Why Do Many Home Have No Garages. (Seattle, South Hill: to rent, houses)

[Bulwinkle]

We are looking to rent an older house located in South Hill. Often, we find exactly what we are looking for except the place we find has no garage. Can anyone explain why many older houses have no garage. Is it a issue with zoning, building codes, the old one fell down and was not replaced? Thank you.

[WendyK]

A lot of those homes were built at the turn of the century and not everyone had a car. People have added garages over the years to some properties, but not all. Some of the lots are pretty narrow, too, and may not have the room to add a driveway & garage, depending on where the house sits on the property.

[Yeledaf]

Yes, it's hard to imagine a time before automobiles.

It's even harder to imagine that there are some people who don't know this.

Some homes don't have protoplasmic transporters yet, either. But they will, someday. Then we won't have to drink a half-case of beer to survive the boredom of a five-hour drive to Seattle -- Scotty's minions will just beam us up and over.

And you can bet that someday, someone will ask, "Hey. How come there are, like, no anti-gravity shields on the planetary transporter-pads on some houses on the South Hill?"

What goes around, comes around. And that's on the square.

[Bulwinkle]

Originally Posted by WendyK

Some of the lots are pretty narrow, too, and may not have the room to add a driveway & garage, depending on where the house sits on the property.

Thank you for your help. Do you happen to know if is it generally permissible from a zoning standpoint to add a garage or carport when none existed?

[WendyK]

Originally Posted by Bulwinkle

Thank you for your help. Do you happen to know if is it generally permissible from a zoning standpoint to add a garage or carport when none existed?

Yes, but you as a tenant can't just do that to a home - you'd need to have the owner apply for the permit. The garage size can't exceed 10% of the total lot size but most city lots are about 50 x 120, so you could build a 24 x 24 shop/garage.

[Bulwinkle]

Originally Posted by WendyK

Yes, but you as a tenant can't just do that to a home - you'd need to have the owner apply for the permit. The garage size can't exceed 10% of the total lot size but most city lots are about 50 x 120, so you could build a 24 x 24 shop/garage.

My interest is for when I purchase. Thank you.