House Band, Opinion Wanted 23 August 2006 at 10:50PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Scotland 6 replies 691 views

shade_mes

Hi I wanted to ask you guys for your opinion on the banding for my council house.

It is termed as semi-detached which I'm not sure I agree with. The house is fully attached on one side and on the other is attached to a flat via a porch type brick wall, original to the property. The bottom flat's bedroom window also looks out into our back garden (they can in theory go out the window into our garden) and the flat wall is the boundery for most of that side.

Basically to me is is not semi-detached at all as we couldn't fence or walk around the house on that side for the flat.

I wanted to get some more opinions before I tried to appeal to the council. We are looking to buy sometime in the next year or so and wanted to check before that to see if a cheaper banding is possible.

Thanks to you all.

Liz58

Though I am not entirely sure-what you describe ain't what I consider a semi-detached........always thought that was one property attached entirely on one side and with nothing attached on the other side.

strange one- will be interested in what others think!

teapot2

Hi, I suspect you may need an 'expert' opinion on this and no doubt it will be different in Scotland to England. Maybe you could ring your local planning dept and ask them - they are ususally pretty helpful with info. One dictionary defn of semi-detached is: "Semi-detached housing (usually abbreviated to semi, as in "three-bedroom semi") consists of pairs of houses built side by side as units sharing a party wall and usually in such a way that each house's layout is a mirror image of its twin."

As your description is unusual its hard to say what the answer is without more knowledge than I've got. I would say though that the banding is based [I think] on value rather than type so not sure if it would make any difference - worth asking though.

Good luck
Teapot

shade_mes

teapot2 wrote:

Maybe you could ring your local planning dept and ask them - they are ususally pretty helpful with info. One dictionary defn of semi-detached is: "Semi-detached housing (usually abbreviated to semi, as in "three-bedroom semi") consists of pairs of houses built side by side as units sharing a party wall and usually in such a way that each house's layout is a mirror image of its twin."

As your description is unusual its hard to say what the answer is without more knowledge than I've got. I would say though that the banding is based [I think] on value rather than type so not sure if it would make any difference - worth asking though.

Thanks for the advice and info. I was thinking of contacting the planning dept and just wanted to see if anyone else agreed about the semi-detached state before I bothered them.

Yeah I think the banding is based on value but the way I'm thinking is that it doesn't hurt to check. Maybe if it is changed from being termed semi-detached the value will be slightly less and that means less I have to fork over to the council when I buy.

ailuro2

If you get the description changed it might cost in the long run when you come to sell, having to describe the house as 'terraced' when you don't in fact, have two neighbours 'through the wall' from you.

Just my tuppence worth though.;)

jockettuk

some semi detached houses down here dont have access round the side.. its classed as semi detached if its not got connected to the next door by a dividing wall.. some here are only inches apart but still classed as semi or even the detached ones dont have a lot of room separting themselves from there neighbours

shade_mes

Thanks for your replies, it's nice to have more opinions than my own family as they always tend to be a bit bias and just agree with me.

The porch is enclosed so is really like a small entrance area and the wall of it is the flat wall so it is fully attached at that point; so I guess they are neighbours 'through the wall' even if it isn't a living area.

Thanks ailuro2 for the comments about re-selling, I hadn't really considered this point but as I'm pretty settled I don't think it'll be affecting me for a very long time. That and the house prices in this area are rising steadily - its a commuter hot spot - so I'd probably still get back more than I pay for it from the council if I did sell later on.

Again many thanks for the opinions.