Coach house - to buy or not to buy

jpmnteiro

Hey all,

First time poster, long time lurker of these forums.

As the title suggests, we've (me and my wife) found a place we quite like (within budget, spacious and in an amazing location). The only drawback is that it is a coach house (house/apartment on the first floor, garages on the ground floor) .

Given that we're first time buyers, we're a bit concerned about the entire endeavour. I've been reading around the internet and actually found some old threads here but because the situation varies oh so slightly I thought it would be wiser to ask for some feedback.

The property in question (2 bedroom) sits on top of two garages and an archway passage. One of the garages would be ours, the other one would belong to the house next door. We'd have freehold of the property (next door house's garage is a peppercorn leasehold for 999 years). Also, it's a newly built property (won't be finished until early 2016).

• My questions are: anyone with experience living in coach houses? What sort of problems did you find/can you spot with this arrangement?
• Insurance wise, anyone as any idea how much it would go for?
• We're aware that we may have some problems regarding noise coming from the garage, but as the wife puts it, the same could happen on an apartment. I've asked to look at the leasehold agreement to make sure that only parking/storage is possible in the garage. Anything else I should ask about?

I'm looking forward to everyone's opinion and questions as I'm trying to play devil's advocate against ourselves to ensure we make an informed decision.


Regards,
JM

Thrugelmir

Lived in one myself. Ended up converting my garage into a kitchen\diner. Better than a flat.

jpmnteiro

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Lived in one myself. Ended up converting my garage into a kitchen\diner. Better than a flat.

That's actually quite a nice idea there could be something to consider in the future. What about the worries regarding the other garage, any experience you might share on that front?

NozeyParker

I live in one over 4 garages, brand new with garden. Love it I have a 20ft bedroom and spare 12ft bedroom, 2 bathrooms. It's over 750 square ft so way bigger than a 2 bed house which on avg is 550 square ft. I don't have other adjoining neighbours getting on my nerves. Home insurance is pricey though due to house style, but other garage leaseholders (ie terraced houses x3 opposite me) should contribute a % of the home insurance.

I'm having trouble getting leaseholders to pay. The combined contribution is £100 this year, so theoretically over the years I will lose out a lot. Thrugelmir did you encounter this problem? Should I tackle it or let it go? I don't mind falling out with the neighbours but it's just the hassle. Any advice?

Thrugelmir

My property was above 3 garages. The other 2 leaseholders were no problem at all. I paid for the insurance for the whole building. Not that this was expensive. When you've a solid concrete floor between the lower and upper floors likelihood of damage through fire etc is minimal. Also the solid floors made a good sound insulator. Not that either of the other garages was used to keep cars in.

I was fortunate with my property in that at the front I had a 20 foot front garden then a path then a further 50 foot to the road. The garages were accessed from the rear. So the precondition for planning was off road parking. The drive to the garage could hold 3 cars at the rear. Hence why I decided to do the conversion. As enhanced the property. Detached from the terraced houses on either side as well.

giddypenguin

I live next door to a coach house, which houses our garage, their garage and one other. Speaking to the neighbours they said that the impact on their house insurance was negligible we offered to cover some of it, as per the lease (also 999 year lease at a peppercorn rent)- but they declined saying it was so small it wasn't worth the hassle.
We also apologised as my husbands car is quite loud and they have young children, but they said the soundproofing is really good and they hadn't noticed.

So might be worth checking how good the sound proofing is? Know anyone with a bike?!

ETA: worth noting most people don't use their garage for cars - tends to be storage nowadays - especially new build garages as they are so small!

LittleMax

I haven't lived in one but my current house is a new build built 3 years ago. We have a bathroom and bedroom over a carport, and those rooms are really cold. We wished we had put underfloor heating in the bathroom before we had floor tiles fitted. I had always considered a coach house, but now would be worried about how cold it would be, especially the archway bit, I think this is colder than an unheated garage would be.