Access Road Limitations to a House

[relicmata]

Hello, would a house on a single lane road with a narrow 2.6 meter wide section have a negative impact to future resale value? This is a small section walled on both sides, so it's a hard limit on a no-HGV 300m long road.

I'm most concerned about any future building work or repairs, i.e. if you need a digger, new roof, or a new septic tank etc - 2.6 meters seems ok for a Luton van, but if you need building supplies etc on a standard 7.5 tonne / crane truck, it's just not going to happen. Clearly they built the house so it must be possible with some expense/hassle - I just can't work out if this will make resale or living there a problem.

Would it be a concern for you?

 

[blup]

It seems to be less than a standard road width of 12 feet so adequate in theory for most road vehicles, but a lot would depend on the bends and passing and reversing places

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

It would bother me. You'll have regular issues, even parcels often arrive in trucks rather than vans. How does the bin get emptied - do you have to walk the bin to before the pinch point?

Unless it was exceptionally brilliant or cheap I'd throw the house in the rejects pile.

 

[Old Salt]

Its obviously of concern to you so presumably any future buyer would have the same concerns. I would pass and keep looking.

 

[big-all]

have you bought or are looking at buying "a really good value" property you can afford??
you need to keep in mind in general there is no such thing as a bargain you can sell for full market value later
the restrictions holding the price back or allowing you to bargain hard will still apply when you come to sell unless they can be removed

remember there will be far more experienced people turning there backs on a property as more trouble than worth at a far lower amount than you have or will offer that how it works ---the inexperienced off us help inflate the market through naivety or desperation and paying between too much and far far too much

 

[Cheslea2010]

Indeed, you will have trouble with larger deliveries. Lorries above 7.5t need a minimum of 2.8m for access and even then it is down to the discretion of the driver/company as to whether they will risk it. If I was driving a £150k truck I wouldn't risk damage to the truck and/or property for the sake of a delivery which only nets them a few pounds.

 

[relicmata]

Thanks guys, yer this is a nice rural property that was rebuilt in 2010. I imagine the builder owned all their own kit and used a small trailer or something for the renovation. So it must be possible, I'm just not sure I could ever be comfortable with the extra hassle around large deliveries or repairs - but this property is otherwise perfect for us so it's difficult choice to walk away from

 

[Old Salt]

Despite what I said earlier every property will have pros and cons, you just need to weigh up which is the biggest driver.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

If it's unconventional then I'd also be concerned about who owns the road. If it's owned by an individual other than you then don't even think about it. I'd be very cautious of anything that doesn't have direct access onto an adopted public road that's maintained by the council.

I'm sure there are lots of houses down narrow lanes. Unless you're a multi-millionaire then every house you're looking at it going to have some sort of issue, we definitely couldn't afford a dream castle. I guess it depends how big its plus marks are. Lots are being built in back gardens, accessed by a driveway that's just a car width. But then you can walk and carry anything a few metres, but 300m is a lot more challenging.

 

[relicmata]

Thanks, this is an adopted road, maintained by public funds and I think the council even run a smaller bin lorry down there... But with about 5 houses max so it's obviously going to be very low priority for those funds. The pinch point is someones house on one side, and a walled shed on the other, reducing the passing width to 2.6m.

You're 100% correct about all houses having their own problems, I guess here I really want to know if it would limit resale or put the house equity at risk - but maybe if the house is nice enough, enough people wouldn't care about the road as much as I do if they get a car down without issue...