I’ve seen a house to buy which matches our checklist except for one thing: a shared entrance and driveway, which leads past the house we are interested in to the other house on the plot. The layout would mean it would be very easy for a careless driver to block the driveway.
I have no reason to suppose the occupants of the other house would be unpleasant - quite the opposite - and we are in the very early stages of thinking about this (and can’t go to look at it anyway, of course).
But … I reckon having a shared driveway is a recipe for potential conflict.
Yes. If it was me, would not touch with bargepole. However nice the current neighbours are, what if they sell to someone who isn’t?
Would only consider it if there was some way for creating a separate entrance for the house I was interested in.
And even then, how close is their driveway and property to the one you are interested in?
Although we get on well with our surrounding (farming) neighbours, we are always aware that we are the incomers and so it was a deal breaker for us if there was any servitude or shared access to the property we were looking at.
We are now at the end of a chemin rural and have no neighbours, surrounded by fields. Just bliss!
We only ever did this once - our first house purchase after we got married in the early 70’s - and swore we’d never do it again even though our “shared” neighbours were pleasant enough.
Best not to tempt providence. The current neighbour may be fine just now but if they were to move…
Plenty of other properties to consider.
I agree with everyone else, Steve, we have a similar situation with one important difference, our short shared entrance is actually the property of the commune as is the house we share it with. So if the present renters, with whom we have been friends for nearly 30 years, were to leave I would get something in writing from the Maire regarding our rights.
But even with our friendly relationship there are blips, when they have visitors for instance, easily sorted by a tap on the door, but irritating nevertheless.
I had a downstairs flat in London, shared with a pal, where the front hall bisected the flat. The k & b were accessed from b/d 1, acoss the entrance hall and the w/c from b/r 2 vice versa.
When it was just us lads it was OK. When muchachas became involved …
Having had experience of a shared driveway, I would avoid it like the plague - however good the neighbours might be, their visitors, delivery drivers, etc, etc will see no reason to be inconvenienced by your need for open access across the driveway. It can never work!
I wouldn’t dismit it out of hand. Look at all the facts. Is it the house you have always wanted? Talk to others in the commune. Defiantly talk to your Marie. How far away is the other house?
I had a similar experience in the uk many years ago. I walked away and regretted it.
The house we have here in Normandy, although the drive is not shared, our drive cuts right through our neibours farm and we do not have any issues with them. Our house is about 100M from thiers and there is only 4 houses in our commune. Gather all the info before making a commitment. But, the golden rule is if in doubt walk away. Hope this helps a little.
