Second thoughts - advice needed on House Purchase - Parking concerns

sj15

Hi there, long time reader, first time poster.

This is probably a silly question but it's keeping me up at night.

I am in the process of buying a house and had an offer accepted and mortgage offered. All is going well but I woke up last night with a feeling of dread and i'm thinking of pulling out.

I am happy with the house, but just have one nagging issue which may just be silly but I can't seem to sake it. Below is the house i'm buying (with the red door - on the left):

(can't post pic as new user - i'll try in the comments)

As you can see in the above picture, there is parking to the side of the property. I have one parking spot, the closest to the front of the house. But there are 4 other parking spots at the side too. The parking is right up against the side wall of the property.

My concern is that there is no protection stopping people from driving in to my house by accident. No bollards or bushes. I'm sure the neighbors will be careful but it's bound to happen at some point right?

How safe/strong is the side of the building from someone for example reversing in to it? I'd imagine it would be low speed as it is a small car park and no room to build up speed.

What sort or damage can it do? Can it destroy the foundations of the house like for example subsidence can? Is it safe from fairly small bumps if it were to happen?

May seem like a daft concern but I just know, knowing my luck i'll get someone cracking the bricks on the side, affecting resale value.Would you buy this house if this was the only concerns?

Thanks - any help appreciated!

sj15

Sorry admins, don't ban me, pic link below (remove spaces between the quotes)

"imgur .com /a/FIDbWs8"

k3lvc

2nd, 3rd 4th and....... thoughts - it's a house, effectively an immovable object and, should someone drive into it at sufficient speed to cause it damage that's what you have insurance for.


Stop worrying about this and concentrate on the process of securing your new house

RelievedSheff

Accidents happen and that is what you have insurance for.

I'm just looking out of our living room window now down our street and every one of the houses could be hit if a car comes off the road, ours included. In fact we are on a corner plot so a stray car could probably hit three of the four sides of ours!

johnathan45

For anyone else struggling to open the link, here it is:
https://imgur.com/a/FIDbWs8

My opinion: It's absolutely ok. Don't worry about it.

Is there a window on that wall? I would be more annoyed about headlight beam coming in than the car crashing.

getmore4less

https://imgur.com/a/FIDbWs8

You are in the middle of an estate on a junction.

Like millions of other houses all over the UK.

houses that get hit and damaged by cars tend to be on fast road where they are on a bend or at the bottom of hills.

As you say the most likely person to hit your house is you parking your car.

I have hit both our garage doors reversing, would have been ok had it not been for the tow bar.

If people are going to be reversing into the spots you could rig something up to help illuminate at night or alarm when close. even a small reflector on the wall at window hight might do the job.

shortcrust

sj15 wrote: »

My concern is that there is no protection stopping people from driving in to my house by accident. No bollards or bushes. I'm sure the neighbors will be careful but it's bound to happen at some point right?

No! Of course it isn’t bound to happen at some point. If that were true half the houses in the UK would be hit by cars sooner or later. I’d say it’s as good as certain that it’ll never happen.

Mutton_Geoff

I've seen lots of houses on bends in country roads with armco barrier in their front garden.


This looks pretty normal to me. The biggest worry is from exhaust coming into any windows on that wall when lazy folk warm their car before driving off or leave the engine running after parking to finish a phone call etc.


If you're worried and it's your land, have a builder sink a concrete bollard into the ground just in front of your wall.

pinkteapot

That would be bottom of my list of worries! A few years back I lived in a small building of six flats with a communal car park alongside the building, so cars parked pointing at the building in the same way. No-one ever drove into the wall!

Things you should be worried about:

- Any rooms with windows overlooking the car park will hear noise from cars turning right outside.
- Is your space numbered or otherwise marked as yours? Go there evenings and weekends and check how bad parking is and whether you'll definitely always be able to use your space.

sj15

johnathan45 wrote: »

For anyone else struggling to open the link, here it is:


My opinion: It's absolutely ok. Don't worry about it.

Is there a window on that wall? I would be more annoyed about headlight beam coming in than the car crashing.

There is a tiny window upstairs for the ensuite bathroom but otherwise it's just all wall.

ReadingTim

I think you need to worry about alien abduction before this - you're at greater risk of the rectal probe (and it's always the rectal probe with those pesky aliens...) than someone backing into the side of the house with their car.

Sleep tight, and don't have nightmares.