Why are some people sniffy about living in a semi detached house?

I had three lots of neighbours from hell at two different addresses and a play area (frequented byteenagers) kindly erected by the council without consultation with anyone, 12 meters from my property. I would love to live in a detached house in the middle of a field that I owned

Yes.

My new next door neighbours have come from a 5 bed detached. They talk constantly about the difference in a way that says they regret the move.

As for me, I lost my house when my children were very small and my husband refused to pay maintenance. I lost the bungalow I rented because the owner hadn't told the mortgage company he had let the place to a tenant. I had 6 weeks to get out. Happily by then I was working full time and got a quarter share in a property ( shared ownership)

What I am trying to say is that I am happy to have roof over my head.

It all depends on your neighbours. We had one house with thin walls and neighbours who shouted all the time.
My mother’s long term neighbour was a good classical pianist who would often play and was a delight to listen to.
My in laws neighbour was also a pianist but more of the Les Dawson variety. Many wrong notes and try that bit again.

So no, I don’t care for snobbiness about detached houses which, especially the new builds, are often smaller inside and out!

Of course they are, Amalegra. We moved from a 30s semi to an Edwardian terrace because the terrace is bigger, better soundproofed, far better placed for access to amenities and generally (in our opinion) a better house.

A friend (who lives in a 'compact' detached house on an estate) couldn't believe that we were, in her view, 'moving down', as she thinks that the 'pecking order' is flat/terrace/semi/detached with no consideration of space, area, style or anything else. I think that is nonsense, and (not that it matters outside of the discussion on this thread) our terrace is worth twice the price of her detached house. Not all terraces are like the ones in Coronation Street, and not all detached houses are like the ones in Poirot, where people commit murder to inherit them .

Also, some of the owners of the semis where I used to live have extended upstairs over the garages, so bits of the road are, effectively now terraced. They now have more space (a typical extension adds a bedroom and bathroom upstairs and extends the kitchen or dining room downstairs) but have effectively paid a lot of money to become terrace-dwellers.

It's all a lot of estate agent speak, I think. They know they can get more money by talking up the advantages of being detached, even though there is often only a small alley between one house and the next, and the gardens are joined anyway. Of course a large, older detached house with a walled garden or 'grounds' would be most people's choice (I think) but in the world of Mr and Ms Average to get that in a good area is out of reach.

Yes, in our first home on moving to Devon. We had 4 we wanted to see, 3 detached and one semi...The agent said 'oh, you don't want to look at a semi ^surely?'

We looked and for various reasons it didn't work, too many internal steps. The agent was very...I told you so, we moved agents.

Some people have to be sniffy about anything.

I was brought up in two rooms with a bathroom, minute hall and a narrow long kitchen nothing else. My parents, a brother 8 years older and myself lived in it until I was 19 years of age. We rented and latterly parents bought the leasehold for the flat. My parents had several opportunities to have a larger flat but always declined they loved their flat. It is not where you live or what you have but whether you make it your home. I have loved all 13 homes I have had since then. I have ended up in a 3 bedroom semi near the sea and central to most amenities, believe me is is luxury to me.

Quizzer

It all depends on your neighbours. We had one house with thin walls and neighbours who shouted all the time.
My mother’s long term neighbour was a good classical pianist who would often play and was a delight to listen to.
My in laws neighbour was also a pianist but more of the Les Dawson variety. Many wrong notes and try that bit again.

We once (briefly) had a concert pianist next door, and yes, it was lovely. She wanted her children to grow up musical, however, and their efforts on the recorder and violin were less so, however . It was a 'between houses' rental, and they only stayed a short while, but I'm sure that as the children got more proficient they would also have been a delight to listen to.

i have always lived in glasgow, either in tenements or now in a small block of flats, i have neighbours above, below and either side, my dream was to win the lottery and buy a house with no neighbours so i could make as much noise as i want, never going to happen, 60 next month and have so many health problems with clinics and i don't drive due to epilepsy, but it is nice to dream when the idiots upstairs are still paying music at 4am. i would have been happy with a semi or a detached house.

As neighbour problems are very common, perhaps this is why detached us seen as better.
O had a detached new build bungalow a few years ago and loved the fact that I could hoover at midnight, play music until late, use the washing machine etc. The houses were quite close though so in the summer a lot of noise from dogs, children, parties..
Location really is the key and second space. Detached are probably bigger mainly.
I'm in a 2 bed semi now with 2 noisy neighbours! TV is wall mounted on a party wall especially to annoy me!

Yes, oddly the opposite, when we had a big detached house when the kids were younger a number of other school gate parents were very snotty about it, presumably because they couldn't afford a bigger house. When my oldest son left we moved to a flat, which I loved until a new neighbour moved in and set out to make our lives miserable because of her mental health issues. We moved on to a terraced house, it's lovely and very friendly in our street. The houses are lovely and in a good school area, and people don't seem to aspire to detached property here due to the benefits of the area and very few such properties available. It's a bit small minded to assume detached is the only way to go IMHO - should say I spent a lot of my childhood on an isolated farm so perhaps I'm biased. Generally I like to be around other people and while the neighbours were friendly probably preferred the flat to a big house.

I’ve not come across anyone being sniffy.
I have lived in terraced houses but now live in a detached bungalow.
I’ve had great neighbours and I’ve had horrible neighbours.
I prefer to live in a detached now because my TV is loud, I listen to heavy metal rock music - and it’s loud. I bought detached because I didn’t want to have anyone attached to the house that I would upset with my music.
My neighbours are great and have assured me they cannot hear anything from inside the house unless the back door is open and then it’s only for a few minutes.

Lots of people are just happy to have a home whether owned or rented and thats enough for them. I prefer detached but only because I have 3 small grandchildren children living with me and they are noisy, I have had sniffy neighbours in the past and they complained about my children when small so I now have a horror of this happening again.

No, I think it is possibly deep-down a sense of inferiority complex. It just depends on location and the house itself. My friend lives in a detached “box”, which is really nice inside but doesn’t really have much kerb appeal.
We downsized from a nice detached house and we were fortunate to be in a very small Lane with quiet neighbours, but if we’d had rowdy or difficult neighbours, I don’t think it would have made much difference if it had been semi-detached.
We now live in a semi-detached grade II listed cottage, but it really just partially attached to our neighbour’s next door in the middle bit of the house plus they are elderly and we don’t hear them at all.
It’s down to what type of neighbours you have and also location. In the south east, you would be lucky to pay less than £450,000 for a semi-detached and double that for the outskirts of London whereas in other areas, you could probably get a detached house for that or less.

Not sniffy but after living happily in a semi for years we had one set of truly horrendous noisy inconsiderate neighbours. At the time I was not working, at home with a new baby and it really impacted on my mental health. Fortunately we could afford to move to a detached house and have never regretted it. I’d rather live in a detached box (luckily we don’t) than a big semi.

Yes have come across it Mantaray. I live in a large Edwardian 3 storey semi in south east, and trying to sell it harder as comments from agents and others ppl want / prefer detached. Yes snobbery exists definitely. It’s a great home and I expect someone will buy it eventually! Hopefully.

Quite a lot of detached houses, especially new builds, only have about a foot between them which is ridiculous. However when watching Escape to the Country I’m always struck by the number of people saying they want detached, along with wood burner, kitchen island, Aga, stone floor etc etc. I’ve lived with all of that in the past and all of those things have many downsides so I think it’s just snobbery.

We live in a large terrace Only once in 35 years has anyone been “sniffy” about it and I sniffed them out of my life pdq 😂😂😂😂

NO. I also live in the South East in a THREE bedroom semi, and couldn't care less what other people thought about my property. I'd be a hundred times more upset if they thought it needed a deep clean!!!
mantaray, perhaps you should ask yourself if choosing to communicate this as a problem isn't also a form of snobbery? I say that with no ill intent - just a gentle nudge.

We lived in a 1930’s semi in the early years of our marriage before moving to a different part of the country. I loved it and still really like thirties houses. They were well built and solid and I have always liked bay windows. The rooms are well proportioned too.
In the fifties, my grandparents moved from a big, rambling house in the north to a thirties semi in a Birmingham suburb. The northern house had no electricity and gas lamps downstairs only. Cooking was done on a range and the bath was a tin bath in front of the fire. The thirties house had gas, electricity, hot and cold running water and a proper bathroom. All the mod cons of the day, in fact. I have often thought that it must have been wonderful for my grandmother.

People are generally 'sniffy' about semi-detached houses for a couple of reasons, a) They are worried about noisy neighbours, or b) They are worried that they themselves are noisy neighbours.

I know when my elderly neighbour died, my only concern was that the new neighbours would be noisy, they weren't. My neighour a few doors down had a very noisy neighbour attached to her and had to watch tv using earphones.

I've never come across comments like this before. We've been happily living in our semi for over 30 years now, having moved from a detached house and no one has ever passed any comment (negative or positive).

In fact, looking at some of the new build estates they're throwing up around here at the moment, I don't think their idea of "detached" tallies well with mine. You can barely walk between some of the so-called detached properties, so I don't think you gain anything.

What ridiculous people.
Avoid them!

Like other GNs here I'm not "sniffy" but was fed-up with the neighbours' noise - including a yappy dog. At least in our (small) detached, we'll be distanced from this if there are future problems. (Currently our neighbours are great.)

What a strange notion about semi detached houses. We have moved house far more than I wanted to, and lived in every variety of home apart from a flat. Our current S/D is wonderful - I never want to move again as we have everything we need in the house and garden, an excellent location close to London and good neighbours all around - we feel extremely lucky. Those who are snobbish clearly know the price of everything and the value of nothing.