Very slopped garden - worth offering?

[xxltom]

Hi,

I found a house which ticks a lot of boxes for me: close to station, not very far from the town center, chain free (not very sure why it is being sold just after 2y).

The only issue I have and don't want to waste time on viewings is related to the garden.
The house is on a hill and the garden is very steep.

Any idea how much would it cost to terrace it (I would say more than 20k)?

Link to the house: https://tinyurl.com/3dhs7szf

Thanks!

Came here to say the same thing. Them 'arty' photos are so off putting! The garden floor plan is really good though. Every EA should so that.

This garden isn't a steep slope. You can terrace that out well or have a really good design with a bit of planning. If you want to level, its very expensive. We paid 10k for levelling a garden half this size and having paving put down on half of it. Most of the cost was the labour, skips and machinery. Moving dirt is expensive!

You oxuld build an amazong little Japanese style garden with a small waterfall and pond. Well that's what I woukd do with a sloped garden

The house doesn’t conform with building regs. Stairs cannot go up from a kitchen.

@Contraryjane I think you can if there is an alternative means of escape from the upstairs rooms...

OMG! Love the kitchen [off topic]

It’s clear from the previous sale listing that it’s been completely renovated to be flipped. Given that, I’d say the price increase is relatively modest.

No I wouldn't consider a garden that is sloped or shady/north facing.

I just had a quick look at Zoopla. From what I can see, they have:-

Painted the exterior of the house and put new external lights by the front door. They have also replaced the back door.

They have added some secondary double glazing to the back of the house.

Replaced the flooring on the ground floor with engineered wood and the carpet on the stairs. It's a bit of a shame they did that really as it used to have the original floorboards which appeared to be in very good condition. But I know that's not to everyone's tastes.

Other than the flooring and painting the living room walls they haven't touched the ground floor internally, the kitchen and the wood burning stove were already there when they bought it.

Upstairs they have replaced the very old bathroom, however, they have removed the bath and there is now just a large walk in shower. Feelings are often divided about not having an actual bath. They have also painted all the walls.

They haven't done any work on the garden except to cut the grass. The small retaining wall in the back garden was already there.

Frankly, having now looked at the previous listing, I don't think they've done anything beyond the normal sort of cosmetic updates. The major expenditure they had was putting in a new bathroom (which was really needed) and also putting in engineered wood flooring which is just a personal choice - the original floorboards and kitchen floor looked fine.

Personally, I don't see where that represents an extra £46k in value.

The old listings on Zoopla are useful actually, as they show more of the garden: https://www.zoopla.co.uk/property/uprn/100080733633/

A slope doesn't have to be a bad thing!

https://www.familyhandyman.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/backyard-waterfall-GettyImages-155388360.jpg?fit=700,700

Hi all,

Very useful information, many thanks for taking the time to reply!

Indeed, it does look like a flipped house but I will find out the official details from EA during the view and report back.
What's a bit unusual in this case is the 2y time to put it back on sale for a modest profit, assuming it doesn't go for a lot over than asking.

I find that quite heavily sloped, surprised at the responses. I think it would need to be stepped. So flatten half, retaining wall. Steps up. Flatten top half. I’d imagine feasible for 20k.

I like the house in that they haven't ruined it with feature wall wallpaper or painted walls in dark nave, red or green!

It's obviously been bought and freshened up and dressed to sell in at a profit so make sure you get a good survey so that no problems have been hidden.

The garden is on a slope which I personally would hate but I wouldn't change it as it looks better like that than gouging out bits to landscape it into giant steps.