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Shared Driveway best avoided?

49 replies

Marblepie · 10/02/2023 09:26

Found a house that ticks all the boxes except it's got a shared driveway. It's long but the width doesn't appear big enough for two cars side by side. We don't drive so I'm more concerned that we'll be paying more for something we won't use but would have to pay half to maintain if the neighbour decides it needs resurfacing or something. It looks quite old and cracked at the moment. The house is expensive for the street, it's at the top end of our budget, but it appears to be one of the only houses with any sort of off road parking. Is it best avoided or unlikely to be an issue?

OP posts:
yomellamoHelly · 10/02/2023 13:35

Very common on our estate, but the general etiquette is that everyone parks on the road. Would be a deal breaker if you were expecting to have to park there.

Heyahun · 10/02/2023 18:41

Never ever had a problem with ours -
we are in London so off street parking is a luxury and permit pending required for all the roads around us

our shared drive is with 5 flats - only 2 flats even have a car but it’s useful when we have guests over or if we ever get a car there’s a space there for us

TurquoiseDress · 10/02/2023 18:43

My DH wouldn't touch one with a barge pole!

I was more open minded but I guess it depends on the exact set up, how you share maintenance etc

Too many variables what if your neighbour is nice and understanding then they move away and you get some bellends challenging ones instead!

Rainbowshit · 10/02/2023 19:07

We've done this twice.

First time was a nightmare.

Second time was a scared courtyard and for 10 years was fine just with minor niggles.

Then some complete arseholes moved in. Thankfully we were selling at the time so didn't have too much pain.

The people that moved in after us had a complete nightmare and the courtyard is a complete shithole now with stuff dumped everywhere.

We'd never share land again with anyone.

bobbytorq · 10/02/2023 19:29

Dealbreaker for me

october77 · 10/02/2023 19:35

We had one before and it was fine, then again we did share with the loveliest lady! We used to park in a zig zag as she had 1 car and we had 2. Never had any issues. The biggest problem we did have however was our upstairs neighbour (they were maisonettes) used to take it upon himself to just park on our drive whenever he thought we were away! The amount of times we came back to find him using our drive to clean out his car or what not! He was one CF!

Ireolu · 10/02/2023 19:39

We have a shared part to our driveway and bought the house not really thinking much it. It's a small strip. Each house (ours and sharing neighbour) have off street parking too. The shared access is for access to our gardens and it remains clear. We wouldn't buy a shared access anything house again we had a few tense moments when we first moved in and were trying to sort our drive and the area out. We ended up being out of pocket and with the neighbours backing out of things they had agreed initially. So it's a no from us too.

Happygone · 10/02/2023 19:51

Ours hasn't ever given us a minutes bother

Spanielsarepainless · 10/02/2023 20:15

We had a shared drive and parking area a few houses ago. Never again. It was OK until the couple next door started working from home and their family, friends and clients were parked everywhere. When it works, it's good, when it doesn't it's a nightmare.

rosiebl · 10/02/2023 20:21

We had a shared drive. Split it by agreement with our next door neighbour. We lost the scale of driveway but gained a much bigger garden and adapted the bit of drive that we gained in the split to accommodate our cars. Has to be mutually agreed to do it tho. Deeds updated etc.

rosiebl · 10/02/2023 20:23

Sorry to add, we both (ours and neighbour) took out our front gardens to make a wider shorter drive.

OneCup · 10/02/2023 20:26

I would avoid it but it would not be a deal breaker if the house ticked all other boxes.

SongforWhoever · 10/02/2023 20:33

All the houses in my road have shared drives and it's no problem. most people park on the road or a few have converted the front garden to a parking space. I'm in London where terraced houses are more common so having a side entrance is a bonus.
You are looking at £1M+ for a house with a private drive so too expensive for most people. People on here seem to expect an awful lot.

Starseeking · 10/02/2023 20:57

It's not actually off-road parking if 2 cars are unable to fit there side by side. I wouldn't buy it.

mommybear1 · 10/02/2023 21:16

My first house had a shared drive you could fit one car on "your" part of the drive but
To access the garage you had to ensure no one else was parked. I was very lucky as my neighbours were wonderful and we never encroached on the shared part other than to drop things into the back garden/garage.
If ever we were going to do "big works" like a skip or large garden work we would both discuss and agree timescales and inconvenience. As I say I was very, very lucky to have good considerate neighbours.

sparklecupcake · 11/02/2023 11:23

I would never ever live somewhere with a shared driveway again.

I had numerous events where neighbours thought we were sharing both sides of the driveway when we definitely were not and each property definitely had clearly makes us and their sections,

I had no issue with the odd 'we have friends and you're at work so do you mind if we use your driveway' but eventually they took the piss.

Never again we used to leave the second car on the drive where possible just so we could always fit one car on as next door constantly parked over our side. Very very tiring.
So so glad it's all over and I've since moved. This was in a 'nice' area where one wrongly assumed the people would be less twatty

WombatChocolate · 11/02/2023 12:09

Best avoided if you can. If you can get a different house with own drive, clearly that’s better.

As people say, so many different scenarios. Many new build estates have lots of parking problems, because even if there is private parking, there are also shared parts or spaces or access to the private space/drive is shared and people don’t always leave access free or have the same expectations about what is right.

Even where people have their own driveway and parking, but it isn’t separated by a fence or similar, issues appear. There was a thread about a neighbour wheeling their bins down the neighbour’s drive, because of the way they parked.

The best drive ways have own private access and are clearly distinct from other houses due to wall/fence/hedge etc. However, it only tends to be larger detached houses which are built like this these days,so increasingly semis and terraced houses have some aspects of shared parking or access to it.

Of course it can be okay with good neighbourly behaviour…but you can’t guarantee this. And when you come to sell, future buyers will have the same concerns you do.

That said,most people have to compromise on something when buying. Depends whether this is the thing you can compromise on for other positives if the property, or if this is a deal breaker for you.

NeedAHoliday2021 · 11/02/2023 12:29

We have a a shared bit of drive - 3 houses have to go over one shared bit to access our individual drives. Generally it’s fine but occasionally neighbour blocks it and gets huffy if we need to get our car out. It’s not often and it was the compromise to get a bigger home with a good sized very private garden. I’d say that if pluses of the house are there in every other way then consider it. Just make sure you know the legal agreements rather than what the owner currently does as neighbours could change and informal arrangements will mean nothing.

Rollercoaster1920 · 11/02/2023 13:33

I'd rather have no drive than a shared one. But life has compromises so I'd want to see the deeds of the house and next door to be clear of the legal standing. Then meet the neighbours. The problem is that neighbors can change.

FurierTransform · 11/02/2023 17:45

It wouldn't automatically put me off. It goes with the territory in many areas as that's just how the houses are built. Same deal with high end areas, detached houses and private roads, and they don't seem to put anybody off :)

Personally i'd probably avoid the type that are more 'cramped', e.g where its just a one car width shared between the two houses to access the garages behind, because there's always going to be wheelie bins in the way, someone blocking it while they clean the car etc that could get annoying.

GhostsInSnow · 11/02/2023 22:31

Deal breaker for me too. You’re relying on other people not to be arseholes, and that doesn’t always go well. You might be lucky, they might be lovely. And in five years time when they sell the next lot might not be lovely.

I had an uncle that shared part of a drive years ago, it was a bitter war that cost a small fortune in solicitors fees to try and maintain free passage to their own garage and ultimately ended with them moving.

Barbie46 · 12/02/2023 18:51

I would absolutely avoid. My old house opened directly onto the footpath and then there were parking spots with 2 allocated to each house, not policed in any way. The neighbours constantly parked in our spots and it was a big issue for us. I'd imagine you'd have the same issue with a shared drive. Even though you don't drive I'd assume you'll have visitors who do.

CoffeeWithCheese · 12/02/2023 21:00

It's been a totally avoid for us house hunting this time around - yes it works great if you've got sensible neighbours and all are reasonable and get along together - but you're always going to be at the mercy of utter knobheads moving in next door and if I'm paying for a house with a driveway - I want a whole driveway not a (as DD would describe it "Aldi knock-off fake driveway")

Appleskypietoday · 12/02/2023 21:06

I’d never do a shared anything. I’ve had a very bad experience with shared access.
Avoid!

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