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Original poster

Would you complain?

14 replies

Cornishqween · 04/08/2021 12:26

Neighbours behind us are undertaking a huge build (knocked house down and rebuilt enormous eyesore new house)

My issue is that they have added to the level of the land in their back garden so it comes halfway up my fence.

This is now causing problems because

  1. Every time it rains my entire garden floods meaning we have to wear wellies to be able to walk on the grass. the water can be up past my ankles. Our patio is permanently soaked.
  1. They have now placed a trampoline right near our fence and the actual part they bounce on is level with the top of my fence. The kids bounce on it every evening, and while I love kids, I feel I have zero privacy. They can literally walk up to my fence and it's virtually at waist height. The family are out every day and they don't even live there yet.

I complained to local planning office last may and they've done nothing. Attached pic for reference, but wondering if this is just something we have to live with and need to put up some sort of screening. Not sure what we're allowed to do as I know fences can't be over a certain height. Anyone have any experience with this?

Would you complain?
OP posts:
Wheresmybiscuit3 · 04/08/2021 12:32

Yes I would complain but I have no experience with this sorry. I hope you get some good advice!

rjacksmiss · 04/08/2021 12:33

Yeah that can't be right. It must be up to them to fence surely?

How did they get away with that? Jeeez.

NoThannks · 04/08/2021 12:34

That's bad. Sorry you're dealing with this.

Original poster
Cornishqween · 04/08/2021 12:37

Thanks - just needed some confirmation that this isn't normal Confused

Council say they're looking into it but so far it's been 15 months with no word

OP posts:
Bluntness100 · 04/08/2021 12:38

@rjacksmiss

Yeah that can't be right. It must be up to them to fence surely?

How did they get away with that? Jeeez.

No, there’s no legal requirement for a fence, I’m surprise at how many folks think there is

Op, if you want it fenced it’s your responsibility you can usually go to six foot

Obvs a problem with drainage in your garden, do they have the same issue? You need to get some drains put in to channel the water away.

StylishMummy · 04/08/2021 12:38

Any development they do cannot encourage water to ingress past your boundary and onto your land, they should've incorporated drainage plans into the build

Mzy123 · 04/08/2021 12:41

No advice but that's a nightmare. I would be gutted.

spiderlight · 04/08/2021 12:45

The flooding issue definitely needs to be addressed - that's awful!

TheBestCandidateByFar · 04/08/2021 12:46

Why have they built their garden up so much? I would hate that

Original poster
Cornishqween · 04/08/2021 12:57

We were so gutted when we moved in and realised what they'd done. I took pictures of everything, you can see in some of the pictures where the land would have been originally.
They've done this because their garden slopes down sideways, and they've obviously wanted a flat level garden, but it's led to us feeling like we're in a gold fish bowl Sad

Drainage will be the next plan but we need to save as I've just left my job so we're back to one income.

I bloody hate having neighbours at times..send me off to a remote corner with nothing but sheep and id be happy!!

OP posts:
Original poster
Cornishqween · 04/08/2021 12:58

Our fence by the way is already more than 5 foot tall as I'm 5"2 and it's way above my head. It can't be far off 6 foot

OP posts:
Wheresmybiscuit3 · 04/08/2021 13:04

I think they should be paying for the drainage

TakeYourFinalPosition · 04/08/2021 13:06

How long ago did they level up the land?

Did they have permission to do so? Drainage should have been included in that…

Are the council actually investigating? I appreciate they’ve had Covid to deal with, but 15 months is ridiculous. I’d be nervous that it’s been added to a pile and forgotten about.

Original poster
Cornishqween · 04/08/2021 13:30

@TakeYourFinalPosition

How long ago did they level up the land?

Did they have permission to do so? Drainage should have been included in that…

Are the council actually investigating? I appreciate they’ve had Covid to deal with, but 15 months is ridiculous. I’d be nervous that it’s been added to a pile and forgotten about.

I called two months ago and they told me it was still being looked into and I'd hear back soon...of course I never did. I called today and they said it would be reallocated to another case worker as it had been so long. Perhaps they assumed I'd given up?

Wouldn't have thought of them paying for the drainage - once the council have actually started investigating i will push for this if they are in agreement with us. Thanks for the suggestion.

I haven't approached neighbours myself as I suffer with severe anxiety and would worry I'd get talked into a corner. So I thought I'd let council deal with it.

We only noticed the high level once we'd moved in (Oct 2019) and didn't notice flooding until last year. The pic is the view from the old shed window in our garden

Would you complain?
OP posts:
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