Overlooking lounges

stator

ANGLICANPAT wrote: »

Then we would be able to clue up prospective buyer (who may be a developer as property and garden need everything doing) as to exactly whats possible legally. Bit like selling something with planning permission, its always worth a bit !

As a potential buyer I wouldn't care a fig for what other people tell me are the 'legal options'. All I would care about is what is in place at the moment.

moneyistooshorttomention

stator wrote: »

As a potential buyer I wouldn't care a fig for what other people tell me are the 'legal options'. All I would care about is what is in place at the moment.

That is a valid point:eek:

So, it would boil down to who would buy this house? A developer would probably be "hard-headed" enough to deal with the situation in the most appropriate way re getting that privacy back. A home-owner might not be.

I can certainly see, for instance, that many home-owners wouldn't have bought my current house if they had spotted nfh in the process (as I did). I had a very good idea what sort of problems might be encountered if there was an nfh and I had seen the neighbour and summed them up as being an nfh at the time I was contemplating buying, but went ahead anyway...ie because I know I am hard-headed too and could deal with this if need be (though...goodness knows...I'd much rather not have to:(). By the time this house comes to be sold, the problems will have been ironed-out and it will be perfectly possible for a non "hard-headed" home-owner to buy it after me, as I will have gone through all the aggro I anticipated might happen from nfh (trans. dealt with everything previous owners were too wimpish to deal with.....) and it will be "done and dusted" and Normal House Anyone Would Buy status.

That is all a factor to be taken into consideration.

stator

Some people wouldn't be bothered, some people may like being watched
I don't think I would like it.
Personally I would just stick two fence panels up and see what happens. If they threaten legal action you can always take them down again, regardless of whether they are in the right or wrong.

ANGLICANPAT

Obtained a key to outside back of friends house this afternoon. Things arnt quite as they seemed . The fencing that runs on flush with the ext, right down the garden , I presumed was the party fencing. (Its hidden behind masses of bushes) . Looking from the back, I can see a piece of baton attached to the wall between the properties, which if I line it up looking down from the centre of the chimney, appears to be marking the dividing line between the properties -- so it would appear both the wall of the ext AND the fencing running off it, are both entirely on neighbours side which makes life a bit easier.

Having said that , its only by 5/6" . . That would allow for transom window to be opened a little , but not fully without straying into my friends 'airspace'. So , not quite as difficult to put fence panels as Id feared , 6ins gap is better than banged right up against their frame . Id still want to know it was legal if it was me doing it and if it was, Id personally do it before putting property on sale, but its not my call and I have to respect that .

Might have another word with him though and see if he'd rethink -- I could approach neighbour and offer to give privacy panels free, which would protect them from whoever might move in and NOT put anything in place and could have kids peering in, or a real nosy parker always hovering just outside the window etc etc. The neighbour may not have thought of that because at the moment , my friend hasnt used the garden in as long as the neighbour has been there , and once hes left, neighbour wont have easy access to do anything.

Badgergal

ANGLICANPAT wrote: »

Badgergirl, when you say nothing can be done, does that mean my friend or his buyer would not be able to build an extension themselves now even if he narrowed his wide windows to leave a bit of wall to attach his extension wall to (which would leave about maybe 9/10" between properties?

I meant no enforcement action can be taken on them.

This is a really weird one to be honest, which I haven't come across (and I've approved/refused my fair share of extensions!)

In terms of your friend, I can't really advise on his potential extensions without knowing the site myself. However, I think he should make a trip to the planning office and ask to speak to the duty planner about his permitted development rights for a start (most houses have them, though they are curtailed in conservation areas and some have them removed when they're built).

While I can't see that he'd get necessarily get planning permission to build an extension (because of that ridiculous window being there), permitted development does not require an assessment; it is simply a set of legislation that dictates the size of extension you can build without planning permission. Also, if the window isn't authorised anyway, while it is immune from enforcement, it doesn't mean the planning officer *has* to take it into account when assessing a new extension (at least this is the approach my local authority takes). So check the plans. Building an extension in front of their window is going to upset the neighbours, but believe me, that doesn't bother a lot of people...

In terms of the window opening into his airspace, my guess is that would be a civil matter rather than a planning matter - however, again, if that was my planning application, I'd have flagged it as an issue.

moneyistooshorttomention

That was rather my feeling Badgergal, ie that that window wouldn't have to be taken into account when deciding whether to add an extension or no (ie because its almost certainly an illicit one).

I'm against extensions per se (basically because I don't think its fair to do that to neighbours) but, in this instance, the person who owned that house at the time this window got put in quite possibly did it deliberately precisely in the hopes that Next Door would "think" that meant they couldn't have an extension (ie rather than because they really couldn't) iyswim.

So, my own feeling in the case of this house would be "Them having no regard for my right to privacy means no regard needs to be given to them re whether to have an extension or no" and it may be that potential buyers of this house would think that way and do an extension anyway if they wanted one iyswim (they wouldn't know that people now living in this house aren't the "culprits" causing "privacy invasion").

That all brings up another thought, ie your friend should tell would-be buyers that neighbours currently in that house aren't the "privacy invaders" and that that is down to previous owners' fault, as that might influence their views on what they wanted to/thought they could do to the house iyswim.