Law breaking neighbour - advice please

Davesnave

I think you've probably bought a house that is in a bad position for your temperament and concerns. You're not the first to do that and you certainly won't be the last. I doubt if you'll be happy there, so treat it as a stepping stone and learn to use imagination and your experience when choosing the next one. That's what most of us do.

cajef

DanMc52 

I’ve had enough, I feel like this man is just tormenting me all the time. Ultimately he brought all of his problems on himself by raising the ground level. 

I am not sure what problems your neighbour has brought on himself, it sounds like you are the one with the problems if you think he is deliberately tormenting you.

DanMc52

Thanks all for the replies. Couple of points of clarification. Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear in terms of the ground level situation. The fence is now at an acceptable height, in that I can no longer see him when he’s in his garden, the cost for that is that the fence is almost 9 feet on my side in order to make it 6 feet on his. That’s 50% higher than most garden fences. 

Regarding my first steps, I tried to discuss the issue with him on 5 or 6 occasions without success prior to involving the local authority, I do not think that is an unreasonable amount of effort to make before proceeding to the next step. 

My issue with his law breaking is his persistent disregard for the planning laws. These structures he’s build are not compliant 

DanMc52

AW618 said:

If you were worried about privacy why build decking in a place where it is clearly overlooked by your neighbour, and why then complain again when he builds a fence which means he can no longer see onto your decking?  You say at the beginning that you tried to "negotiate removing the fence and re-siting it on higher ground "; isn't that effectively what you now have?
I have to say that if I were told this story without comment I would assume the builder of the decking had built it purely to achieve this outcome.

No that isn’t what I have now, because I have a 9 foot fence instead of a 6 foot fence. Hence my issue. The problems all stem from him jacking up the ground level by a metre. If he’d left the ground level as was, then the 6 foot fence would have been adequate privacy, the fact he turned it into a 3 foot fence by piling earth up against half of it is what gave rise to the whole set of issues I'm currently experiencing 

Davesnave

DanMc52 said:

AW618 said:

If you were worried about privacy why build decking in a place where it is clearly overlooked by your neighbour, and why then complain again when he builds a fence which means he can no longer see onto your decking?  You say at the beginning that you tried to "negotiate removing the fence and re-siting it on higher ground "; isn't that effectively what you now have?
I have to say that if I were told this story without comment I would assume the builder of the decking had built it purely to achieve this outcome.

No that isn’t what I have now, because I have a 9 foot fence instead of a 6 foot fence. Hence my issue. The problems all stem from him jacking up the ground level by a metre. If he’d left the ground level as was, then the 6 foot fence would have been adequate privacy, the fact he turned it into a 3 foot fence by piling earth up against half of it is what gave rise to the whole set of issues I'm currently experiencing 

There's always a worse scenario. He could have planted trees. No law against that.

You're a bit hung up on planning laws. If I'd been similarly minded I'd have walked away from my house, as by law I'm not entitled to live in it, though after 11 years and no enforcement, it's too late for the council to act. Councils are very strapped, so finicky application of  planning laws is no longer within their ability. Maybe this is sad, but it's part of the new normal.

Comms69

DanMc52 said:

Thanks all for the replies. Couple of points of clarification. Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear in terms of the ground level situation. The fence is now at an acceptable height, in that I can no longer see him when he’s in his garden, the cost for that is that the fence is almost 9 feet on my side in order to make it 6 feet on his. That’s 50% higher than most garden fences. 

Regarding my first steps, I tried to discuss the issue with him on 5 or 6 occasions without success prior to involving the local authority, I do not think that is an unreasonable amount of effort to make before proceeding to the next step. 

My issue with his law breaking is his persistent disregard for the planning laws. These structures he’s build are not compliant 

Well that's your opinion, no-one else seems to agree with you. 

Comms69

DanMc52 said:

AW618 said:

If you were worried about privacy why build decking in a place where it is clearly overlooked by your neighbour, and why then complain again when he builds a fence which means he can no longer see onto your decking?  You say at the beginning that you tried to "negotiate removing the fence and re-siting it on higher ground "; isn't that effectively what you now have?
I have to say that if I were told this story without comment I would assume the builder of the decking had built it purely to achieve this outcome.

No that isn’t what I have now, because I have a 9 foot fence instead of a 6 foot fence. Hence my issue. The problems all stem from him jacking up the ground level by a metre. If he’d left the ground level as was, then the 6 foot fence would have been adequate privacy, the fact he turned it into a 3 foot fence by piling earth up against half of it is what gave rise to the whole set of issues I'm currently experiencing 

So just put 3 ft of soil against it

diggingdude

You need to move

DanMc52

Comms69 said:

DanMc52 said:

Thanks all for the replies. Couple of points of clarification. Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear in terms of the ground level situation. The fence is now at an acceptable height, in that I can no longer see him when he’s in his garden, the cost for that is that the fence is almost 9 feet on my side in order to make it 6 feet on his. That’s 50% higher than most garden fences. 

Regarding my first steps, I tried to discuss the issue with him on 5 or 6 occasions without success prior to involving the local authority, I do not think that is an unreasonable amount of effort to make before proceeding to the next step. 

My issue with his law breaking is his persistent disregard for the planning laws. These structures he’s build are not compliant 

Well that's your opinion, no-one else seems to agree with you. 

The council agree with me but aren’t willing to spend their limited funds on addressing it as I explained at the outset. In all truth, I’m not quite sure why you bothered to reply.

Chandler85

Is the option (though not sure if possible now), either raise your own ground by 3ft, making the fence on 6ft again.  Or the decking could have been made 3ft off the floor, this would mean that the fence is effectively 6ft, so casting less of a shadow.

I know there are planning rules around decking that you might want to review.  I don't see any other options if I'm honest.