To think my neighbour can drill a whole in my house to permanently hang a 15ft tarpaulin?

[Euro21widow]

So, name changed as obviously outting as pretty sure this isn't a normal occurance!

My neighbour has drilled a hole in my (grade 2 listed) building so she can permanently hang a piece of tarpaulin about 15ft up (as high as my 1st floor roof) for "privacy". Surely she can't just do this? Where do I go from here? It blocks all the light out to my ground floor windows now. Have included (bad) diagram.

I know the situation isn’t funny but this, courtesy of FatCatThinCat made me laugh out loud:

You can't just hang a sheet over your neighbour's window because you don't like them looking out of it.

And if you could nail their front door shut to stop them leaving the house and causing a general nuisance that would be handy too.

Seriously OP, the conservation officers are the way to go here.

Let me give you a tiny review on what happened to us:

1. bought a G2 listed house. Roof in poor state - if rain was heavy, it literally gushed through in places like a bath tap
2. it took us months of begging to be allowed to replace the roof. We submitted 11 different examples of tiles for the to approve
3. they finally approved the tile (which was actually the first one that we submitted, shown again) & then queried the back of the tile as they thought it was too red

In all, it took over a year to get permission from the conservation officer to carry out work that would actually, you know, conserve the fabric of the building.

TLDR: in my experience, conservation officers are total cunts, drunk on their own power, and will actually help you in this case.

I agree with others - see what the planning/conservation office says, and follow up with solicitor's letters if needs be.

Don't muck about. You've already reported this as a planning breach, but you also need to speak to the local authority's conservation officer and emphasise that this is an unauthorised alteration to a listed building. The penalties for mucking about with listed buildings are generally tougher than those for planning infringements.

I would ensure I took lots of pictures from every single angle

I would contact the conservation department and make a formal complaint firstly about the damage to your property where it has. Even attached and also about the awning itself - it won't have approval

I would also expect that when she has to take it down not only does she employ a specialist firm to take it down she has to pay for your property to be repaired where it has been drilled and not by some chap from yellow pages but by a specialist firm of your choosing who work with listed properties

If she has done this be careful for what else she nag try to do .....

What a cheeky neighbor. I hope the local council do something soon. What do your buildings insurance say about it?

As well as going to Planning, can you contact the company who put it up? Tell them you’re taking legal advice against them for drilling into your wall without permission. Ask them how they plan to rectify the issue of damaging a g2 listed building.

I've just got a mental picture of her trying to take it down in a wind. She ends up swinging in the breeze...

I'd have a close look at the fixing at the top. Bet it's permanent.

I've just told dh about this. He reckons it'll be gone in the first strong winds anyway.

Hope it rips though rather than pull any bolts out your house wall as it goes!

Good God, as it's listed she might get in trouble with the council if you tell them! Of course she can't damage your property!

Yes, she needs to sink herself a post in her own land and attach it to that, cf! I would get a solicitors letter advising that she has a week to remove it and make good the damage.

What a CF. I hope you get some resolution soon. She sounds batshit

I contacted our planning department at 9am about a possible breach of (lack of) planning permission in a conservation area and initially got a 48 hours automated response followed up within the hour by a "can you tell us more and do you have any photos" type response. All sorted by lunchtime. Photos help

Please do report back to us OP when you resolve the issue!

do rather feel that whilst following all of the excellent advice here (phone your insurance company too) the entire family should adapt to your new 'Lords of the high seas' status. I'm thinking sea shanties, I'm thinking treasure raids, I'm thinking Rum

now this is a response I can get behind ! Closely followed by the bird seed suggestion ...

@FricasseeTurnips we are also in a conservation area so hopefully will get a quick response like you.

We will also learn some sea shanties in the mean time.

Always looking for an excuse to drink a rum based drink tbf.

Can you lean out of a window with a really long saw and saw off the tarp?
Sorry if that's a stupid idea, I'm a few Stella's deep.
Tell neighbor I said she's a cunt though

How close to the dividing fence is it, can you touch it?
Is is flammable?
If not, is it flammable if doused with petrol?

Have you got the details of the trades men who done it?
Put a complaint into them for not seeking permission and damaging your property, if it's not removed you will be seeking legal advice, they may take it down then and then saves having to deal with the neighbour

Have you ever seen that old film 'The Black Pirate' where Douglas Fairbanks uses a knife to control his slide down the sail of a ship?
Just saying......

You need to consider the following:

1. No Listed building consent
2. Your Rights of light
3. Party wall Boundary - you need to check your official plans
4. Oversailing her site boundary - you need to check your official plans

You could potentially go to the council or alternatively get a solicitor letter. If your worried about damage seek advice from a property and construction consultantcy.

If you go down the solicitor route and she is over sailing her legal boundary you could charge her for each calendar month she oversails

Slightly missing the point but how the hell does she think she's going to shimmy 15 feet up the wall to remove the tarpaulin in impending bad weather when it took builders with scaffolding to hang the thing in the first place?

When she's made to repair the damage, please make sure the work is done by someone (very expensive) experienced in maintaining listed buildings. You want to make sure it's done using the correct, traditional materials in keeping with your home.

No advice Op but I'd go nuts - she's well out of order!