Neighbour has built a bar

[Julshk73]

My neighbour has spent the last three months building every night beyond 10pm. Sawing hammering, no use of my garden this year so far. Yesterday they unwrapped their new building.

It's a bar.

On a raised platform.

That looks right into my daughters bedroom.

She is terrified as a preteen as grown men were staring in all day yesterday.

Then the drinking began.

Until 3am we couldn't even hear our tv for the shouting screaming and chanting.

The council noise team aren't working due to covid. The police don't answer calls anymore on 101 (we tried several times on advice of the council).

What can I do?

My daughter is extremely distressed at losing her privacy and I cannot deal with parties that go on until 3am that are so loud we have no respite.

Help?

@SpnBaby1967

Speak to the Police. You can log it on the 101 website if you cant get through on the phone.

Those suggesting cameras, you cant have a camera that looks into her neighbours garden. Massive breach of GDPR there.

Massive GDPR breach?

Massive bullshit.

Venetian blinds are cheap, easy to fit, would let in plenty of light and, if angled correctly, will block ‘the men’ from staring into the room while allowing your daughter a view.
How about a trip to Dunhelm Mill this afternoon. It won’t solve the noise problem but it would help.
You don’t seem open to suggestions though 😕

OP sounds extremely dramatic and paranoid which can't be good for her daughter

They've already threatened and filmed OP and thrown dog shit and broken glass onto her garden, which OP feels was likely retaliation for the fact she reported them to the police previously.

I don't think OP sounds paranoid under the circumstances - having hostile neighbours can make a person feel incredibly vulnerable and powerless in their own hone - it's a horrible experience and I'd be extremely worried about how best to protect my family without exacerbating the NDN's aggression in her situation too.

Our neighbours have done the same, under trees in a formerly peaceful area that had been inhabited by bats for at least a couple of decades. No idea if they'r still there. I looked up my house on Google Maps the other day to discover neighbour has tagged his bar/ man cave with a description that would almost definitely put people off buying any of the houses around it. This trend for home bars is a complete nightmare for those forced to live near them. Just go to the bloody pub!

@Bluntness100

We don’t all want to sit behind closed blinds and closed windows in this weather

No of course not, unclench, but it protects her privacy until the op can put some film up and the council can step in. She doesn’t need to sit there in full view.

“Unclench”. Don’t be such a twit. How is she supposed to unclench when she and the DC have been kept awake until 3am by football hooligans?

Yes, OP sounds a bit over emotional but not everyone copes well with stress and lack of sleep. Some people do very badly when sleep deprived.

She can’t write it off as a one off if he’s built an entire structure on a dais specifically for outdoor partying. She is worried.

As others have said, Planning is your first port of call in the morning. My friend had a similar issue when her neighbours built a deck which overlooked her garden, Planners were very quick to issue a notice to resolve the situation.

As to the noise, make a formal complaint and start keeping a noise diary.

I am really sorry that you and your family are having to deal with this. My neighbour also has an external bar, but they are a lovely family, if they have a family party the music is off by midnight and that's when the bar closes, too. Worst problem, the wind rings the bell but they are quick enough to pop out and removed the clapper!

This sounds like a nightmare and you have my sympathy. You had the advice already, but my first action would be planning enforcement at the council. Good luck

Have a plan of what to do on Tuesday evening when the next England game takes place. Speak to the police again mean time.

A bar and visitors suggests drink driving to me. Reason to call 999 next time I think.

Of course when you go out in the morning, if they are not awake, then an animal will cross your path and you will have to sound the car horn.

*SofiaMichelle

SpnBaby1967

Speak to the Police. You can log it on the 101 website if you cant get through on the phone.

Those suggesting cameras, you cant have a camera that looks into her neighbours garden. Massive breach of GDPR there.

Massive GDPR breach?

Massive bullshit. *

Here's the proof it's not bull:

"Article 8 of The European Convention on Human Rights Act 1998 states that an individual has the right to respect for their private and family life, and of their home. If security cameras monitor the activities of their neighbours – that would be a breach of their human rights and could open the home owner up to prosecution."

I understand your layout as we are similar. The neighbour has built in his garden but close enough and high enough that the view from his bar is directly looking into the first floor bedrooms. No fence or trellis can help this situation (unless you make it 10-12 feet tall). I would say you have good advice on this thread and please follow it. Alongside that please plant a few fast growing evergreen trees/bamboo along your boundary so that if not now them in a couple of years your daughters room has full privacy from your neighbour.

I am actually very surprise that the police have not been round, we were there when a friend got reported, and 2 policemen turned up.
Maybe find the number for your community policeman, as it will have their mobile number and ask them to come and look while all is quiet, explain the noise and the problems.

We have 17m more people in the UK than when I was born which is at least 17m more than I would like (although I am partly to blame as i have children!!!) This is why we are all so close and cramped next to each other without the space the USA has. People are also so loud and anti social and horrible half the time.

I was just out cutting some bushes and up and down our supposedly private road which has a sign saying - residents only, no parking, cars will be towed, CCTV in operation are people all day long particularly at weekends choosing to break the law and talking loudly. Would they like me to walk up and down their living room? Which bit of residents only private road do they find so hard to understand?

@Oldraver

Get a big security light that points in their direction. They then wont be able to stare at your daughter.

I say this as some who have had their neighbours security light shining into their bedrooms for a long time. It's really annoying (finally asked them to redirect it)

This!

@CovidCorvid

So I’m thinking like this with a bar area?

I still don't get how that would look into a bedroom tho

How high is the bar?

@DdraigGoch

Is he charging them for drinks? Potential licencing issue there.

I don't think you would charge your friends for drinks somehow

A Mumsnet member has posted this in the ‘Garden Sheds, Pubs and Nightclubs U.K’ group on Facebook. If your neighbour is on there, they will now be pointed to this.

Massive breach of GDPR there

I don't know what lawyers you know but that's not what GDPR is 😂 the op is allowed to cover HER garden and points of entrance for security and insurance purposes whether her dickhead neighbours like it or not.

@Hawkins001

What on earth are you talking about?

You're quoting ECHR legislation regarding the right to a private life as being evidence of a GDPR breach?

You don't know what GDPR is, obviously.

So yes, the GDPR claim is bullshit.

@Rhiannon13

Our neighbours have done the same, under trees in a formerly peaceful area that had been inhabited by bats for at least a couple of decades. No idea if they'r still there. I looked up my house on Google Maps the other day to discover neighbour has tagged his bar/ man cave with a description that would almost definitely put people off buying any of the houses around it. This trend for home bars is a complete nightmare for those forced to live near them. Just go to the bloody pub!

Hi, was any action taken regarding the destruction of the bat's homes? it is illegal to do so, probably not for long though going on the current regime's record/

"All bat species, their habitats and their resting places are protected by European Law. In short, you can not cut down, prune or do anything to your trees if they are, or if you in fact even suspect they are, inhabited by bats. Any trees that need to be felled, pruned or need any type of tree surgery should have a bat survey carried out if there is any possibility that bats may be using them as roosts." www.clearcuttrees.co.uk/blog/bats--trees

OP, you have my sympathy, I know what noisy and aggressive neighbours can be like.

@Julshk73

If security cameras monitor the activities of their neighbours – that would be a breach of their human rights and could open the home owner up to prosecution."

this is why people shouldn't be allowed to solicit legal advice unwarranted both on the net and in real life thst they're not 100% certain on. For the dickhead neighbours to prove that OP had breached their human rights you'd need to prove any cameras were being used for surveillance purposes only as opposed to crime prevention and security etc. Thousands of homes have cctv off hand I can only think of one homeowner where the action brought was upheld up but happy to be corrected. If its not covering the dickhead neighbours private garden they've got no claim. Regardless of how pissed off Lord fauntleroy would be at it. There is a word to describe neighbours who think their victims fork out hundreds of pounds to cover somebody else's gardens. Paranoid.

Planning permission for a higher fence and window film in the mean time. You can buy 2 way film so she can see out but they can't see in, or you can buy frosted window film. You could also plant some trees on your boundary side, or potted bamboo as that's fast growing.
Good luck and I hope you find a way to get your privacy back!

[quote Biscoffin]@Julshk73[/quote]
Why are you “@“ing OP the FB screengrab? Are you trying to embarrass her? Intimidate her? Weird.