Would you buy a house with a very overlooked garden?

[Jumpystar]

Hello

We’ve found a house we like but the garden is really overlooked. Primarily to the right side, their upstairs windows look directly down into the garden (semidetached). To lesser extent from left.

The fence is also slatted so you can see through. I know they are a retired couple and are always in and they have lots of plants and a greenhouse so assume in garden a lot. Not so worried about being overlooked from within the house.

They may be lovely people who have no interest in looking at us (or nosy busybodies who always chat every time you come outside and peep through their curtains) - I guess there’s no way to know.

We have one DC if relevant and hope to use garden a lot.

Has anyone had experience of this and got used to it, having hated the idea before?

Can you change the fence? Depending on where you live you cannot always avoid your garden being overlooked so it wouldn’t be a deal breaker for me

No - I’ve rejected houses on this alone. My current house is overlooked at the back as there is a low apartment block. In the summer trees shield us, but in winter one in particular overlooks, but though I have seen movement it’s not really an issue - plus they can’t see my garden just my dining area at the back of the house which has a wall of glass and if they want to waste their time watching me work at the table then good luck to them.

The fence probably isn’t the real problem, I could put up some flowers or climbers fairly easily. It’s more the windows on their second floor that are very close and look directly down into the garden. I’m not sure if there’s a way of blocking that?

I’m sure they wouldn’t be always there watching but I like my privacy and I think I’d feel observed!

Yes I currently live in such a house.

fences can be fixed.
I do nothing of interest in the garden so anyone looking gets bored fast.

No I wouldn’t.

Never but it is a deal breaker for me - not even my neighbours can easily see in my garden as we live in bungalows with high fences.

Yes my garden is overlooked at the back and one side. If we're out at the same time as a neighbour we'll pass the time of day, its nice.

I did, and I really regret it.

Helpful, can you explain why? Did you know you’d hate it beforehand?

No. I'd choose smaller garden but private over a larger garden.

Yes we live in suburbia
I’m not bothered by it - not sure 99.9999% of people have any interest in others general domestic garden usage.

It wasn't something I really considered beforehand (clueless first time buyer!). It's not the next door neighbours that are the issue but the neighbours behind as the gardens are small and back directly onto each other. I just feel like I am being watched every time I am in the garden (even though this is unlikely!) and if we are out in our gardens at the same time I hate that I can hear their conversations, their music etc. So maybe the size of the garden is just as much of an issue as how overlooked it is, if my garden was bigger I think it would feel much less like a goldfish bowl.

It depends what your definition of overlooked is. Aren't most semi-detached house upstairs windows able to look down into the neighbouring garden to an extent?

I’ve lived in a house with an overlooked garden, and neighbours that would stand at their bedroom window. It was uncomfortable.

I don’t think many people would stare as openly as that, and we were just unlucky. If they had been more discreet it wouldn’t have bothered us.

The only time I ever regretted this was when I bought a house at the V of a junction between two roads. It meant my triangular garden was like a piece of a pie with 5 other gardens. It wasn't so much the overlooking that put me off although one neighbour did used to drive me mad leaning out of her bedroom window and talking to me when I was in the garden.

What did for me was the noise of 5 different neighbours all in their gardens and houses doing different things at the same time- BBQ in one, kids on trampoline in another, TV on loud with patio doors open next door, kitchen diner door open and loud music playing the other side and lads kicking a ball against the fence at the back.

It honestly did my head in and I sold and moved within two years.

No

our garden is overlooked, along with the garden of everyone else in the country who lives in a terraced house or a semi. Those with ground floor flats are even more overlooked. It’s just a trade off like any other. If we’d insisted on a detached house for garden privacy, we’d have had a much worse commute and/or an eye watering mortgage and/or worse house.

No, also currently looking to move and this would be a deal breaker for us unless it was a very exceptional house

Yes I think this is the same for us, a lot of houses are overlooked in the area we’re looking in (which is close to station etc)

Yes I'm fact I did. It didn't bother me. People don't stand at their upstairs window peering into their neighbors garden

This is MNs where people want off street parking, detached & privacy, oh & a downstairs toilet as standard.

Some of us even with big budgets have no other options.

I've bought an overlooked house before because I knew I could fix most of it with a lot of planting. It cost about £20k in landscaping but I eventually created some privacy in it.

I don't currently live in an over looked house but fully agree with this. It's a weird mumsnet obsession, but I couldn't care less if some people might be able to see into my garden and see me or DC.

Everyone is different but no, it’s not something I care about. Couldn’t care less if people can see me in the garden. My DH would say the opposite!

wheb house buying, I think at any level, compromises are made. It depends on your priorities. My house is slightly over looked so next house I would like it not to be.