Moving from a detached with parking to terrace with parking permit

[Theleftflipflop]

Would you do this? I currently live in a detached house, garden, with a large driveway for around 3-4 cars, in a village with lots of fields for dog walking and safe for the kids to go out and play.

However, the school catchment for 2ndary schools is pretty bad / shocking (the main schools near us have been in the news as they are so awful - I'm talking prolific drug use, attempted stabbings, regular physical bullying of the kids etc). There are 2 Outstanding / good schools in the town nearby, and we would need to move within the catchments for those schools (they are always oversubscribed, so you have to be living within that area, or have a military parent / be fostered etc, to get in if you live outside the catchment area).

So... with one of my DC's in year 5 currently, my DH and I are looking at houses within the town (we have never lived in a town before - we are rural folk!). One house that appeals is a 3 bed terrace which has been upgraded and looks stunning. It has a long garden, and no back garden access for the other houses. Parking out front is permit only (we have 2 cars). There is only a tiny garden area at the front, which would not allow for it to be turned into a driveway.

Would this appeal to you?

I agree with renting it out.

Dc's wellbeing obviously comes first, but this way it could be win-win.

Yes, I would do it if the house is big enough for your family. It sounds as though it has a reasonable back garden and to be honest once they get older parks are more appealing anyway. Towns and cities are good for children, they can have a lot more independence.
I used to live in a terrace with permit parking and you just get used to it. For me, it's not the most important thing. I now live in a detached with a driveway, but one positive thing from the permit parking was that I knew a lot more of my neighbours and had more chats, due to having to go onto the street to get to my car.
I wouldn't want to send my children to your current catchment schools, they sound horrible and school makes a big difference to a child's life, especially secondary.

I think you would struggle with this move all around. Given you have always lived rurally.
Terrace parking is such an inconvenience, atleast you won’t have young children where you need to carry a car seat/pushchair potentially all the way down the road but there is nothing more annoying than coming home with a food shop, in the rain and not having an easy parking space. However it sounds like the only option if it is for your children. I would pop by multiple times of day to see the parking situation and living situation - ie is there a loud student HMO nearby?
My DH gets back from work 10pm and by that time, there was not a single space so we ruled out terrace living.

We moved from rural house with giant drive way to 3 bed semi with drive way to now semi with no driveway and on street permit parking. It’s fine- sometimes it’s slightly annoying and I don’t like driving anywhere on a Sunday as that’s the no permit day so you can’t then get a space again, but otherwise it’s just something we’ve adapted to and it’s worth it in SPADES for the house and location.

This is simply needs vs wants.

I would move. I went to a dreadful secondary school. Really awful. I have worked my backside off to make sure that my dc have better chances than I did.

If it’s a choice between driveway vs decent schools then there is no choice. Anyone who questions that must live in cloud cuckoo land with no idea how bad some schools actually are. And the impact they can have on dc.

In an ideal world, all schools should be as good as each other. That we should all be able to send our dc to the nearest schools. But live is not like that. Life is tough, why make it tougher for your dc by not putting their education needs above your housing wants?

Why don't you move to a slightly different area where you can be in a good school catchment area with the more rural property you like?

No, I wouldn’t. Off street parking is an absolute non-negotiable for me. I lived in a Victorian terrace in a cul-de-sac with two children under 2, there was ample room on the road for one car per house, but most families had two cars.

I would do it, but I currently live in a semi with no driveway and it is completely normal to me to park on the street. It's also not a disaster if you end up parking round the corner sometimes. As your DC are not the age where you have to carry them and all their stuff to the car, I don't think it sounds disastrous, and if everyone is used to street parking you are unlikely to get all the weird territorial don't-park-near-my-window stuff you see on MN. Also, if you live in the town, then even when your kids learn to drive, as mentioned by a PP, that doesn't mean they immediately need their own car.

@LittleCrumblyBiscuit we've lived in our current (bought from new build) house for 14 years. My husband HATES it. We both grew up in old (talking hundreds of years old) properties, but this house got us on the property ladder. He hates the area (it has had probably a few mentions in the news with what goes on here), but I really like it. Neither of us are from here originally, but our DC were born here and I wouldn't want to uproot them from their friends.

With regards to the new house - you would only be able to access the garden through the house. No garage. It has a separate kitchen and dining room (we have a kitchen/diner).

The neighbours we have are just amazing and kind, so that will be a loss and we would need to scout out the new area to see how it feels.

I spoke with the agent and have a viewing tomorrow. Agent advised that parking is easy and you can get visitor permits / different kinds of permits and parking itself doesn't seem to be an issue.

Also, being in the town I imagine would give my DC a bit of freedom when they are older, as being a country bumpkin, it was always a pain to have to get the bus / get a parent to drive us into the town to actually do anything.

I think that you could consider if you need a second car if you are in town in any case. The freedom it would give DC and then as older less 'parent taxi' is something also to consider.

Seems to me you just need to find the right house.

@Ohcrap082024 thank you, that is exactly our thoughts. Myself and DH aren't from this area and we had a plan (as young'uns) to live here for a short time and move back to where we grew up. Well, life changed, DC appeared and now we are rooted. DH likes the area we live in, but not the area where our house is. He works from our DC's bedroom as we just don't have space for an office for him. The new house would potentially not only offer better school options, but also extra space for us all.

Just remember to be highly skeptical of anything an agent tells you.

I do think though a lot of problems people have with house moving is because they don't know about an issue in advance, move there and find it turns up.

If you know about a problem like parking in advance you can accept it as part of the deal and when you finally get there its often less bad than you imagine.

But if you move to a new place and it crops up out of nowhere then the whole situation feels much worse.

To me anyway.

I've always lived in cities (New York and London), so bear that in mind, but it doesn't sound like a huge issue to me. Yes, it might occasionally take you a few minutes to find parking, but if it's that vs my children's safety, happiness and education, it's not even a choice for me.

I was also going to say that as your children get older, it will give them more freedom, and it's a plus if school is a walkable distance. You might find you use the car less too.

It might take a bit of getting used to, but you are not going to find what you are used to in an urban area. As a Londoner, it's madness to me to even consider prioritising car parking over your child's education. A big back garden is a bonus.
I would do it if I were you.

If it proves to be a problem could you rent a driveway/parking space/garage nearby for one of the cars? The neighbourhood of terraces near me includes a couple of areas of say, 10 garages all together, that are rented out by whoever owns them to the people who live in the terraces. Mostly for storage but they would take a small car.

could you even sell and buy within the time frame? Are you guaranteed a school place and crucially are you sure it’s genuinely better because it’s amazing how many people think schools further away are better when they simply are out of sight for you

I would absolutely prioritise my child’s education.

A lot of oversubscribed schools are onto this and won’t let you apply from a rented address if you also own a different property.

@mugglewump you are so right - my DC are really happy in their primary school and all the kids (generally) are very well behaved and want to learn.

Just to add, I have a friend whose child goes to one of the bad secondary schools, and she said that kids regularly just up and leave the classroom, have punch ups - a teacher got caught up in the fight only last week - and one student had, in her words, "her head smashed in". I can't believe I'm even typing that, as it is utterly abhorrent behaviour.

Would it be cheaper to stay where you are but send your kids to a private school?

Have you visited your local schools and seen for yourself how bad they are? Because there’s an awful lot hearsay about schools based on a minority of parents who’ve had bad experiences.

I'd definitely look into the suggestions of renting out your current home, renting somewhere in the school catchment and moving back later @Theleftflipflop.

DH and I both grew up in cities and lived in my home city till we were almost 40. We sold a huge link detached Victorian house (with permit parking) to be somewhere rural and mortgage-free when DS went to university.

After several years living in smaller but still decent sized detached houses with loads of character and ample parking, in 2024 we sold our 400 year old, extremely rural house to move closer to family.

Our 'new' home is a semi-detached Georgian cottage in a south coast seaside town with tiny driveway for one car (we only have one) and on street parking to one side of the road. We have rear access and thick walls, but I absolutely hate how built up the area is, how intrusive the neighbours are and the lack of space - we previously had 0.5 acre garden and now have a small paved courtyard. When we have guests, parking is an absolute nightmare...plus we have two neighbours who insist on using cones to mark their territory 🙄

We are close to family (and two minutes walk from the sea), but I miss the peace and quiet of rural living terribly, so I definitely wouldn't underestimate the culture shock of living in an urban environment after so long @Theleftflipflop. When we've finished the renovations here, we're going to move back to a detached preferably in an edge of village setting!

I think I would definitely do it given the updates that you and DH (in particular) aren't totally happy with the house you currently live in. If later on when the kids are all safely in secondary you want to move back to the village in a better area and house, you can do that.

Thank you all for the input and advice. I will report back after the viewing!

1. no
2. hell no
3. fuck no

No, absolutely not.

School can change very quickly and those 'good' schools, could be awful in just a year or two.