Mid Terrace Vs End of Terrace

georgedebel

I'm planning to buy a mid terraced house in a new development. I'm getting some mixed reviews between the mid terraced and end of terrace house. Taking into consideration the building methods and regulations (if any in place) is still a mid terrace a wrong option...??? I would like to hear from peoples real experience their opinion on mid terrace properties. Further it is difficult to sell an mid terrace property...???

Gumbo

georgedebel wrote: »

I'm planning to buy a mid terraced house in a new development. I'm getting some mixed reviews between the mid terraced and end of terrace house. Taking into consideration the building methods and regulations (if any in place) is still a mid terrace a wrong option...??? I would like to hear from peoples real experience their opinion on mid terrace properties. Further it is difficult to sell an mid terrace property...???

Building regulations are the same for mid terrace as they are for end of terrace. They still need to meet the same minimum requirements.

End of terrace would get my vote assuming you benefit from a wider front and rear garden and side entrance? You may also have a benefit of an additional window or 2 in the side cable wall.

Brego888

End off terrace beats mid terrace nearly every time. Having side access to your house, somewhere to put your bins etc can't be overlooked.
You'll generally pay more for end of terrace though.

donkeykong5

Mid terrace has cheaper heating costs.

Gumbo

donkeykong5 wrote: »

Mid terrace has cheaper heating costs.

Marginally in my opinion and not enough to justify it over private side access over the life cycle of the property.

Dolbhad

I’d prefer end of terrace more for the ease of access for bins etc. However they are more expensive to buy but should keep the resale value. In addition having two houses on either side could be nosier.

However my cousin recently bought a new build end of terrace. Paid extra for it so she’s have the side access. Turns out at the end she didn’t have a side access but her neighbour in the next row to her owed the side access and she’d a right of way to use it. Seemed the builder ran out of room on site at the end and couldn’t accolade two side access for both houses. No comeback in the contract as it was a condition that boundaries aren’t final until the scheme map issues.

ted1

georgedebel wrote: »

I'm planning to buy a mid terraced house in a new development. I'm getting some mixed reviews between the mid terraced and end of terrace house. Taking into consideration the building methods and regulations (if any in place) is still a mid terrace a wrong option...??? I would like to hear from peoples real experience their opinion on mid terrace properties. Further it is difficult to sell an mid terrace property...???

I have a mid terrace which I rent out. Don’t think I ever slept there. To cut the grass, bring in the bikes or do the bins they must all go through the house. End if terrace doesn’t have that hassle or dirt. The neighbours on one side is loud I call her angry mum she just shouts, roars and sing Celine Dion. The other side is quiet. At least with an end if terrace you are guaranteed to have 1 quiet side

ted1

donkeykong5 wrote: »

Mid terrace has cheaper heating costs.

Not really. If the heating is off next door you are heating your neighbours house where as an external wall with have insulation

Mrs OBumble

Given the choice, I'd buy end-of-terrace so I could play music not next to the neighbours wall.

Mr O'Bumble would buy mid-terrace for the security: he believes that end-of-terrace is more likely to get broken in to.

c.p.w.g.w

donkeykong5 wrote: »

Mid terrace has cheaper heating costs.

If your neighbors use their heating then maybe

whiskeyman

donkeykong5 wrote: »

Mid terrace has cheaper heating costs.

It's a new development.
Heating costs won't really matter as much I reckon.
End of terrace for me also for many reasons already mentioned.

awec

If it's a new, private development then an end terrace is practically a semi-detached.

Muahahaha

Would prefer end of terrace for the extra space myself BUT an end of terrace house is more likely to be a congregating place for teenagers at night time in the summers. Not saying this happens in all estates, just that Ive seen it happen specifically with end of terrace houses.

Muahahaha

Muahahaha wrote: »

Would prefer end of terrace for the extra space myself BUT an end of terrace house is more likely to be a congregating place for teenagers at night time in the summers. Not saying this happens in all estates, just that Ive seen it happen specifically with end of terrace houses.

Think that's the 'old style' of house, though. As a general rule of thumb, I find most new house estates rarely have a terrace of houses longer than 3 houses (2 semi d, and 1 mid-terrace in between them).


For teenagers, it's not so much the semi d, it's the corner house on the street that will get pestered. On a row of semi-d houses, its the ones at the extremes of either side that will likely see teens.


Most people have copped onto this, and you now see railings or hedging being planted fairly swiftly to prevent that carry on.

Gumbo

Dolbhad wrote: »

I’d prefer end of terrace more for the ease of access for bins etc. However they are more expensive to buy but should keep the resale value. In addition having two houses on either side could be nosier.

However my cousin recently bought a new build end of terrace. Paid extra for it so she’s have the side access. Turns out at the end she didn’t have a side access but her neighbour in the next row to her owed the side access and she’d a right of way to use it. Seemed the builder ran out of room on site at the end and couldn’t accolade two side access for both houses. No comeback in the contract as it was a condition that boundaries aren’t final until the scheme map issues.

That would be a breach of the granted planning permission and therefore a reason to stop the sale. Your cousin was lying or didn’t pay attention to the site layout when purchasing.

Any half wit legal person would stop this sale.

ncmc

I live in a mid-terrace (was what we could afford at the time) I am in a row of three houses with a semi-detached house on either side. I have access to my back garden down a path to the side of one of the semi d’s, I share this path with one other house, but then it branches into a ‘T’ and one end of the T junction is my private access, so I have put a gate at the end of the ‘T’ and that’s where I store my bins etc. I find our house stays very warm, even if the heat is off. During the big freeze of 2010, I was away for a week and didn’t have the heat on timer. The house was warm when we came home and we had no issues with freezing pipes etc. Maybe I have been lucky, but we have never had an issue with noise from neighbours in the 15 years we have lived there.

If the price is comparable, I would choose the end of terrace, but if there is a big saving and

a) There is side access to your back garden
b) The houses are well built and sound proofed

Then I would have no issue buying a mid-terrace.

Walter Bishop

If you're sensitive to noise from your neighbours don't buy a mid-terrace, you'll probably be able to hear every cough.

theteal

Born and raised in a 50s build mid terrace. No noise complaints from us but then again, we were the young family surrounded by oldies so they might have differing opinions. I remember lugging bikes and the lawn mower though, the mother cursed the mess we'd leave in our wake.

We were very close to buying a mid terrace as it was particularly nice and within budget but glad to get a semi in the end.

EoT and semi are always going to be preferable for obvious reasons

Dolbhad

kceire wrote: »

That would be a breach of the granted planning permission and therefore a reason to stop the sale. Your cousin was lying or didn’t pay attention to the site layout when purchasing.

Any half wit legal person would stop this sale.

It actually wasn’t a breach of planning. Planning doesn't have to grant to two side access and two side gates. As long as there is access (which there was) the legals are fine. She had access but she didn’t own the site gate entrance but her neighbour did and she’s a right of way to access it. Her engineer and builders engineer all signed off on cert of compliance. In fairness her solicitor had flagged those conditions in contracts first day.

With new builds your site layout plan is just that - a layout of the potential site. But legally it’s not binding and it will say so in contracts. Boundaries are approved and signed off on when the scheme map issues for land registry and for a lot of new builds just not available when signing contracts but happens later on. That’s why it’s all a risk buying off plans

waxmelts2000

My sister lives in a mid terrace house she bought maybe 12 years ago. Neighbors on one side have 3 small kids, she hears everything ! She does shift work so often finds it difficult to sleep during the day. She did mention looking into sound proofing but I think there was no guarantee of 100% improvement ...
The one benefit though is her house is super warm !

awec

Noise shouldn't be a huge issue for anything built recently.

If it's a tiger build then all bets are off.

0gac3yjefb5sv7

If there is a 2 bed end of terrace or 3 bed mid terrace in the same area for the same price, the 3 bed has a much larger back garden for expansion.

Is it a no brainer here?

awec

Pheonix10 wrote: »

If there is a 2 bed end of terrace or 3 bed mid terrace in the same area for the same price, the 3 bed has a much larger back garden for expansion.

Is it a no brainer here?

In this scenario they must be completely different houses? The mid terrace house is wider than the end terraces?

I think in this scenario it's a different discussion, but I think the OP is talking about the more common scenario where terraced houses are all identical.

anewme

I live in a mid terrace. I got the cobble lock in the front garden so i dont have to drag the lawnmower through the house. It is a nuisence fot access for furniture, etc.

Theres no issue whatsoever with noise or insulation.

I am a woman living alone and I feel a bit more secure in the mid terrace so it suits me. Side access is a bigger security risk.

riclad

It depends on the the build quality of the house, the thickness of the walls, level of sound insulation .
I live in the middle of a terrace , i have no issues, with loud noise.
i just hear a noise if someone is using a drill or doing building work.
many house built after the 90,s have mediocre ,low levels of sound insulation .
I would go for the 3 bed house .if the cost of both house,s are similar.
If you are worried about side acess you can put up a high fence or raise the wall .Mid terrace house should be cheaper when it comes to heating costs .
look at the ber rating on both house,s .
Ber is a rating for energy use in terms of insulation .

https://www.seai.ie/energy-ratings/building-energy-rating-ber/
there,s no problem selling a mid terrace house,
All new house,s have to be built to comply with 2019 building regulations, in terms of fire safety, minimum size for room,s etc
The problem is in the boom after the 90,s many house,s were not inspected by the local authority , so some were not good in terms of sound insulation, and energy effeciency .

holliehobbie

ncmc wrote: »

I live in a mid-terrace (was what we could afford at the time) I am in a row of three houses with a semi-detached house on either side. I have access to my back garden down a path to the side of one of the semi d’s, I share this path with one other house, but then it branches into a ‘T’ and one end of the T junction is my private access, so I have put a gate at the end of the ‘T’ and that’s where I store my bins etc. I find our house stays very warm, even if the heat is off. During the big freeze of 2010, I was away for a week and didn’t have the heat on timer. The house was warm when we came home and we had no issues with freezing pipes etc. Maybe I have been lucky, but we have never had an issue with noise from neighbours in the 15 years we have lived there.

If the price is comparable, I would choose the end of terrace, but if there is a big saving and

a) There is side access to your back garden
b) The houses are well built and sound proofed

Then I would have no issue buying a mid-terrace.

If you are in a row of 3 houses how are the end of row houses semi detached? They are end of terrace surely? I live in an end of terrace myself and it is handy to have a side gate for access alright. Plus we have an extra window in the gable wall at the top of the stairs. Bad soundproofing in the house though. Built mid 90's!!

0gac3yjefb5sv7

holliehobbie wrote: »

If you are in a row of 3 houses how are the end of row houses semi detached? They are end of terrace surely? I live in an end of terrace myself and it is handy to have a side gate for access alright. Plus we have an extra window in the gable wall at the top of the stairs. Bad soundproofing in the house though. Built mid 90's!!

How is the sound proofing in houses built by the council in 1960s?

riclad

You can put in extra sound proofing if you want to,
so the end terrace house is semi d, eg there is a house on one side.
The end terrace can be handy as regards parking a car, and you have more privacy, your garden will be only overlooked on one side .
i would go for the house with the larger garden,if there is a significant difference
in size, versus the garden of the house in the middle.

L1011

Walter Bishop wrote: »

If you're sensitive to noise from your neighbours don't buy a mid-terrace, you'll probably be able to hear every cough.

A modern one anyway. My 70s nuclear bunker of a house transmits so little noise that it took two years before I realised my neighbours on one side had dogs.

What rooms back on to rooms in the other houses matters there too - their hallway and landing is unlikely to have much noise at night and that's what adjoins the main bedroom side

charlietheminxx

I've recently bought a new mid-terrace. We really wanted an end-of-terrace or a semi-d, but the end of terrace houses available in our phase were smaller and €10k more than the mid-terrace, so we weighed up the pros and cons and asked around about the sound insulation etc. We were told it was very good, someone told us their next door neighbour had a newborn and she hadn't heard so much as a peep, so decided €10k less and a bigger house was a better fit for us. I'm still not sure where we will put the bins though!

georgedebel

charlietheminxx wrote: »

I've recently bought a new mid-terrace. We really wanted an end-of-terrace or a semi-d, but the end of terrace houses available in our phase were smaller and €10k more than the mid-terrace, so we weighed up the pros and cons and asked around about the sound insulation etc. We were told it was very good, someone told us their next door neighbour had a newborn and she hadn't heard so much as a peep, so decided €10k less and a bigger house was a better fit for us. I'm still not sure where we will put the bins though!

Thanks everyone for the over whelming response... The cost parameter in mid terrace and end of terrace in this estate is 10K which will be re-payed to the bank as 15K in 25 years and boils down to 50 per month. When I looked into the plan it shows the wall width as 320mm and not sure about which construction method and whether this wall width will be maintained during construction phase. But I saw some regulation guidelines which outlines the width and insulation requirements from Government.

holliehobbie

georgedebel wrote: »

charlietheminxx wrote: »

I've recently bought a new mid-terrace. We really wanted an end-of-terrace or a semi-d, but the end of terrace houses available in our phase were smaller and €10k more than the mid-terrace, so we weighed up the pros and cons and asked around about the sound insulation etc. We were told it was very good, someone told us their next door neighbour had a newborn and she hadn't heard so much as a peep, so decided €10k less and a bigger house was a better fit for us. I'm still not sure where we will put the bins though!

Thanks everyone for the over whelming response... The cost parameter in mid terrace and end of terrace in this estate is 10K which will be re-payed to the bank as 15K in 25 years and boils down to 50 per month. When I looked into the plan it shows the wall width as 320mm and not sure about which construction method and whether this wall width will be maintained during construction phase. But I saw some regulation guidelines which outlines the width and insulation requirements from Government.

What Energy rating will the house have? Also I paid the exact same as my neighbours for a new build end of terrace!

anewme

georgedebel wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the over whelming response... The cost parameter in mid terrace and end of terrace in this estate is 10K which will be re-payed to the bank as 15K in 25 years and boils down to 50 per month. When I looked into the plan it shows the wall width as 320mm and not sure about which construction method and whether this wall width will be maintained during construction phase. But I saw some regulation guidelines which outlines the width and insulation requirements from Government.

I would also look at the orientation of the house. I would pick a mid terrace with South Facing aspect over End Terrace with Northern aspect.

I had the choice of 3: mid terrace with South facing on road with another road facing you
end terrace facing green, north facing garden
mid terrace facing green, south facing garden a
There was a price step of 7 k between them all, so I picked the south facing, with no one to the front even though it was 15k more.

charlietheminxx

georgedebel wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the over whelming response... The cost parameter in mid terrace and end of terrace in this estate is 10K which will be re-payed to the bank as 15K in 25 years and boils down to 50 per month. When I looked into the plan it shows the wall width as 320mm and not sure about which construction method and whether this wall width will be maintained during construction phase. But I saw some regulation guidelines which outlines the width and insulation requirements from Government.

Is it a new build? Are there people already living in the estate? I found a Facebook group for the residents of my development and asked a few people there - could be worth a try if sound is your main concern!

riclad

The builder sets the price for the house,s ,
my friend bought a corner house , semi d,
new, her garden was twice the size of all the other house,s garden .
She paid the same as everyone else in the row of house,s .
this was about 12 years ago.

anewme

riclad wrote: »

The builder sets the price for the house,s ,
my friend bought a corner house , semi d,
new, her garden was twice the size of all the other house,s garden .
She paid the same as everyone else in the row of house,s .
this was about 12 years ago.

I bought 10 years ago and all prices were different, depending on orientation, garden size etc.

I think most builders do that now.

AulWan

I bought a mid-terrace after living in an end-of terrace for years.

Its true the biggest downside is you have to bring the bins through from the back garden, or the lawn mower, but I don't really find it that big of a deal. I have a very long driveway and most of the neighbours here keep their bins out the front (I prefer not too). I also feel more secure in the mid terrace, though this may just be an illusion.

The end terrace I lived in had a very large side garden and the local teens used to gather to sit on my garden wall at night. I was tormented by smaller kids during the day kicking the ball over the side wall and climbing over the back wall into my garden.

I wouldn't be totally against end of terrace again, but I would be very careful about it. If the side access and gate is beside another house, (like semi-detatched) it may be fine, if it faces onto a corner, the road or a green in any way, I'd avoid.

riclad

You can raise the wall a few feet if you want to stop kids sitting on it.
If i was buying a house now i would prefer to buy a mid terrace vs
an end terrace one .
Depends on where you buy ,not all end terrace house, s have a side entrance where you can bring out the bin or the lawn mower.
An end terrace makes it slightly easier if you are parking a car .
The walls on my street are 11 feet tall .
Some end terrace house,s may have a larger garden than the other house,s .
I never even thought about orientation when i was looking at buying a house .

anewme

riclad wrote: »

I never even thought about orientation when i was looking at buying a house .

Having lived in both north facing and south facing, I would never buy a house with a north facing back garden. It was like the light was going over the house but never shining directly in.

its something you cant fix, no matter how much money you spend.

riclad

If you want to buy a house in a certain area,at a low price
eg the city centre, you might not have much choice re orientation.
i would assume most new build house,s have a south facing garden .
if the garden is a small yard ,you wont be spending much time outside anyway .

Sarn

riclad wrote: »

i would assume most new build house’s have a south facing garden.

Not likely, unless it’s an estate of one long row of houses. The houses directly across the road from those with a south facing garden, or right behind will have a north facing garden.

Hollybeg

End of terrace all day long. As previous posters have mentioned simple tasks such as moving bins become dirty tasks in a mid terrace house. If the house is a new build, heating costs shouldn’t be a significantly major issue.

Cyrus

riclad wrote: »

If you want to buy a house in a certain area,at a low price
eg the city centre, you might not have much choice re orientation.
i would assume most new build house,s have a south facing garden .
if the garden is a small yard ,you wont be spending much time outside anyway .

You would assume most new builds are south facing ? Why is that then ?

fungie

We were about to buy a new build end of terrace but found out it had no side entrance since there was a garage with access to the back. The garden was same size too. We ended up just buying the house next door (terraced) for 50k less as it's the same house type with back garden access via garage.

riclad

Depends where you live ,end of terrace is not so secure .If you have a low wall kids may start hanging around , and sit on the wall.
Many new builds just have a low wooden fence ,easy for kids to jump over .You only take a bin out once a week.
Its not a big issue .a Mid terrace house is more secure,
if you are concerned about security .
I,m not a builder ,i suppose it depends on the size of the site ,as to how a builder lays out the house,s .

Creamy Goodness

Lived mid terrace for 10 years and last year moved to semi-d. Wouldn’t ever go back to having zero access to the side, it’s just so much easier to do things like bins, cut grass, get bikes through to back garden.

10k seems like a little amount especially when you spread it over the lifetime of a mortgage. If it’s a new build you won’t need to worry about heat, I’m in one and it’s literally shorts weather inside from April to October.

Cyrus

yep any a rated house makes a case of air con in ireland, its harder cool it down in my experience.

Blacktie.

I have a mid terrace. I had the option for a end terrace for 10k more but the end terrace houses didn't come with side access to the back garden so didn't bother. The only benefit was not being connected to the neighbor on one side. And the bins in the estate are all already in front of the house in their own alcove so no dragging bins through.