WWYD: Would you buy this house? Neighbours windows overlooking garden.

[cheeseismydownfall]

I really need some quick and honest feedback on this. The house in question is very old, very beautiful, full of character, immaculate and in a very, very good location. Houses don't come up here very often.

BUT.

The house (House A) is semi-detached, and its garden runs along the back of the neighbour's (House B) house. This means that the rear windows of House B (two ground floor, two first floor) look/open directly out on the the garden of House A (House B's garden is to the far side of House B). The lower windows of House B are frosted (I believe this is required), the upper ones are not.

My concern is that the garden just won't feel private and we won't enjoy it in the same way we would otherwise. I'm also concerned that if House B has their windows open and the owners are playing music, smoking, partying etc it would be horribly intrusive. I think the current owners of House B are very quiet, easy neighbours but obviously this could change at any time. We've been in situations involving friction between neighbours before and I desperately want to avoid it in future.

My bigger concern is that when the time came to sell, this could really limit our pool of potential buyers. The house is expensive and at the top of our budget, and I dread the thought of being trapped if we ever needed to sell and couldn't.

What would you do? If the house ticked every other box, would it still be a dealbreaker for you?

We need a diagram.

I God I was afraid that a diagram would be needed! I will try and do one, but in the meantime...?

It wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, a great many gardens are overlooked - terraces etc.

You do seem worried about it though, understandably given your past experience with neighbour disputes, so if it's going to be a constant source of stress for you then maybe it's not worth it?

I've tried to rationalize it to like being overlooked in a terrace - but somehow it feels odd that you can just step into the flowerbed and tap on their glass?!

The house sounds lovely and the garden wouldn't be a problem for me.
Could you get creative with planting or trellis maybe.

You could somewhat mitigate it with planting, but House B (quite understandably) has a legal right to light from these windows, and due to the size/position there is only limited amount you could do without affecting their light, which of course I wouldn't want to do.

I think it would be a deal breaker for me if I have understood it without the obligatory diagram. In fact I know it would. It’s the lower windows which are the problem most of all. I’m sure for lots it wouldn’t matter in the slightest. Good luck with the decision.

City House - fairly normal.

Country House, sod that.

Honestly, I wouldn't buy it. If it is bothering you this much now, OP it won't get better. I mean, you can't move houses round, change the aspect of windows etc just like that.
Neighbours, if they are nice, quiet, not nosey well, all well and good. For now, what if trouble moves in ? They are very close. Sorry.

I don’t think this is normal for a city house it sounds a really unusual set up.

It's nosy definitely a country house and yes I agree, this makes it a bigger deal than if it was a city house

There was a house like this on Escape to the Country and the couple turned kit down for that reason. My neighbours have built a 3 storey extension which now overlooks my garden, I'm well pissed off

not kit, IT

It's sounding like it would be a deal breaker for a lot of people... gutted, it's such a lovely house in every other respect. But really don't want to be worrying about resale down the line.

I’d be happy with that for most of my garden but would want a private area for eating / drinks.
Is there an area you can put stable that’s private? Do you have direct back door access?

It would be a deal breaker for me too I think. My In laws have a sort of similar set up, and every time I’m in the garden or guest bedroom I always feel like the neighbours are looking at me.

Only you know best though! If you could screen off a section or something you might be ok?

For me I think unless I could arrange planting to screen it, the downstairs windows would bother me. I want privacy in the garden as much as possible. They maybe quiet but would your potential noise annoy them, leading to potential disputes?