Protecting Your Privacy

I have lived my current home for 15 years with a large side plot and big back garden. 4 years ago new neighbours moved in and then the fun began. numerus visits from the council of reports of rats and rubbish in my garden. I have 2 dogs and a waste disposal, no food is wasted, any left overs the dogs will finish it off. Hence no rats. The so call rubbish was recycling. Then they started saying that the grass verge along side my garage was there's as it was attach to their drive way.I tried to tell them that it was not theirs but mine as my garage over hangs it and my drainage runs though it and if it was theirs I would not be able to get to my gutters or maintain the drains. I started to build a shed on the back of garage. I took a few bricks off my wall to level to run the joists of it. two days latter the council turned up saying that they had a complaint; they tried to say the wall that was tied to my garage was theirs, was once they had seen it they could not see any problem. The wooden fence came down and the wall went up 2.2m plus feet single block with a few columns they raised there side of the wall by 1.5m. I cleared of the side garden so i could put a drive in. Once the earth was removed I was shocked to see the footings of the wall 100mm in depth and 100mm from the block. I informed the council of my concerns and nothing was done about it. I placed a course of blocks against the footings and concrete right up to them reinforcing their wall. shortly after they had built their wall a trampoline, barbeques with them looking down into my garden. I started to clean up my back garden. My dad was a builder a taught me a lot. I wanted to make the top garden assessable for my wife made some plans and set to work 2018. From the bottom to the top garden 2.3m with a slop of 10m. I dug out the footings 8.8m by 1.4mwith a death of 1.5m. built my wall main 7.2m by 2.2m by 650mm and side 10m by 2.2m by 430mm hollow blocks and rebar and to be filled with concrete. Filled the void (2 ton digger parked on top of the wall) about to get the concrete deliveredand the council turn up as they have had a complaint, work stopped as they are not sure if the wall will topple over. I was told to put in planning, explained about next door and they did not have planning for their wall and you want me to put in planning. I put in planning for the wall steps, garden room and wind turbine. got the plans drawn up and submitted. since then my neighbour has extended the house by a 1/3rd. 2021 told by my neighbour that the plans refused. phoned up and asked if this was true and i was told they were refused under grounds of privacy as i could now look into my neighbours upstairs windows 10m away and the neighbours windows 20m way(know matter were you stand in the top garden you can see window) and look down into their garden. even the steps turned down as you can see into next doors garden. the garden room nut in keeping, even though it was to have a living roofan

We moved into our house during 2011, for the first few years life was idealic. We had a semi private patio & a relatively private place to sit just outside our back door , the gardens are sloped and at the higher levels there was a degree of overlooking , but the place outside our back door was our private area. Anyway , my wife was quite friendly with the people next door and would hand in presents on their Birthdays and Xmas.2 years ago they built an extension , they knew we valued our privacy and trusted them as we got on ok . Well the second storey if the extension has a window which overlooks our full back garden , when we seen the window going in , we contacted the neighbours , they both acknowledged that they knew the window totally overlooks us , their retort was that they had shown the plans to my wife when she was in their house handing in Xmas presents for their kids , she wouldn't know what a houseplan looks like and was more excited about the children . I spoke to the husband and he basically admitted that he had duped us . We are no longer speaking to the neighbours and every now and then the "window gets opened" and I can see the wife hiding out if view , the window now gets used as a weapon to annoy us especially when anyone comes around.The selfish act and the failure of the local council has totally ruined the feeling we have for our home , our one bit if garden privacy has been ruined.

I have new neighbours moved in last summer to a house that has virtually no garden, and it backs onto my garden.In the 9 years I have lived in my house not one complaint. In the last 4 months every week if it’s sunny and I have my lounge music on they tell me to turn it down.Today we had a disagreement.I would like to know if I’m in the right here.I have a swimming pool and worked hard for my houseit’s 22 out side and the music is chilled out summer vibes on 45 volume.Over the 6ft fence comes a head telling me to turn the music down at 3 pmI know it isn’t loud cause I can hear all the work and grass cutting going on around me. Is she invading my personal space I was just in my undies and now I feel weird and pissed at her.What can I do. !!!!

my neighbour is building a playground on their garden. First they raised the garden in maybe 60 cm and its leaning againt my fence. 2nd they started building monkey bars and thats maybe 2meter high. So now I see their heads all the time and will definitly see the kido playing as they will have the perfect view into my kitchen.... can they do this?

Council tenants next door have put a large play are a on legs 6ft hog also large tramplene taking away all the privacy in our garden and in kitchen and lounge

Council tenants next door have put a large play are a on legs 6ft hog also large tramplene taking away all the privacy in our garden

We have lived in our property for 10 yrs and have always had difficult neighbours. Recently we are using the back yard more and enjoying with intentions of having Horton installed. My concern is that the neighbours green house is over looking our boundary wall substantially and obviously we appear to see them face to face when we are in our yard. Am I in my rights to have them move their greenhouse elsewhere i their substantial garden thank you.

Hi I came to live in my home in 2003 and to the left of my home the land was slightly incline because the ground is sloped.But in 2014 a new owner extended what was a single storey detached bungalow and extended so vastly to move the property forward by building brick pillows and then moving the roof forward and then building the front windows forward, all the owner raised the land level much higher so because my place is lower down when they park next door on their drive or walk down the side of the property they view down into my windows.So because I raised the concern about my light outlook and privacy so the more and more was built in fact, one person I suggest commented that it is like a village alongside my place, because many other buildings were built under pd or ld.Saying that more and more has been built, shelter erred along the otherwise to the boundary hedge where the owner has a fence but still strips the hedge along my garden. so in face front and back and rear window have been installed so many roof like velux window and a glass rear upper roof baclony, so all view over into my garden then at the front a large double detached garage with upper many upper velux type roof windows for domestic storey.Then because of the land change effects and my raising about my privacy so then on the othrside planning permission was give preliminary give within approx 5 weeks, for the new neighbours to extend at the rear over a very large extension with new upper floor extension then new front dormer upper window added at the front which were re sited and view down into my living room windows now, then also at the otherside when this neightbour dwelling was just about 600mm from the boundary on the otherside there I a two storey side extension, the other rear extension extended across the back of the dwelling and then a side double storey extension which also extend past the rear of the dwelling and past down the front so to change the original position of where the original front of the dwelling so to move the dwelling forward down the front drive with many upper long window and door back and front so where the neighbour had tried to get cover for privacy with plants over the years, so all now has these two neighbour who want their privacy but have views all over neighbour garden and into my home.How the front window were done was that the owner put the two upper front dormer windows as already being in situ when they were not and the LA passed it when it was not

My neighbours have a flat roof out the back which looks over to our back garden it is not safe to walk on but her children and herself are always up there nosing into our garden and the mother of the house thinks its appropriate in the summer to sunbathe naked up there for all to see.Also we have had problems with children and their friends shouting abuse at us for no reason we did call the police but they can only tell them to keep off the roof any advice on what we can do please

Our neighbour at the end of our garden has placed a trampoline and basketball net against the fence which we feel is an invasion of our privacy and an eyesore. We have asked if he’d move it and he replied “it’s tough s##t. What can we do about it?

The background...guidance very much welcome and appreciated: - During the period of high winds in mid-March the boundary (wooden fence supported by concrete posts) between my property and my neighbours (end of garden, not side) - This meant the fence was not only beyond repair but the supporting concrete posts and one corner post need to be replaced entirely. - I spoke to the Council and Land Registry who said where a border was not designated (unlike one other border adjacent to my property which I am responsible for) the most common and sensible solution was for both parties to spilt costs and arrange the repairs. I spoke to RICS also who confirmed that this was the case. - We have tried several times to speak to the neighbours, including polite letters posted through their door.However, other than a brief voicemail left by them a while ago saying basically saying "you fix it, not our problem" they are not engaging in contact. We have sought quotes from reputable tradespeople and have included this information in correspondence to them, but they have chosen not to reply in any form. - All we are trying to do is reach a solution - ideally splitting the cost of repair given the boundary is not designated. However, they are unwilling to communicate do I have any legal routes to sort this, particularly whether they are infringing my right to privacy. - To note - Even if I were to proceed and try to get the boundary repaired, the tradesperson would still need access to their garden. Thanks in advance!

Hi, My neighbour removed the fence in between two properties and intrude the privacy and security to our garden and entire kitchen and dining area, is there law of human right regarding privacy in place to help us to deal with it ? he's selling some stuffs so there're also many strangers(customers)come and go, we have daughter staying with us, how can we protect us? I appreciate you suggestions, thanks a lot.

According to property deeds, the fence to the rear of my back garden is my property boundary. A neighbour contacted me regarding changing my fence (she also contacted another neighbour about replacing their boundary fence as she wanted all the fencing to be the same in her garden). Her garden runs perpendicular to mine. I phoned to discuss the matter the same day as receiving her note only to be toldby her that she had already purchased the fence. I wanted to discuss the height of the new fence as the 5ft fence that was already there was not high enough as she has a large trampoline placed at the end of her very long garden. The trampoline is directly in line with my garden and house and geographically, the trampoline is closer to my property than her own. That combined with two very noisy children who are constantly disturbing our privacy means that I am unable to sit and enjoy my space. As a good will gesture I made a financial contributed to the fence as it is my responsibility and was in some disrepair (I had only recently moved into the property and hadn't got round to replacing it at the time). Who's property is the fence, as the neighbour is adamant that it is hers?

Hello there, wondering if you can help. I long term rent an end house of a street, (council owned). To the left of my property is a footpath then a 5ft grass verge, then the main road. The 1m fence is in a severe state of disrepair due to storms. There is also a busy bus stop situated on grass verge. My question is am I allowed to ask for a privacy fence as the path is 2ft higher than my sloping garden? I have 2 children. in 9years we have never been able to enjoy the garden due to lack of privacy. I dug out a level circular section last year for the children to finally have a usable pool, but the amount of unwanted stares into my garden from strangers and bus users put us off and I took the pool back down. Please help.

Hi We have lived in our house for 19 yrs. We have 6 ft fence up in our back garden, which is ours. And our neighbours have put down decking which comes up about 2ft up our fence, so now they can look straight into our kitchen window. So I would like to know where stand on our privacy please. Hope you can help

Hi, moved into a new home recently and with the weather this weekend being great, two of the neighbours have erected a trampoline directly on either side of my bound fence. It means I cannot outside into my garden without being watched by two lots of kids. Furthermore and which really upsets me, I have no privacy in my own kitchen/ dining room as both trampolines peer directly into that room. When the kids are out playing I'm directly being watched in my own kitchen, I feel I'm in a gold fish bowl. What law can I use to uphold my right to privacy please. Surely if I was to put up a step ladder against my fence and sit and watch the neighbours in their own house, the police would be knocking on the door, therefore that same piece of law should in theory hold true for my circumstances? Please help

A new mixed retail and office building recently went up. We were told that the balconies looking into our flats would be shielded with trellis' to protect our privacy. Only a section was added that doesn't protect our privacy at all. We consistently were told that it would happen. Now the building is done and the reply about the trellis is that it's done and that's what was approved all along by us and the council. So we are on full display to the balconies. What can we do?

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Whose fence is it? Is it joint responsibility? There is no obligation on a property owner to erect/keep a fence unless it's stated in the deeds. You could erect a fence of your own on your side of the boundary?

Hiya, our next door neighbour bought the property 2 years ago, before then the property was empty for 5 years. The fence between our property's is hardly there, as it is over 20 years old, it's dropping to bits and has many holes in, one which they tried to patch up with old pallets, but they can clearly see into our garden and us them. We can't have a pet as even a very large dog could easily get under the fence or through the holes onto there property. The only private part of our garden is near to our back door/patio doors,now the neighbours tenant has made a very large children's climbing frame right on top of the fence near to our back door, the tenant was up it today painting it and kept looking into our middle room. Can we force the landlord to replace the fence and move the climbing frame? We don't talk to the tenant as he is ignorant and his son verbally abused my disabled father, just because he said that we parked the car too close to his brother's,yet there was miles of room in between them. I am also partially disabled too and have mental health difficulties . Please help, as it is all getting to me

Hiya, our next door neighbour bought the property 2 years ago, before then the property was empty for 5 years. The fence between our property's is hardly there, as it is over 20 years old, it's dropping to bits and has many holes in, one which they tried to patch up with old pallets, but they can clearly see into our garden and us them. We can't have a pet as even a very large dog could easily get under the fence or through the holes onto there property. The only private part of our garden is near to our back door/patio doors,now the neighbours tenant has made a very large children's climbing frame right on top of the fence near to our back door, the tenant was up it today painting it and kept looking into our middle room. Can we force the landlord to replace the fence and move the climbing frame? We don't talk to the tenant as he is ignorant and his son verbally abused my disabled father, just because he said that we parked the car too close to his brother's,yet there was miles of room in between them. I am also partially disabled too and have mental health difficulties . Please help, as it is all getting to me

Hiya, our next door neighbour bought the property 2 years ago, before then the property was empty for 5 years. The fence between our property's is hardly there, as it is over 20 years old, it's dropping to bits and has many holes in, one which they tried to patch up with old pallets, but they can clearly see into our garden and us them. We can't have a pet as even a very large dog could easily get under the fence or through the holes onto there property. The only private part of our garden is near to our back door/patio doors,now the neighbours tenant has made a very large children's climbing frame right on top of the fence near to our back door, the tenant was up it today painting it and kept looking into our middle room. Can we force the landlord to replace the fence and move the climbing frame? We don't talk to the tenant as he is ignorant and his son verbally abused my disabled father, just because he said that we parked the car too close to his brother's,yet there was miles of room in between them. I am also partially disabled too and have mental health difficulties . Please help, as it is all getting to me

Hiya, our next door neighbour bought the property 2 years ago, before then the property was empty for 5 years. The fence between our property's is hardly there, as it is over 20 years old, it's dropping to bits and has many holes in, one which they tried to patch up with old pallets, but they can clearly see into our garden and us them. We can't have a pet as even a very large dog could easily get under the fence or through the holes onto there property. The only private part of our garden is near to our back door/patio doors,now the neighbours tenant has made a very large children's climbing frame right on top of the fence near to our back door, the tenant was up it today painting it and kept looking into our middle room. Can we force the landlord to replace the fence and move the climbing frame? We don't talk to the tenant as he is ignorant and his son verbally abused my disabled father, just because he said that we parked the car too close to his brother's,yet there was miles of room in between them. I am also partially disabled too and have mental health difficulties . Please help, as it is all getting to me

Hi was wondering out anyone can help. I'm in a rental property and surrounding my house is a church to the side and a secondary school to the rear of the property, my landlord has decided to take down the rear garden wall which is easily 8 ft tall and replacing it with a 4ft wall, they've not even contacted me regarding this. I spoke to the building firm and they said as I don't own the building there's nothing I can do. I'm scared and concerned as the secondary school can see straight onto my garden as well as everyone else as it's next to a town centre, where do i stand regarding the privacy of the home and my family

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Yes, do raise this with the anglers club. As your home is so near to the place where the fishing is taken place this could be regarded as a nuisance. If they're not will to do anything about it, contact environmental health who might be able to take action.

We have a 6 acre lake in grounds. We only own a small part of the lake and a privatefishing club own the rest. We have 400ft of lake bank on our property which faces our house and looks onto our main living area and bedroom windows. Anglers use mainly just the 2 banks nearest our home (better fishing location as fish gather near our floating bird nesting boxes)overlooking our garden and house and when they might fish they are, inadvertently I’m sure, shining powerful torches onto our land and property through the night. This is intimidating and we are never sure if it is an angler or intruder on our land. Do we have any right to raise this with the angling club in hope that night fishing is not permitted on the 2 banks backing on to our property, and to ask that night fishermanuse the other banks on the 7 acres available?

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It's unlikely that environmental health would take action because of this, but you may be able to civil action via the courts for this. Talk to environmental health first to see what they advise.

My neighbours have a trampoline which is right next to the fence on the side that is our boundary. The children look into our Garden and makes a loud banging which can be heard from inside. Does this affect any law? And if so what could be do to get them to move it

I recently purchased a shared ownership flat. All the flats in the building have a terrace/balcony. Our terrace is below the communal terrace, so there are constantly people standing at the fence which looks over our property, making lots of noise as they are usually drinking alcohol. We have absolutely no visual privacy whatsoever :-( The worst incident was a few weekends ago when someone urinated from the communal terrace onto our patio! We are wondering whether we have any rights to force the Housing Association who manage the building to put a barrier in place to deter people from standing over our terrace and as a result cause issues of nuisance, worst case scenario aggressive behaviour? I did contact them about this but they said a barrier would only be put in place if all residents agreed with a fee being added to everyone's service charge... Needless to say, no-one will agree! And we wonder why residents should have to pay for this work when this is a design flaw, which they are responsible for! We'd be willing to split the costs with HO so I'm thinking of getting in touch with them again with a few clauses from our lease re: privacy. Any advice you could impart would be much appreciated. With many thanks DH

We live in a semi detached house with small front garden andpath and parking, our neighbours have this area paved and has decided to park at an angle facing our front lounge, she and passenger can see us sat on our sofa thus resulting in us keeping our blinds closed ..I believe the garden area was never meant to be used as parking (privacy garden)is there anything I can do to resolve this. ( we don't speak to the neighbours)

Hi can anyone help..i privately rent my home and am having problems with my neighbour on my left..4 times now I have caught him looking over our fence which is 6ft tall, he stands on something to do this, is he allowed? Also he has a brick 1 story outbuilding at the side of our fence which he uses for his business and his window is facing our bedroom window so he can see straight in, is this an invasion of our privacyand is there anything I can do about it?