The pros and cons of living in a terraced house
Text from 2017. Laws, rates and prices may have changed since then. Ask an agent
Who among us doesn't dream of a house of their own? It is an excellent place to live, but houses for sale cost a lot… The alternative is a flat in a block of flats, but that no longer offers the same freedom in daily life as a detached house. A compromise between a house and a flat is living in terraced housing. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a solution?
Economical, and with a piece of your own garden!
Price is undoubtedly a strong argument in favour of terraced housing. A house in a suburban district may cost about the same as a flat in the centre, and the quality of life is, after all, incomparable. A house in a terrace usually also comes with a small garden, so residents do not feel as cramped as people living in blocks of flats and have a little space “under the open sky” just for themselves. In addition, every terraced house has a garage, so the problem of buying a separate garage, often located far from the home, disappears here too.
In a terrace, as in a block, we live wall to wall with other residents. In the worst case these are two families (on the right and left of the house); residents of end-of-terrace houses have neighbours on only one side. In a block, neighbours also surround us above and below. In a terrace the party walls are also better soundproofed than in blocks, so we have a chance of more privacy.
A house in a terrace will be a good option for people who have so far lived in a detached family house and now have to move, without a budget large enough to buy a detached house. Compared with a flat in a block, this solution seems much closer to living in a house.
Close neighbours are not always desirable
For advocates of maximum privacy, however, the close proximity of other families in a terrace may be a nuisance. As in a block, we can never be sure who lives, or will live in future, on the other side of the wall. If the neighbours turn out to be noisy or problematic in some other way, all we can do is try to come to an understanding and work out a compromise with them. A terraced house may therefore not be the best place to live for nervous people who are easily thrown off balance and who feel best only in their own company.
In a terrace the houses most often have more than one storey – the idea is to fit more houses into one row. They are therefore narrow but quite tall. If climbing stairs is a problem for some reason, a single-level flat will be better, even in a block (as long as it has a lift).
