Can i obscure a neighborss window?

diamond_dave

In would wholeheartedly agree with many here - just walk away from this property. My parents had a similar problem with their terraced house. They lived there for years and the back area was noted on the deeds as:" an undivided 5 share" - ie 5 houses and all share the area. Great, back in the '60s when we all got along, taking in each others washing etc. New people move in and start grabbing the land - nothing but trouble and harassment for my elderly parents and the problems with rights of way etc still continue to this day as i now own said property. Walk - no run away from this property as it will give you nothing but grief. Sorry.

Gloomendoom

In my experience, planning departments aren't particularly bothered about gardens being overlooked, only habitable rooms.

Doozergirl

Gloomendoom wrote: »

In my experience, planning departments aren't particularly bothered about gardens being overlooked, only habitable rooms.

Funnily enough, a window placed at 90 degrees to another one is a fantastic opportunity to stare right into your neighbour's house! Upstairs, where all the most private stuff happens, is the worst!

chamelious

I thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink the window is obscured glass. Could be wrong but i can check.

I think the biggest headache here is the legal implications of the border, i.e if its currently incorrect. If that turns out to be the case i think we'll have to walk away.

DaftyDuck

Just remember that, with a property like this, EVERYONE else might walk away (and may have already done so)! That means if you can sort the issues - or get the vendor to do so - you may get a bargain. If some of the issues don't bother you (and you may be a non-gardening exhibitionist swinger for all I know ) and would bother somebody else, again, you may get a bargain.

HOWEVER... like your fireplace on your other thread, always keep an eye out for a problem on resale. If the problem is fixable (border sorted, discrete bush planted, distracting wind-chime located, neighbour placated) resale will be possible. But, even if you manage to relocate the fence, but end up with a border dispute with an irate neighbour only a sheet of glass away, your life will be hell, and resale difficult.

Regulars on this forum see many border disputes through the postings, some of which seem to leave posters with, on occasion, never-ending personal anger issues


Edit:

I thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink the window is obscured glass. Could be wrong but i can check.

Ah, but which way? I have a lovely bubbly bathroom window in a rental, and nobody can see a thing inwards. Doesn't stop one sitting on the bog and having a fine view over the neighbouring graveyard (not that those residents are peering back!)

You don't care too much about seeing in, but you do care about them peering out. Short of getting permission to go into that room (in all lighting conditions), you won't know what they can see of you.

chamelious

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Just remember that, with a property like this, EVERYONE else might walk away (and may have already done so)! That means if you can sort the issues - or get the vendor to do so - you may get a bargain. .

Thanks for your post v helpful, the part i've kept is why we've been reluctant to walk away so far.

StumpyPumpy

chamelious wrote: »

Many thanks for this info. I'm not sure how it affects me though; does this mean everyones advice to walk away aren't as valid anymore?

No, I think the advice to walk away still stands (as does the counter advice of it being your money, do what you like with it). What it means, as Dave says, is that it suggests that talking about planning is irrelevant (I have checked, as far as I can see there have been no planning applications at all for any properties around this one apart from for the bus shelter a little down the road) Planning will have nothing to do with it and advice about building regs etc are irrelevant.

Everything about the "boundary" fence is up in the air as the comments were predicated on the idea that the "extension" was new (or relatively so) and built up to the land boundary. It is still relevant to check the boundary but it might well be historic and the maps may not show it accurately enough for you to determine it without a big fight. It may be a new fence but it could well have just replaced an older one that had been there 50 years or more.

unforeseen wrote: »

:rotfl:That seems to show that the two houses were once one.

My guess is exactly this, especially considering the addresses of the two houses are number and number+"a". Pure speculation on my part but considering its general location, it may originally have been a house with stabling or maybe blacksmith shop attached rather than all housing.

SP

chamelious

StumpyPumpy wrote: »

No, I think the advice to walk away still stands (as does the counter advice of it being your money, do what you like with it). What it means, as Dave says, is that it suggests that talking about planning is irrelevant (I have checked, as far as I can see there have been no planning applications at all for any properties around this one apart from for the bus shelter a little down the road) Planning will have nothing to do with it and advice about building regs etc are irrelevant.

Everything about the "boundary" fence is up in the air as the comments were predicated on the idea that the "extension" was new (or relatively so) and built up to the land boundary. It is still relevant to check the boundary but it might well be historic and the maps may not show it accurately enough for you to determine it without a big fight. It may be a new fence but it could well have just replaced an older one that had been there 50 years or more.My guess is exactly this, especially considering the addresses of the two houses are number and number+"a". Pure speculation on my part but considering its general location, it may originally have been a house with stabling or maybe blacksmith shop attached rather than all housing.

SP

Thanks. I think if the legal boundaries are unclear and we may face issues in the future we'll probably have to walk away. If the legal docs support the position of the fence as the boundary then we have a harder choice to make.

sheramber

Did the neighbours put up the fence or did they build up to the boundary and then your vendor put up the fence, leaving the neighbour access?

When my mother's neighbour was building an extension they asked permission to build up to the boundary. The wall of the extension then became the boundary but it was a solid wall.

Mojisola

chamelious wrote: »

Thanks. I think if the legal boundaries are unclear and we may face issues in the future we'll probably have to walk away.

If the legal docs support the position of the fence as the boundary then we have a harder choice to make.

The garden looks as if it's been redone recently so the current owners are happy with the boundary.

If the price of the house reflects the current size of the garden, that's not an issue, which leaves the window and there are options for screening that - just replacing the first two panels with 2m ones would give you instant privacy.