Neighbour has buit raised shed looking into our windows!

dazedandconfused_123

Hi


When we bought this house one of the main reasons was that the garden, and therefore the back windows, were not overlooked. To be honest we would never have considered it if there was no privacy.


Our new neighbours have recently built a raised play shed (complete with plain glass windows looking directly at our house windows) at the bottom of the garden within about two feet (max) of our fence. At a guess it is about 8 feet tall.


The shed is in the middle of a raised platform of about two feet - maybe more - in height. There are four steps up to it. So the shed is surrounded by a balcony or veranda.


The fence is already quite high. The panels are five feet and then these rest on a concrete bit of a good few inches. Despite this the neighbours can clearly see into our windows. I know this because the other day I was opening my dining room window and the bloke next door saw me, smiled and looked really embarrassed. Also OH has seen the bloke when OH was just in the kitchen doing kitchen stuff not deliberately looking out of the window!


They have put curtains up at the windows and insulated underneath so I don't imagine they plan to store the lawnmower in it. For all I know someone could be living in there.


If it wasn't bad enough that they can look into our house whenever they feel like it we are planning to put the house on the market in a couple of years and have heard this will devalue our house and certainly put buyers off (It would have put us off!)


OH plans to speak to next door but if this has no effect does anyone know where we stand legally/ what should our next move be?

force_ten

not sure where you stand but if the structure is within 2 meters of your boundary then it should be no more than 2.5 meters to the top of the structure that is about 8 ft 3 inches

for the structure to come under permitted development you cant live in it, and also there are rules for the max height of raised platforms or raised decks

if you say it is on a raised platform of 60cm then it may well be outside permitted development and would require planning permission

societys_child

As above, it might need pp.

A recent thread about a tree house:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5003052

dazedandconfused_123

Thanks for your replies!


Actually I was wrong about there being four steps up to the raised platform - it's six, so the platform is probably more like 90cm tall.


OH is still going to speak to him next door, but do you think it's worth a quick e mail to the planning department too?

force_ten

www.planningportal.gov.uk/miniguides/outbuildings

have a look at that pdf and points 8 and 9 are the ones that i would be looking at, sounds like the raised platform is well above the 300 mm allowed under permitted development

rules in Scotland are slightly different but raised platform height is still 500 mm

getmore4less

Ask the planing department if you can build one.

if they say no they may just pop round in a week or two to check.

Biggles

You could just add a panel on top of your fence. He's hardly going to complain.....

Bantex_2

What do you do in your garden that requires this level of privacy?

robatwork

Trellis on the fence with some fast growing ivy or similar that you can train up the fence? Should cover another meter.

dave030445

Bantex wrote: »

What do you do in your garden that requires this level of privacy?

What ever the householder whats to.
Anyway it was looking into the house nothing to do with the garden.

SailorSam

I remember reading a story in the local press about someone who'd made a tree house in his garden for the kids, but he hadn't got planning permission so was told to take it down.
Maybe you could phone your Council and ask the planning people if there are any rules or regulations.