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?

Ok they have scaled it from the drawing. I use this kind of markup software. They have got the scale calibrated wrong and therefore the measurements are misleading to you and they haven't noticed their mistake. The whole plot is your garden as per the original plan (and their arrows). Hopefully you can clarify it tomorrow and someone will get a talking to about checking.
New build gardens are supposed to be 10m/30ft long, sometimes adjusted a bit for corner or angled plots, which is roughly your future garden size.

I've seen the reviews too, shocking!

@ShezK21 Please give this one a miss. You need to speak to your solicitor (and I hope they aren't one that was recommended by Countryside - if so, try to get independent advice)

New build gardens do not have a set size and are variable depending on communal gardens etc
There is no longer a defined size unless the local council has individual stipulations

Sorry I was too brief, that's typical guidance for a 3 bed house, I know it's not mandatory.

That sounds about the same size as our garden was for our 3 bed 3 storey new build townhouse. I'd consider a few things:

• what do you want a garden for? (Ours was fine for BBQing etc but once we had a kid and a dog it felt much smaller).
• What direction does your house face? I ask this as our back garden was north facing and due to the height of the three storeys and length of the garden even in the height of summer we only got sun in part of the garden for a few hours a day.

I will add that some of our neighbours had kids and were genuinely very happy with the garden size and are still there now! We decided to prioritise garden space in our next house but that's just because it's important to us. New build garden plots are notoriously small. X

Our townhouse new build was about the same width - it did feel narrow!

Are these back to back houses? Will your neighbour not even have any garden at all 😢.

It seems that the developer has crammed as many tiny houses in for maximum profit and no thought as to how people will live in them. Makes me so angry!

It’s not back to back.

Did you get it sorted OP?

Yes, I did. I nagged at the sales rep and got them to check it again for me. They went to the site manager and checked their handwritten plans... and it turns out they had the measurements wrong. 😅 its 30 by 33 foot, not 17'7" by 20'2". Still not a massive garden, but I feel much better about it. 🙂

Oh that's great news!! How did they manage to get that so wrong?? Well done for chasing it up and sorting it. Best of luck in your new home once you move in x