Bathroom windows - building regulations or planning permission?

kokolino23

Hello,
We've got our eyes on a house but hasn't got bathroom windows, only extractor fans.
Can I ask if anyone knows if we could get permission to fit windows to an external wall as per pictures, please?
Haven't got a clue what the building regulations are and the council wouldn't tell us as it's not our property.
Many thanks in advance.

kokolino23

This is an existing property nearby



And this is the distance to the nearby neighbour

Owain_Moneysaver

This will be a planning matter not building regulations.

I think you have a fairly good chance of getting permission but there might be objections from the neighbour on grounds of overlooking - especially if the strip of land between the houses is the neighbour's. You might have to settle for a high level window it's not possible to look in/out of.

You will also need building regulations approval for making the window opening and putting in lintel etc.

kokolino23

That neighbour doesn't have any window on that side and my intention is to fit frosted glass anyway.

squeekswhenwalking

Why no approach the neighbour first to sound them out?

Davesnave

I can't see a problem as you would not be able to overlook from that position even without the frosted glass.

I had permission last week to put a similar obscure window into a garage I'm converting. BCO just said, "Yes, that's OK," even though the window was facing my neighbour's property.

In response to Post 5, I wouldn't sound out a neighbour over a planning matter unless I knew them very well. Asking for an opinion might give the neighbour the impression that they have more control than they actually have.

I know of an instance where two people fell out over the final colour of some rendering, simply because one asked the other, "Would you prefer A, B or C?" The neighbour rejected A, B & C and chose Z. To date, the wall still hasn't been re-painted!

andyhop

A sun tunnel would work too with good results

System

I would imagine that the biggest concern would be spread of fire from one property to the other given the distances involved here... I would also guess that a developer would have installed windows in that location if it were possible to increase their asking price

kokolino23

the_r_sole wrote: »

I would imagine that the biggest concern would be spread of fire from one property to the other given the distances involved here... I would also guess that a developer would have installed windows in that location if it were possible to increase their asking price

All the houses in the area didn't have bathroom windows built by the developer. Doesn't matter how close is the neighbour.

kokolino23

andyhop wrote: »

A sun tunnel would work too with good results

I did consider it as well but won't provide any airing to the bathroom, only light. We'd like to air the bathroom after a shower or a bath. Not to mention some other things...

System

kokolino23 wrote: »

All the houses in the area didn't have bathroom windows but by the developer. Doesn't matter how close is the neighbour.

how so?
the potential area of openings where a wall is within 1m of the boundary is strictly governed by building regulations