Our garden boundary, what are my rights? 7 July 2022 at 3:06PM in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving 73 replies 9.5K views

Bendy_House

That PCV extension just looks very ugly indeed, end of. The fact it has translucent windows just adds to that, but it's vui regardless.

How many folk on here would be happy to look at that thing?! Me neither.

It's vui.

And, here's the thing, the OP is perfectly entitled to put up along their border whatever it is they wish, from a solid boarded fence (max of 2 m high...?), to light frondy planting, to summat more dense.

There are tactful ways of doing this, but ultimately if the neighb is cross about it, that's their problem. They shouldn't be. They have no right to be. The calibre of that neighbour can be determined by their response.

How many folk on here - if this was your extension, and your neighb approached you one day to say they wanted to screen it off as they were doing up their garden - would give any answer other than "I don't blame you!"?

plumb1_2

The OP needs to speak to the neighbour, yes it could be difficult or a amicable conversation.
The neighbour might say, yes we totally agree with you it’s a eyesore and we are planning to take it down in the next few months, we are going to remove the windows on your side and build up the brickwork etc. etc 
Why are people putting a negative view on these neighbours, as it sounds like they inherited it when they bought the house, and don’t realise it’s impact.
Just sticking a fence up and stopping them from opening the windows is a no no imo 
The conversation needs to be made, otherwise they my well turn out the neighbours from HELL.

ashe

plumb1_2 said:

The OP needs to speak to the neighbour, yes it could be difficult or a amicable conversation.
The neighbour might say, yes we totally agree with you it’s a eyesore and we are planning to take it down in the next few months, we are going to remove the windows on your side and build up the brickwork etc. etc 
Why are people putting a negative view on these neighbours, as it sounds like they inherited it when they bought the house, and don’t realise it’s impact.
Just sticking a fence up and stopping them from opening the windows is a no no imo 
The conversation needs to be made, otherwise they my well turn out the neighbours from HELL.

Wholeheartedly agree with this. Yes you may have rights to do things but it's easy to go from having a neighbour that exists to a nightmare neighbour. 

We were close with our old
neighbours, I even photographed their wedding, and would play PlayStation with him regularly online. They had huge parking issues and we had a huge drive and their parking issues were hidden by previous seller so only discovered when they moved in. They were doing the same and asked if they could put their cars on our drive during viewings - plenty of space in the street though. 

I politely said I wasn't comfortable with it as we would have to live with the new neighbours and didn't want them to realise we had helped hide the issue. They basically went scorched Earth over something so simple and we've never spoken to them since. WhatsApp groups just went silent and it was hugely
awkward. 

This seems like something so much better resolved by having a word and showing how it is from your side, and discussing options and taking it from there rather than just wading in and taking action. 

Neighbour might be completely
fine with any action 

IvyFlood

jvjack said:

 Frustrating to say least.  IvyFlood   Completeley see your prediciment.
Cant see in pic if that portch allows owner to walk in to it from outside either garden or other way.

Edit: just mentioned it as i saw an episode of American show Columbo where they blew up photo and more info made a difference. 

Yes, there are doors at either end and one in the middle (inside)

Bendy_House

ashe said:

We were close with our old

neighbours, I even photographed their wedding, and would play PlayStation with him regularly online. They had huge parking issues and we had a huge drive and their parking issues were hidden by previous seller so only discovered when they moved in. They were doing the same and asked if they could put their cars on our drive during viewings - plenty of space in the street though. 

I politely said I wasn't comfortable with it as we would have to live with the new neighbours and didn't want them to realise we had helped hide the issue. They basically went scorched Earth over something so simple and we've never spoken to them since. WhatsApp groups just went silent and it was hugely
awkward. 

This seems like something so much better resolved by having a word and showing how it is from your side, and discussing options and taking it from there rather than just wading in and taking action. 

Absolutely, Ashe.

BE PREPARED - KNOW YOUR RIGHTS - and then approach in a nice and neighbourly way! But you should be armed with 'contingencies' just in case.

What I think you discovered, Ashe, was what your neighbours were like all along. Up until that point, for years even, they were merely very 'plausible'. But ultimately phony. When they suddenly didn't get what they wanted, when the relationship between you and them no longer suited them, the real neighb exposed themselves. The real folk then came out.

There are a LOT of folk like that. They carry a shed-load of thin-skinned selfishness and entitlement with them, and once this - to their mind - is challenged, the 'real them' can come out. Until then, they are only surface-pleasant. Often very convincingly so.

IvyF will undoubtedly approach their neighbour in a pleasant and light-hearted way, have a nice chat, and then bring up what it is they are working on now, and what they hope to do. It'll then play out depending on how reasonable the neighbour is.

I'll emphasise that point - how reasonable. It would NOT be reasonable for the neighb to expect the side of their extension to remain uncovered - not in a month of Sundays! It just would not. They have no right to this, and it would also be unreasonable of them to expect it regardless.

Best to answer any moans with questions - turn it around so they have to address the issue, and face up to the FACT that they have no rights:

"But we have a right to light!" " Oh, I'm pretty certain that no-one does, but please do check so you can show me the rules on this." (Keep returning to that - if you really believe that you do, then show me.)

"But it's been up for yonks!" "Uh-huh, how does that make a difference? Can you show me where..." (Keep ditto)

"The previous neighbours were fine with it!" "What bearing does that have on what WE wish to do? Does it matter what the neighbour across the road thinks? The one in the next street? So how does it matter what the person who is no longer even here thinks?"

Hopefully it'll come to nothing like that! If it does, tho', - if they keep on arguing points rather than answering your counters - then it may be best if you leave it with a "Could you please confirm whether you DO have a right to light, and we'll talk about this again soon?" If THEY have to find out what their (non-existent) rights are, then it's far better that way than it just coming from you. They'll have time to digest it, and accept it. You can even suggest, "If you really believe you have a right to light, and you have Legal Protection on your house insurance, they can answer any points you may have."

jvjack

Thanks ivyflood , easy for me to sit pondering the picture etc. Great advice above.
Just a thought though that,
Even though its only an astronomical posibility that the neighbours or their friends see this thread , if you feel that would be a worry at any point you can delete info or pics in a post or edit by clicking the cog symbol at top of your posts. You might know all this and i dont want to interfere or be patronizing.   
I feel a bit terrible to be bringing it up , but who knows they might all smile about it in time. 
With hope.
 

IvyFlood

Hi all, just revisiting this as I've made a start on the area. I haven't spoken to the neighbours about it yet but I definitely will.

However, I was looking though the title register from when we bought the house (originally dated 1963) and I noticed it has a covenant which reads this;

'There shall be erected within six months from the date of this dead and forever maintained along the road frontage of the site herby conveyed a kerb ten inches high with an entrance as required but with no gate and along the other boundaries of the said site good and substantial fences or walls no more than four feet six inches high of design which shall have been approved in writing by the vendor or its architect. The division fences marked 'P' on the said plan shall be party fences and used and maintained as such'

Now, from the photo you can kind of see the 'kerb' I think the above is referring to it runs under the brickwork all along towards the front of the house. Our access alley runs beside it. I'll try and get a photo tonight (I'm writing this at work!) But, it looks like its more than ten inches, ill check for sure though.

But I'm really confused because why do we have this covenant when its not on our land? Or is it because the kerb runs along side our land?

Also, I don't know what they mean by 'entrance' and 'no gate' because we have a gate! Should we not have one?! I really wish id asked me solicitor about it at the time.

If anyone could explain it to me in simpler terms that would be appreciated!

Regardless, I'm still going to go ahead with my plan after I've spoken to the neighbours to let them know my intentions. Since I last wrote the original post, the amount of times I've seen my neighbour through the glass in his underpants letting the dogs out! I can see them clearer than I thought!

ThisIsWeird

You are overthinking this, Ivy.

1963? Who is going to enforce anything - a gate, and raised kerb, a 4.5 foot whatever? Correct, no-one.

Presumably your neighb - and other properties along that road - have similar clauses in their deeds? In which case, if anyone even tried to bring these issues up, you can reply in kind.

If your neighbour were to argue against a 6' fence along that boundary, then you just bring up every 'breach' they have presumably made of theirs (you can download this a for a few £). In any event, there is nothing to prevent you from planting screening shrubs along there instead.

Just keep reminding yourself - it would be completely unreasonable of them to expect you to keep that side unscreened. Did I, er, did someone else mention it was vui? It is.

Are they entitled to have it kept clear? No.

Would you complain if the situation were reversed? I'm guessing 'no'.

So have the nice chat, but know what you will do regardless. And that's the right and reasonable thing to do.

Slinky

The raised kerb bit says it refers to the road frontage. Presumably your issue is on a side boundary.

mi-key

IvyFlood said:

jvjack said:

 Frustrating to say least.  IvyFlood   Completeley see your prediciment.
Cant see in pic if that portch allows owner to walk in to it from outside either garden or other way.

Edit: just mentioned it as i saw an episode of American show Columbo where they blew up photo and more info made a difference. 

Yes, there are doors at either end and one in the middle (inside)

Back to your original problem, I would plant something like tall ferns, something whispy that would let light through the foliage to their window, but would also block out pretty much any sort of view they may have. This would also provide you with the privacy