Southerly backing garden

Davesnave

Real world factors, such as buildings and trees, play a significant part in determining the amount of direct sunshine an average-sized garden will receive. Add terrain into the equation and things become more complicated.

The worst situation is probably behind trees near the base of a north facing hill, where winter will be a gloomy affair.

DRP

"southerly backing" can be rather loosely defined when it comes to estate agent descriptions - make sure you check it yourself!

DandelionPatrol

View the property and take a compass with you in case it is cloudy on the day. If the orientation is wrong, pull out of the viewing and say that the property has been mis-described. Doing this will take to makew the Agents realise that misleading descriptions are a waste of their own time.

Davesnave

DandelionPatrol wrote: »

View the property and take a compass with you in case it is cloudy on the day. If the orientation is wrong, pull out of the viewing and say that the property has been mis-described. Doing this will take to makew the Agents realise that misleading descriptions are a waste of their own time.

Or, perhaps more likely, they'll just write you off as a loony.

kinger101

You can always take a compass to a viewing too. Sometimes, the EA's definition of south is quite broad.

DandelionPatrol

Davesnave wrote: »

Or, perhaps more likely, they'll just write you off as a loony.

Why? For taking a compass? They don't need to see the compass. It is enough to say "This garden is not southerly backing"

As for being a loony for saying the description is wrong, they are more likely to take you for a mug if you swallow a wrong description. I would rather be feared as a loony than mocked as a mug ....

Annie1960

Most EAs have a compass app on their smartphone, and I found they were very obliging at using it to work out which way the gardens were facing when I was viewing.

jacko74

Having a southerly facing back garden is very high on my list of priorities in my current house search and I'm amazed how few properties seem to have one... I'd guess at least 80% of properties I've viewed have back gardens that are generally north facing.

kinger101

jacko74 wrote: »

Having a southerly facing back garden is very high on my list of priorities in my current house search and I'm amazed how few properties seem to have one... I'd guess at least 80% of properties I've viewed have back gardens that are generally north facing.

The south facing garden isn't the only critical thing. I have one now which doesn't get that much sun due to fences and neighbour's outbuildings. A long north facing garden on the other hand might get plenty of sun. If you can do a viewing with the vendors present, there is no substitute for asking them where the garden gets the sun at different times of day.

ibizafan_2

Talking to an estate agent recently, I was informed that west facing gardens are the most popular as you get sun on the front of the house, which you don't get with south facing. He also said that if house details don't mention the garden aspect, it is probably because it faces a less favourable direction. Evidently, a lot of younger buyers overlook garden position whereas older people often have it as one of their priorities. Obvious stuff in a way, but interesting to get it confirmed.