New build garden size inaccurate/too small

[ShezK21]

We are buying a new build and the developers took forever to get back to us on the measurements for our garden. I thought in the meantime I could roughly work it out from the site plan, given that we had all the measurements of the house. So the house is 30 feet from front to back and the plans showed that the garden is the same length. So I estimated it was hopefully at least 25 feet long and as its wider than it is long, and based on house measurements, I estimated it was 30 to 35 feet across.

I know they aren't completely accurate, however when we finally did get the measurements back they have told me the garden is 17 feet long by 20 feet across.
The plans actually show the garden being almost twice the size it actually is! Are they allowed to be this far off and what can I do about it?
Lastly for a 3 bed, 3 storey house, housing 2 adults and 2 kids, is a 17 by 20 foot garden big enough?

This is a good point.
We don’t deal in feet ( is this uk ) in design.
Perhaps they’ve given you feet when they meant metres.

although many developments have tiny tiny gardens, especially if there are communal spaces too.

Is the house narrow, usually back garden is same width as plot, 30-35ft as you first expected is probably about average

Tbh, I wouldnt expect a 3 bed 3 storey house to be particularly wide - it sounds like a 'townhouse' style property.

If the house itself is only either 17ft or 20ft wide, then the OP was unrealistic in expecting the garden to be 30ft across. Whereas if the house is 30ft wide, why is the garden only 17ft by 20ft?

The layout is hard to envisage, but gardens are usually at least as wide as the house (unless an unusual plot).

It's 13 feet wide, It's semi -detached. I have access to the garden from the side of the house. I have a 2 car drive and was considering extending the fence past the first car parking space as we only have 1 car anyway.

Diagram OP ?

The garden is 20 foot wide and the house is 13 foot wide. the plans show that the garden looks like its twice as wide plus a little more than the house is.

Be aware
Planners very unlikely to allow a 2m fence at the front.

New developments do often seem to have tiny gardens though. In my village there are some older estates built in the 70s/80, which have lovely gardens.

The recent developments built in the last 3-4 years all have tiny gardens in comparison. The houses look very smart and modern, but they are really crammed in.

I have double checked and it is in feet. UK

It’s small then
Not that unusual though.

If the house is 13ft wide, what made you expect a 30ft wide garden?! That would have been really unusual.

Did you check the measurements of the house before making an offer? Or see one already built?

But why aren't they giving you metric measurements. ? 17 m is 55ft, which sounds suspiciously like a normal garden size if they did get the measurements back to front.

It's sounds about the same size as a Victorian terraced house garden, I suppose it won't be much work

I doubt you can relocate the fence-line or change the height, especially if the site is still being built, There will be covenants to preserve the visual uniformity of the properties.

It’s mad.
We went metric in 1965 I wish the house selling industry would stop this ft stuff.

Can you post a photo of the plan.

I second that.
MN needs plans. It’s almost a law 😆

House is in blue, the black outline is the garden and based on measures given in relation to the house, the pink is what garden we'll actually have.

13ft is a really small width for a house.... Are you sure the house is 13ft wide?

'Width' usually means the measurement from one side to the other when you look at it from the front.

Seconded! We are not Americans

It'll be 13 foot plus however thick the walls are, I guess. All the rooms in the house that go from one side to the other are not more than 13feet.

the plans are indicative only and assuming no measurements were put on the drawings or confirmed to you before your offer then it is what they now say.

You can’t measure off drawings so I suppose it’s up to you, it is small but not that unusual in new developments

Any idea what’s going to happen in the space between your garden and the ‘garage’ opposite. ( on the diagonal line )

Id say it looks roughly in scale. If house is 13ft wide the garden looks approx 1.5 times width if house so 20ft is about right.

@ShezK21 you should have sight of the land registry plan and you should at least be able to see the size of garden compared to the house from that. We got that really early on, so surely you should have access to that? The sizes you quote are tiny and would be unacceptable to many.

Although LandRegistry drawings are also indicative only and you can’t measure off them.