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 live in a grade 2 listed building. Ancient sash windows that are useless in the winter. I could have secondary double glazing, but it has to be done in such a way that you can't see it from outside. I cant have upvc windows because it changes the look of the building. The shop below had to get planning permission to put a sign up.
I'm not allowed to attach a sky dish.
I would imagine my local council would have kittens if I was in your situation.

Excellent diagrams 😀 looking forward to the updates

Op if you want to really have a go ….

Contact the HSE and state that the home owner has undertaken construction work under the cdm regulations and is a domestic client. State that you are concerned about the work done eg it poses a risk to health and safety and there is no notification to the executive displayed. Please can they investigate.

The HSE will contact the council automatically and then it will kick off .

Although it most likely would not be notifiable to the executive based on the scope you are a member of the public and they will always take action when a complaint is made

@Euro21widow teach your children The Wellerman shanty forthwith. Preferably whilst drinking rum (you) and wearing foam cutlasses (them), buy a harpoon and start yelling AVAST YE LANDLUBBER every time she's out in her garden.

I feel very strongly that the most satisfying course of action whilst the sensible people sort things out is to go silly.

didactylos thanks for the clip! That took me back to childhood when films of that age (old then ) were my staple ! Loved the knife work. There may be modern applications !

I’m worried that the advice to buy a harpoon is incompatible with the earlier advice to consult the HSE. One would not want the HSE to arrive mid-harpooning.

One day the wellerman come to give us sugar and tea and rum

Enjoy the earworm everyone, you're welcome.

I feel @SongsForSwingingLovers that the time for debating the rights and wrongs of harpooning the neighbours is long gone. C'est la guerre.

You may be right, @Yesitsbess. Just have to hope it’s not a neighbourhood watch area.

Bloody hell she's bat shit! She really is only able to see things from her point of view.

There's no way she's getting away with this in the long term but people on this thread have given some good advice about multiple avenues to take to get it sorted.

Batshit, but can’t wait to see what the council reply with! Good luck op

Imagine the curtain twitching when they wheel that baby home!

As the whole thing lifts and bucks in the wind, and gets heavy with rain water, it's going to do an awesome amount of damage to your brickwork , with stresses and strains the wall was never meant to bear.
I don't understand how she can't see that!

I bet it will be noisy when it's windy too.

I think the conservation officer is going to be your saviour here, they are sticklers for doing everything by the book.

@BruceAndNosh

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

Errrr...the tarp is attached to the OPs house. There may be a teeny flaw in your plan.

One day when the weather is rough, it'll take her tarp and go.

Excellent point Ihavenoidea.

@99point9FahrenheitDegrees HAHAHAHAAAA! Oh blow my bully boys blow!

She's crazy. Glad you've reported it!

Loving all the pirate ideas. Got that bloody song stuck in my head now!

When we called police for criminal damage, they refused to attend unless we could provide evidence that the neighbour had actually done it. Which we pointed out was ridiculous, unless plod was actually suggesting that Random Roger would come and drill a hole in our house wall and attach items for the neighbours.

My neighbour was attaching things to my house and refused to stop or remove them. I phoned the police for criminal damage and they said they couldn't do anything because my neighbour had paid someone to do the work (my neighbour themselves didn't drill into my house). The neighbour and people who had been paid had trespassed onto my property and damaged my plants to install the things onto my house yelling abuse at me and refusing to leave. I had the incidents captured on CCTV. The police told me there was nothing that could be done except privately take the matter to court.

I removed the things from my house and the neighbour reported me for criminal damage to his things. The police visited me to investigate me removing things from my house solely within my property. Nightmare experience.

When I phone my local council it is a contact centre and you can go to specific departments but gives you the option if you know the name of the person press xyz. This gets you through to that person.

When I needed to speak to planning I googled local planning permissions (the name of the officer overseeing it is listed) said their name on the phone and went straight through to him. He answered my questions quickly and cut out all the back and forth, contact centre taking message and waiting for a call rubbish.

Not saying this will definitely work in your area but thought I’d share.

Before you get solicitors involved just beware that you need to declare neighbour disputes when you come to sell.

I think you should point that out to your neighbour too.

In a few years time I a resolved planning breach won't look bad but a legal battle with claims of criminal damage would affect both properties negatively.

What I can't get my head around is why she's done it so high up. You can get wall height poles for shade sails so why not just do that?

No drilling into your property and she gets her privacy too. Bizarre.

As your house projects further into the back gardens on your diagram, what happens at the front? Does her house stick out further than yours? If it does then there will be part of her wall facing your garden. Ask her if she minds you drilling multiple holes in it to attach "non-permanent" fixtures.

@Ihavenoidea

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?

There will be rigging on the other side. Neighbour will scale the rigging with cutlass in her teeth to slash the sail free.

Gnome