does annoy me.

@Hoesbeforebroes

I don't think anyone takes a compass to a viewing, but it's pretty normal to look at a map of the area?

I do I need a north-facing room for work, so I always have. Try asking a HA for houses that have a north-facing room. That[s something you have to look for yourself. But if the description said south facing and it isn't, that's bad.

For the OP- if the back garden faces south, and you wqant a conservatory, it will be tricky to stop it bing a furnace in the summer. We had a north facing garden in our last house, and it was a great orientation for a conservatory. We also grew loads of veg, and flowers. What really matters more about a garden is whether it is shaded. Our present south facing one, on a great south-facing slope, still gets more shade from the sides than our old north-facing one because the houses either side have tress and tall hedges.
Which way does yours face? Lots of peopel say west facing is best of all, as you get light in the evenings, when you may most want to sit out...

Checking the direction of the garden is the most basic check you can do yourself at no cost and it takes less than 60 Seconds. Your attitude is baffling.

Save your baffles. OP is gone.That way. ➡️ NNW

The problem is people don’t actually send much time looking at a house, apparently they spend more time buying a car then they do when viewing a house. If you view a house at night if you like it you should alway go back and see it in the daytime

Nice if you were able.
I have 3 young people in my family who have been trying to buy homes over the last year.
You are allocated a 15min slot (regardless of if you can get out of work at that time) and that is it. No second viewings. No coming back to bring someone who might know a bit more about it and offer a second opinion.
I 100% would like to have been able to advise them to go for a 2nd viewing but it just isn't working like that anymore (around where we are anyway).

If it's any consolation op, I definitely wouldn't have thought to check the direction of the garden either and bet there are millions like us.

Possibly not, but then that isn't something that is important to you then. I've never checked the direction of the garden, but I've never considered it a "must have" on my list of what I am looking for in my new home.

@heregoes74heregoes74

When you say lied, can you clarify? if it was mentioned in the actual physical details that the agent gave you you may have a case, however most details have disclaimers that say you need to do your own checks. If they mentioned it in passing, then yes, it is your responsibility to check and I wouldn't call it a lie. you seem to take umbrage at people correcting you, however if you didn't check, and it was important to you then its no one elses fault.

To confirm, a south facing garden is considered more desirable, however it does NOT add value, and the reality is that a south facing garden in summer = a really hot house.

A very naive mistake. It is hard to quantify how the orientation of a garden affects the value of a property, often not at all, but sometimes it makes a big difference to its appeal and therefore ease for sale, or resale.
I prefer a southern aspect garden, but have had them to the West and North. Westerly and South facing are best, particularly if they are not large. N and E gardens can be shaded much of the time, especially later in the day when you may want to spend time in the sun in the afternoon and have BBQ's.
If I am to buy a house I get a street map and study it for access routes to junctions, position of shops and stations, access to work and good schools, and also look at the local flood maps and prevailing wind direction.

I also identify the local slums and beer pubs that are likely to get rowdy. I normally also get a Ordnance Survey map to see the wider aspects of the area. The compass points are usually pretty obvious.

I will just walk away from a house with a close neighbour who is cluttered with cars being worked on, or locked-in large barking dogs or clearly has an overcrowded dwelling (too many children or lodgers) or worrying commercial practices on their property such as fish/maggot farm, dog kennels, poultry or an aviary.
Buzzing overhead power cables are also a no-no as is a smelly atmosphere. (Traffic, industrial processing, chemicals, airliner flight paths, silage .) I was once looking at a property with a street map and I noticed a short distance away some circular objects. I looked around expecting to see gasometers but there were none so I drove up the road and saw a sewage works! No wonder the price was cheap. Need for a garage and ample parking is a very big requirement these days.

Unless there is a false or misleading statement in the legal documents about something, you have little or no recourse in law to claim compensation once you have signed to purchase, it is buyer beware and you need to check anything of importance. Choosing a house is about buying into a pleasurable and practical lifestyle with good schooling and easy access to work. It is not wholly to do with bricks and mortar, and at the end of the day, you will need to make some compromises and the choice is yours. Just do your homework next time, and maybe the garden location may not be the most important issue.

@Kite22

The problem is people don’t actually send much time looking at a house, apparently they spend more time buying a car then they do when viewing a house. If you view a house at night if you like it you should alway go back and see it in the daytime

Nice if you were able.
I have 3 young people in my family who have been trying to buy homes over the last year.
You are allocated a 15min slot (regardless of if you can get out of work at that time) and that is it. No second viewings. No coming back to bring someone who might know a bit more about it and offer a second opinion.
I 100% would like to have been able to advise them to go for a 2nd viewing but it just isn't working like that anymore (around where we are anyway).

If it's any consolation op, I definitely wouldn't have thought to check the direction of the garden either and bet there are millions like us.

Possibly not, but then that isn't something that is important to you then. I've never checked the direction of the garden, but I've never considered it a "must have" on my list of what I am looking for in my new home.

if the seller wants my money or even the potential of seeing my money for their house, then if it takes me longer than 15 mins to view it all and then still need to come back and do further veiwings then that is exactly what i will be doing! 15 mins and then handing over money is the type of shopping i do in the newsagents! not spending many many thousands of pounds on a house

@greenlynx

I think in general it adds value to the house but you can’t say that you’re mislead as you’ve seen the house and garden 3 times.

You CAN say you were misled if they advertised it as south facing and it’s not. You trusted them and didn’t bring a compass - fair enough. I think you can bring a case against the estate agent.

Which is your prerogative @takenforgrantednana, absolutely, but you won't have been able to buy a house where I live over the past year or two if you want to stick with those rules.

The EAs book about 20 people in over a day, then ask them for their 'best and final' offers and they sell (generally for over the asking price).

I don't like it either, but sometimes you have to work with what you have in front of you.

I have seldom read a thread with less sympathetic posts to an OP- it is verging on bullying to my mind. I'm not surprised they are unhappy- if people can't come up with anything constructive maybe just go and comment on a different thread, eh?

I always notice orientation of a house because IT IS MY JOB to know where light is coming from. I see no reason at all why other people ought to notice just because I know how to. And in very bright light in summer when the sun is high (as the OP says it was) and in dull light in the winter, it is often far from obvious, especially if you have a short time to look round and a lot of other things you have to inspect, like, oh, walls, drains, gutters, rooms, all that sort of stuff. I have taught artists working outside who hadn't noticed where the light was coming from (though to them I am not so sympathetic, as it IS their job).

I'm glad the OP has a garden facing west, as I think/hope they have actually scored there and will appreciate it when they get used to it. But house agents ought not to tell lies, and buyers ought to be able to take descriptions as fair and true. If a buyer is supposed to be able to 'read a map' a professional house agent darned well ought to be able to. If house agent chooses not to, they shouldn't comment on the aspect of the house at all in their descriptions.

@Kite22

Which is your prerogative *@takenforgrantednana*, absolutely, but you won't have been able to buy a house where I live over the past year or two if you want to stick with those rules. The EAs book about 20 people in over a day, then ask them for their 'best and final' offers and they sell (generally for over the asking price).

I don't like it either, but sometimes you have to work with what you have in front of you.

@Kite22 strangely enough i was house hunting on behalf of one of my sons. i made it quite clear i was the buyer and that like i said they would have to allow veiwings on my terms or i look elsewhere with different EA's in the end we got to veiw about 20 houses before he bought his current home, now i dont know where your talking about but we are in the north east of england near middlesbrough

anyone buying a home under the terms you have suggested wants their head bang hard and repeatedly

@Hoesbeforebroes

I don't think anyone takes a compass to a viewing, but it's pretty normal to look at a map of the area?

I take a compass with me to a house viewing purely because I want a south or south west facing garden. I'm a keen gardener so this is important to me.

@Hoesbeforebroes

I don't think anyone takes a compass to a viewing, but it's pretty normal to look at a map of the area?

I do! You can get a compass app on your phone, so very easy

My iPhone has a compass. So do most floor plans I've seen. Definitely something to check when viewing

Tbf @BlueMongoose - it is the OP who has insulted herself more than anyone else. Just look at her 2nd post.

South facing gardens are shit in the winter. The low sun shining in is a pain in the arse. Nice in summer mind

Buyer beware as they say. Might be an idea to check next time.

South facing roof is more valuable as it has the potential to create enough energy to run the home and more in the summer and almost all of whats needed in the winter.

OP, I hate how estate agents and sellers (cos they sign off the advert) lie. You could speak to the advertising standards agency.

But if you love the house, I wouldn't worry about the gardens orientation, just enjoy it.

North/ South facing garden you are going to get sun on it ,we had an east facing garden once that was rubbish! had to sit on front door step if we wanted any sun in the afternoon, definitely would check in future re position of garden not to get that again.
I can understand how frustrated you are its hard getting everything right when buying a house you see all the good points as to why you chose that house, nice garden, nice kitchen whatever, but once you buy and move in you suddenly spot that one thing that you think how did I not notice before? if everything else OK then not a massive problem and least you have a garden you may appreciate that bit of shade at a certain time, Hope you are happy in your new home and try not to let this problem bother you too much

After eighteen months of house hunting, I learned to assume that estate agents would lie about anything and everything. And yes, some of them definitely lied about the orientation of the garden. I always take a compass with me on viewings.

Used iPhones compass. My garden is east facing

Sunny and gets a right sun trap and shade. Win :)

@m00rfarm

Please do not rely n your phone compass. I am an agent in the ALgarve, and I KNOW where the south is - and sometimes my phone compass points to the north when I KNOW it is the south ...

I'm very amazed that a compass can be wrong. Just got out mine in my phone to check my own garden I'm in and it's right on the money. The same way as the map :D

Let's all take out our phone or real compasses and check which way our windows face :)

Lol. It often needs to be recalibrated to get it facing the right direction. It can be a bit disconcerting when it’s wrong. Maybe it’s only the last two iPhones I’ve owned that do it and no one else has the problem !

@Kite22

Tbf *@BlueMongoose* - it is the OP who has insulted herself more than anyone else. Just look at her 2nd post.

I saw it. But what's been thrown at her has been beyond unnecessary. We're allowed to insult ourselves in ways others are not allowed to insult us. And yes, chaps, for those who are being 'clever' about saying she should have taken a compass, a compass can easily go wrong/be incorrectly calibrated. I have one here that's very old- by judicious tilting I can make it read anything I like. (It needs remagnetising, I think.)

We also have a one on a special hikers' satnav- if you don't hold it exactly level it can be wildly out. I wouldn't trust an electronic one to guide me to the bottom of my own garden in a fog unless it was a proper piece of calibrated surveyors' kit.

I have a proper Silva one for walking, which is accurate and reliable. I doubt most people buying houses have one of those, though.

Surely you would just know by standing in the garden? I can’t understand how you’d be relying on the agent’s word when it’s something that you can very easily verify yourself, just by looking

My iphone compass is bang on

It can add value but it really depends- for example a nice long north facing garden with a good seating area in the middle/ at the end can be just as nice. And in some small gardens facing south in the summer if there is no shade can be difficult with kids- several of my friends had to buy awnings for this reason. How long is the garden? Which direction does it face? Could you have a small seating area at the side/ front? I think my advice would be to chalk it up to experience, make the garden as nice as you can and move on with your life- I think that the principle of caveat emptor will mean that you probably won’t have any legal remedy unless there was deliberate concealment (which in this case would have been moving the sun!).