Can i obscure a neighborss window?

chamelious

The house next to the house we're buying has had an extension done, which for some reason features a window with a view to nothing more than my back door.


What are my legal options there, can i install a nice big fence there? It'll obviously leave them with little to no light, but to be honest i can't understand how they were allowed to install that window in the first place.

Mojisola

You could put up a 2m fence or trellis with plants or have some tall plants in pots to screen the window.

Doozergirl

Was it built with planning permission? On first look the extension appears not to fit within permitted development rights.

I would email or call the named planning officer on the application(available online) and mention the window.

Either way, side windows like that should be obscured glass. It's a pretty universal planning policy designed to protect exactly this.

chamelious

Thanks. I'm not sure how that'd be received by neighbours or if we should even be concerned with that.

chamelious

Thanks, we don't yet own the house.

There is an open issue with the boundary as the fence doesn't appear correct, if it gets moved to where it looks like it should be, then their window will literally be in our garden which sounds possibly even worse.

Doozergirl

Find the planning application online.

The neighbour almost certainly knows that it shouldn't be like that.

POPPYOSCAR

chamelious wrote: »

The house next to the house we're buying has had an extension done, which for some reason features a window with a view to nothing more than my back door.

http://imgur.com/a/QROhT (Window on the left)

What are my legal options there, can i install a nice big fence there? It'll obviously leave them with little to no light, but to be honest i can't understand how they were allowed to install that window in the first place.

Why? That is no different than the conservatory windows the other side.

Why is the fence so far over? It is the other side of the upstairs window.

glasgowdan

I read it that the neighbour's extension is ON the boundary and the fence is 2ft inside the OPs land.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm wondering about that fence. It looks as if:

a. It's pretty new
b. It shouldnt be there - from the photo it looks as if their house wall is the boundary wall and they've put that fence in your garden. If that's the case - then you've got a bigger problem than just the privacy one.

According to your (and their) Title Plan - where is the boundary? Is it where they have put the fence or is it the wall of the house? If it's the wall of their house - then you had better remove that fence from your garden pdq.

jcb208

Hard to be accurate but looks as both sides have built right up to boundary which is naughty as I thought extensions should to be set back.The boundary fence has been put on your land so they can get down the side of their extension so they may have agreed with the present owner.I think you need to do some investigating before purchase

moneyistooshorttomention

jcb208 wrote: »

Hard to be accurate but looks as both sides have built right up to boundary which is naughty as I thought extensions should to be set back.The boundary fence has been put on your land so they can get down the side of their extension so they may have agreed with the present owner.I think you need to do some investigating before purchase

My suspicion would be that that is what happened - ie putting the fence too far over in order that they can get at their windows on the other side. I'm not so sure it would have been agreed with the owner of your prospective house though....

If they can't get at the windows if the fence gets moved to what we suspect is correct position - then that "ball is in their court" - as they shouldnt have put their windows in the side wall anyway. The onus would be on them to do whatever it is they should have done re those windows in the first place (ie re-siting them in the end of the extension) or their other alternative being to accept they can't either open their windows or clean your side of them. They should have thought that one through - and it's not your houses' fault they didn't do so (assuming fence incorrectly placed).

It was commonplace in the area of little Victorian terrace houses I last lived in for the house extensions that had to be added to them for sake of having bathroom/kitchen got placed bang on the boundaries. Their extension windows then got put in the end wall or on the side of the extension where they would just be looking into their own back yard and what they would see out of their kitchen window would be their neighbours wall at the other side of their back yard. By and large we were all looking out our kitchen windows straight at our neighbours extension wall and were able to get to the outside of those windows standing in our own back yards.