Buying Two Terraced Houses to make into one house

Grizebeck

I have thought about this idea for a while as i saw two for sale ages ago together (at the time wasn't looking to move ), but soon we will be in our "in between house"
I realise the likelihood of finding two for sale in the right place will be low. 
I also realise the downsides such as

Ceiling price for the area etc
Cost of the works - ie structural changes , having to get a structural engineer to see if it can even be done
Changing over gas/elec supplies
informing the council
If the house is on a hill then the two houses wont be on the same level.

So i am aware of all the draw backs, but what i am really trying to get at is has it ever worked for anyone ?. and if so was it worth of all the above negative points (and the rest)

RAS

Talking to the Council is the first thing, even before spending on engineers and architects. They may just say no.

Re has anyone done it? Lots of back to backs in West Yorkshire were combined "along the spine" to create standard terraces, both in cities and smaller places like Addingham. You'll sometimes find them with two addresses.

And more conventional conversions with small rural cottages, although usually both already had the same owner. 

Grizebeck

RAS said:

Talking to the Council is the first thing, even before spending on engineers and architects. They may just say no.

Re has anyone done it? Lots of back to backs in West Yorkshire were combined "along the spine" to create standard terraces, both in cities and smaller places like Addingham. You'll sometimes find them with two addresses.

And more conventional conversions with small rural cottages, although usually both already had the same owner. 

thanks
this isnt something that needs planning permission, just Building control sign off, converting back to two houses would need PP

p00hsticks

We sort of did it to some degree by accident - we owned one and when the old lady next door died we bought the other. 
But this was an area and time when properties were cheap as chips (I think we paid £26k). There was already a means of going from one property to the other at ground level without exiting either - a covered entry ran between the two to the back yards of each with back doors into the respective kitchens at the end. We just kept the utilties etc separate. and didn't make any structural alterations other than put up a lean to extension in one of the back yards to ensure you could get from one property to the other in the dry. 

It was a very cheap way of getting a lot of extra space, plus ensuring we didn't get noisy neigbours, but I'm not sure the finances would stack up the same now .....

Grizebeck

p00hsticks said:

We sort of did it to some degree by accident - we owned one and when the old lady next door died we bought the other. 
But this was an area and time when properties were cheap as chips (I think we paid £26k). There was already a means of going from one property to the other at ground level without exiting either - a covered entry ran between the two to the back yards of each with back doors into the respective kitchens at the end. We just kept the utilties etc separate. and didn't make any structural alterations other than put up a lean to extension in one of the back yards to ensure you could get from one property to the other in the dry. 

It was a very cheap way of getting a lot of extra space, plus ensuring we didn't get noisy neigbours, but I'm not sure the finances would stack up the same.....

Thanks
Yes its all about cost /location, one of the reasons we want to do it is the area we are looking at the terraces have nice large long gardens so would be idea
Unlikely to happen, probably see a few flying pigs before two come up for sale together although we did see one already done
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/133020860#/?channel=RES_BUY

eddddy

Will you be buying and converting both properties using your own cash - i.e. no borrowing/mortgage(s) required?

If you need to borrow money, you'd probably need some kind of development finance until the conversion is finished - then you could apply for a standard residential mortgage.

p00hsticks

Grizebeck said:

p00hsticks said:

We sort of did it to some degree by accident - we owned one and when the old lady next door died we bought the other. 
But this was an area and time when properties were cheap as chips (I think we paid £26k). There was already a means of going from one property to the other at ground level without exiting either - a covered entry ran between the two to the back yards of each with back doors into the respective kitchens at the end. We just kept the utilties etc separate. and didn't make any structural alterations other than put up a lean to extension in one of the back yards to ensure you could get from one property to the other in the dry. 

It was a very cheap way of getting a lot of extra space, plus ensuring we didn't get noisy neigbours, but I'm not sure the finances would stack up the same.....

Unlikely to happen, probably see a few flying pigs before two come up for sale together although we did see one already done
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/133020860#/?channel=RES_BUY

Yes, round the area where we did it (West Midlands) it wasn't uncommon to spot properties where it had already been done, converting two traditional 'two up two downs' into more spacious family sized homes - although usually without the gardens you want. 

Grizebeck

eddddy said:

Will you be buying and converting both properties using your own cash - i.e. no borrowing/mortgage(s) required?

If you need to borrow money, you'd probably need some kind of development finance until the conversion is finished - then you could apply for a standard residential mortgage.

Yes cash purchase throughout

gazfocus

I’ve always thought about doing this with two semi’s (especially when they already look like one detached house chopped into two).

I guess, if a single terraced house came up where you like and is big enough for now, one option would be to buy one then hope one of the neighbours sell up at some point. 

Of course, you could move in and make life hell for one neighbour so they sell up…joking of course

diggingdude

Best people to ask are the council. They do it when they need to house large families. But if there is a housing shortage in the area they may be reluctant to lose a property 

BungalowBel

We did it in Spain - just put a door through at first floor level (the living areas).  We had two front doors and two numbers and two sets of stairs.  The second smaller house we used as a bedsit and the ground floor as storage.( The people who bought it off us made the ground floor into an ensuite bedroom - something we wanted to do but couldn't afford).

Were we to do it in this country we would have needed building regulations, but no-one bothered where we were