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?

People don't generally stand at their bedroom windows and watch their neighbours in their gardens. We have probably 3 bedroom windows that look over our garden and we can see into a few from ours. But we don't stand looking. The odd time I've seen someone they've been cutting their grass or sitting drinking a cup of tea. Hardly worth watching.

I'd be more put off if we were overlooked at ground level, maybe if next door's patio was right next to but slightly higher than ours, or close and through a small fence. I wouldn't like that if I felt we were all sitting together.

There is overlooked which the majority of houses are and then there is mature planting so it’s not truly overlooked. Next door have 2 mature trees, we have 2 mature trees plus 2 giant shrubs on the other side. The way the garden is planted means over half of my garden is totally private. You could run about naked and no one would be any the wiser. I’m in a semi detached.

Nope. We back onto a wood and that’s why we chose this house. It’s the number 1 reason for us not to buy because it’s totally out of your control if you can’t screen.

I don't think it's something I'd be too bothered about, as long as people aren't watching me inside the house. I'm pretty sure my current neighbours aren't selling tickets for people to come to look at my broken fence and the cat having a crap behind the shed.

I mean the town I live in is almost entirety Victorian terraces and semis and 1930s semis. I think if I wanted to have an un-overlooked garden I would have ruled out 99% of possible places to live. Most people don't spend their lives standing in their back bedroom windows watching the garden.

I think my garden is actually probably not too badly overlooked as the gardens aren't parallel to the house but come off at a bit of a skew so my back window mainly looks over my neighbours garden and the other side is a non residential unit without windows facing in my direction. But that was very much luck not judgement.

The garden in my DMs house is overlooked by probably around 8 houses. She has lived there for 60 years and it has never been an issue. Surely in most suburban streets your garden will be overlooked to some extent?

Im in a detached house but the people behind and on both sides can spend as much time as they like watching my garden. I can’t see any way around it really, we aren’t wealthy people and live in a city.

I live in a 1930s street, I can see loads of neighbours gardens from my converted loft window so others house obviously can see mine.

I never thought it was an issue. Unless you want to do anything illegal/embarrasing in your garden!

I live in a London townhouse, goes with the territory. I’ve never knowingly been ‘peeped’ on nor vice versa.

We live in suburbs and are all overlooked. It’s just normal here

Isn't it normal to be slightly overlooked by your immediate neighbours? From our 1st floor windows we can see slightly into our neighbours' gardens and I'm sure they can see into ours too.

I can answer this from both sides. One of my neighbours could see into my garden from their upstairs window. I can see into another neighbours back garden from several of my upstairs window. I don't find my neighbours lives interesting enough to stand staring into their garden from my upstairs windows. I doubt my other neighbours find my life interesting enough to stand staring into my garden. Unless you choose to live in the middle of nowhere, there's probably going to be some degree of overlooking in suburban or semi-suburban area. You can increase the privacy with planting but I guess only you can decide on what your priorities are and what compromises you're prepared to make.

i think you can get used to it
in the summer you have plants to provide privacy, in the winter you are in the garden less

I live in a new-ish build and the garden are overlooked, hard to explain but beacuse of the angle of my garden I back onto 3 houses plus neighbours.

i don’t feel like anyone is overlooking me. And im in the garden a lot. I have grown a full row of red robin that are now 3 feet over the fence and would defo benefit (but can’t afford it) from a nicer fence!

I was thinking the same thing. I don't think I have ever been in a garden that you couldn't see into at all from the upstairs of another house.

Wouldn't bother me at all. I guess we are boring - anyone would be welcome to see what we do in our garden.

Isn't this just a regular semi-detached?

I would buy a semi-detached house, yes.

I live in London and my house is overlooked by 8-9 houses I’d say. Because the gardens are long and thin and have high fences, I doubt they can see much. It bothered me a bit at first but I’ve got a lot of greenery in the garden now and I suppose I’m used to it. Having said that, I’m looking to move soon and have rejected to view a house that had a block of flats looking into the garden.

I live in a semi and can quite easily see into the next door gardens if I stand at my bedroom window. However I don't because a) they probably don't do anything interesting and b) if they looked up they'd see me. Unless you're planning to sunbathe nude, just get on with it. If you do notice anyone looking down, wave at them. If they realise they've been seen snooping they'll likely not do it again.

Yes. This is in London so several blocks of flats overlook our garden. The previous owners planted a row of pleached trees which are very effective at screening. And the only alternative around here is no garden, so being overlooked is not a major problem.

We live in a terraced house so yes, the houses either side can look in from their upstairs windows, that's completely normal. Because of fences we can't see the whole of each other's gardens but there is probably no part of the garden that can't be seen from one of the sides. People don't just stand in their bedrooms looking out. I sometimes see my neighbour taking her washing out and that's about it. In the summer months I'm out in my nightclothes every morning hanging out washing, watering plants etc, I make sure I'm decent. As for the fence they can be screened or replaced, one side is short so we can see over, we occasionally chat and that's nice.

Surely your next door neighbours, if a terrace or semi detached house, are always going to be able to see a bit into your garden? Even when we lived with a field at the back of us so no one over looking from the back, the next door neighbours either side would have been able to see in. You basically need a detached house with no immediate neighbours to not be overlooked at all.

Yes - even with detached houses, unless they are manor houses or farm houses, they are usually close enough together that you can see into neighbours gardens

Its the feeling of being private in a garden, isn't it. I feel exactly the same. It obviously doesn't bother some people, and others it does. We know its unlikely anyone is going to be staring at us, but I like a private, secluded garden. I've worked hard at this in my garden, so it is possible. View the property again, if able, and go with an eye as to how you can create privacy. A well placed tree/s as mature as possible, will be a starting point. Evergreen climbers, such as honeysuckle and some clematis on some trellis by the fence. If you buy the house, start on it straight away. I have a gap that I've kept to natter to my neighbour and thats enough for me. Gardens are sanctuaries for some people, and for others, not so much.

If you like the house buy it. our garden was screened by beautiful trees and shrubs all along the neighbours fence line giving us a lot of privacy. New neighbours moved in cut down anything green in their garden and paved it so now we can both see each other. So you never know what could happen! Going to take me a long time to grow screening plants my side 🤷‍♀️

No, I spend a lot of time in the garden and dont like being looked at