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

There is a lot of snobbery that goes along with homes.

When I first moved to this area I rented. I had always lived in flats since leaving school so we were all renters. No problems.

However when I had a problem with my neighbour sending tradespeople onto the property without notice or permission I had to establish boundaries. I told her I would not withold permission for essential future work but she must speak to me first. She said "I dont need your permission, your only a tenant." Needless to say I lashed back pretty hard to tell her that I has exactly the same rights as she did as to who came onto the property. I threatened to call the police if I found strangers trespassing on my property again without leave and would certainly have done so.

I live in a small detached house (2 beds and a boxroom) and later purchased it from the landlord. I can say that makes all the difference when you have nasty neighbours. The distance between our homes may only be about 15 feet but it could be a thousand for all the interest I have in my neighbours. With a dividing wall between properties you can hear when your neighbours are home. So if you have a whiny/snitchy/needy neighbour it can be that bit more difficult to ignore them.

Because it was a private transaction with no "for sale" signs up it was two years before my horrid neighbour found out I was now the owner. She had some issues she wanted to sort out with the owner and was asking me did I know the LL's new phone number as she could not contact her. She has a face like a smacked a**e when I told her the LL had gone to live abroad and I was now the owner.

Love it!

I think people can be sniffy about lots of things. Oh well.

Now we have always put floor area over whether a house is semied or not.

As a result both our last house and our current one, have been/are large roomy homes, with character and style. Much larger than we could afford if being detached had been an obsession. As I have said elsewhere, we have had no problems with noise transference in either, because the way we were semied meant this cannot happen.

thanks L. Ravenscroft. I began to think that I was imagining 'house snobbery', judging from other posts. I grew up on a farm in rural Shropshire in a rambling old shabby farmhouse and had never heard of terraced, semi detaches and detached until we bought our first house. Even then I didn't realise the social implications until friends who moved house nearly always bought a detached house even if it was smaller than a semi. When we moved to our present large semi it got back to us on the grapevine that a lot of people were surprised that we hadn't bought a detached house. This was also because they knew what my husband did and knew we could afford it. I was very surprised at this and still am as even after 40 years people still allude to it.

I'm afraid I am always dreadfully sniffy regarding anyone to would actually say ' wouldn't you prefer to live blah blah blah'. Would assume their intent was to be 'innocently' insulting.

I live in a semi in a little close, there are detached and semi’s in our neighbourhood. My friend lives in a detached and I’m very conscious of the fact that she thinks she’s better than me. I couldn’t care less, love my home and it feels like home and a mini mansion!

Hear Hear! Eloethan

I'm past caring what people think and have no time for petty snobbery. I am thankful that I have a decent home to live in - so many people these days don't.

I have lived in flats you can hear everything from up side and above. A
After marrying our home was a rented terraced house and the reason I wanted a detached was purely because of the noise from neighbours and the guy in our yard who used to pee out of the upstairs window during the day.
I said to my husband I would rather live in a box than have to put up with anymore of this.
We have only ever come across one person who lived next door who you could say was a snob and she was nasty with it.
Most people I find in life are nice friendly folk.

I don't care if I live in a semi-detached but it matters to my husband. He had an awful experience with neighbours in his terraced house and never wants to go there again.

Too many generalisations. We have lived in semi-detached houses for the last 40 years.

The first was a large Victorian one with 13 inch brick walls and the houses joined along the hall and landing walls. We had absolutely no sound transferance at all. In 14 years, we never once heard our neighbours, nor did they hear us.

We now live in a 550 year old house and the party wall consists of out study and bedroom above joined to their dining room and bedroom above, for each of us the rest of the house trails away up and down the street with no more rooms on a shared wall, again, in 25 years we have had no noise transference problems.

Some semi's do have sound transference problems, but not all, by a long way. Our experience shows you should never dismiss a semi out of hand, you can end up with a very nice quiet house for considerably less than it sdetached equivalent.

I have lived in both types but preferred detached. It is a noise and privacy issue. All the same we felt very lucky to have every home we've ever had.

I grew up in semi, you could hear the neighbors talking, hear their TV and radio, even the toilet flushing.
They had a very odd son, and as a child I always worried he could go from their attic into ours, and come and get me while I slept.
It hasn’t put me off all semis, just post war council semi’s

I think there are snobs about but some of us who have been happy in terraces, flats and semis only need ONE trily horrendous (and or scary) experience (which is what happened to us) and you vow you will never let it happen again.

When we move we will have a detached home with lots of privacy. I cannot risk the harm the last episode did to us. We have had great neighbours for 45 years and about 7 years of Hell.
I don't just mean noise either.

One is at the mercy of neighbours. If they are nice, quiet people then it does not matter whether you are in a detached, semi or terraced property. If they are not then being detached is no consolation.

I have a neighbour who is a very pleasant man but he frequently lends his house as a favour to those who are poorer than himself. Unfortunately, from our point of view they are less considerate than the neighbour and often ruin our peace, especially when we are all in the garden.

grandtanteJE65

I don't know it it still applies, but in the Glasgow area in the 1960s some people did feel the need to look down on those who lived in semi-detached houses.

A sort of, "are they so poor they can't afford a proper house and too snobbish to apply for a council house?"

Perhaps something similar is going on in your neck of the woods?

Never heard that and I live in Glasgow.

We moved from a tenement flat in Glasgow to a semi in Troon in the Late 70s and everyone thought we were very posh, especially because it had a fitted kitchen.

I too have a husband with a penchant for loud music who denies he needs hearing aids, and having lived in this detached house for over thirty years, I intend to leave in my coffin. I am going nowhere, I love it!

The advantage of being in an end of terrace (with nice neighbours) is - the bills are lower.

People do ask me when I'm going to downsize and I say that I'm working towards it (well, I am, just slowly). It's as if it's somehow 'not allowed' to rattle around in a large place, especially when you're elderly!

Since I married I've lived in detached houses, or link detached. Before my ex H left I was aware that it made life easier as he had a penchant for loud music so I didn't have t worry about disturbing the neighbours. I know people in semis who are disturbed by the neighbours as their walls are so thin. My first home of my own was a 1st floor flat and my downstairs neighbour was very noisy. Thankfully he just hadn't realised and when I mentioned it he quietened down immediately, but not everyone has such an experience. I don't object to the occasional party but regular noise late at night would really stress me out.

We never want to be detached we live in a semi attached to my sister and her husband - we share a large patio and garden and have brought five children up between us. I wouldn’t change a thing we have had a very happy 38 years so far.

Never been asked and never heard anyone comment re whether someone else's house is detached or semi.

I always lived in a flat/ apartment and then lived in a barn conversion which was in a block of 4. I loved all of these and had great neighbours. I now live in a house with 2.5 acres of land bordering on to woodlands and open space. A couple of years ago a house was built that I can only see when the leaves come off the trees in the winter and I was upset about it 😂🤣. I think it’s just what you get used to. I have no doubt if we moved back to a flat in the city centre I would be very happy once more

I love in a mobile home and I'm loving it. Don't care if people think we are not good enough and act snobby.
You can't take material things with you.
They'r only on loan while you're living.

I was born and raised in a semi detached council house in a coastal town in the North East. It was lovely street growing up and all the kids played together in the wide (very quiet in those days as hardly anyone had a car). The street had expanses of grass in the middle and that was our playground. When I was married the 1st time my ex was a worker going to work in an area that needed skilled men and we were allocated a very small terraced house. in the Northants area. However he was made redundant and we moved back to our native North East and lived with my mother for a while. He then decided to get out of engineering and joined the police force where we allocated a 3 bed semidetached in Luton which we later bought. I often wished I could pick that house up and move it else where. It had very large rooms and a huge garden which was great for the kids growing up.
Then we got divorced and I got the house in the divorce (or I should say the mortgage payments).
A few years later I met my husband now. However he lived in Reading. After about 5 years or I sold my house to be with him and he sold his property and we bought a 3 bed semi in Reading. It was on a beautiful housing estate and we had lovely neighbours. It was a 60's throw back and we did a lot of work on it. Then came the news of redundancies where he worked and we decided that he should take enhanced redundancy and early retirement. I wanted to move near to where my eldest son and his wife were and we bought a 4 bedroom detached with all the extras, an en suite, utility room , conservatory etc.
Apart from the space (more to clean) I love this house too and I can play my music as loud as I like. Nice neighbours, high fences out the back so very private but being detached doesn't stop the strains of Celine Dion on repeat coming over the garden fence from the lady who live diagonally! I think it doesn't matter where you live so long as you are happy

People are very competitive, which explains some rude comments. I live in a semi by the sea as I couldn’t afford a detached house in this area. My last neighbour rented the conjoined house: I had 3 dreadful leaks from her bathroom into my spare bedroom as her landlady never did any maintenance. The wall between the bedroom so thin I had to listen to her having sex with her boyfriend. I had to cure her of playing loud music by turning my radio up loud. She cut the hedge so that there was no privacy between our gardens.That can be the reality of living in a semi- detached house.

mokryna

I think British people in general tend to look down on flat dwellers.

I agree, we moved to a flat a couple of years ago, after 45 years in houses of various types. The last was a Georgian town house and I have had people ask me how I could bear to live in a flat?
Very easy: no maintenance, less than a third of the price, heating provided centrally, perfect view of the Thames, lovely neighbours etc. etc.
I feel I have nothing to prove and will live where I am most comfortable.