Neighbours have raised their garden and now overlooks ours!

[Higgs789]

Our row of new build houses have gardens that slope away from the house. Our neighbours have recently just levelled their garden by building decking that is level with the house, which means by the end of the garden they’re torso height above the fence. Not only that but they’ve built a pergola at the end of the garden and put a hot tub. This pretty much touches our boundary fence and means they can easily see into our garden when they use it. They said they would put trellis to screen but instead they’ve put fairy lights all over it! I think they need planning permission to raise the level that much but we’re going insane from the lights and the noise of the hot tub. I’m tempted to call the planning office but I don’t know if I’m being unreasonable? HELP

I think the stinky composting is perfect.
Also you could burrow under their decking with some of it.

The pleached trees are fantastic and worth every penny.

A house near me had an unused side garden that was west facing but just kept very plain and neat as it was very exposed.

I past it the other week and was so impressed as the new owners were doing a gorgeous landscaping job but the pleached trees meant they had instant privacy.
Fantastic job.

Much cheaper than moving.

Do you have kids? Can you get one of those metal climbing frames with a tent on top and then bribe kids to sit up there with snacks blowing bubbles and making noise. You could give them extra pocket money for non-stop chattering to your neighbours whenever they're out.

Put a compost bin next to the hot tub.

@ShakerMakerGirl

Might be worth speaking to planning if you want to take that route. My friend did a similar thing, her neighbours complained and planning did make her adjust some aspects. Planning had an issue with the fencing specifically as it has a maximum height from ground level and as the decking was raised this was well above. It cost them quite a lot of money to sort it out and when the contractors returned they mentioned that they had taken others down due to planning. So it can happen.

I did the above in respect of new builds near me when they had built up a sloping garden with gabions. Looked up the planning officer and emailed him. The gabions were gone with a week. Nice mr planning rang me back to say it was sorted

They sound awful!
Buy stink bombs and hide them along the boundary near their hot tub.

The garden law website has a lot of advice on this type of issue OP.
It might be worth potting up bamboo in huge sturdy planters to screen this area and recover your privacy quickly. Don't plant it though, it's a an invasive nightmare, although it might serve your horrible neighbours right.

Oh really sorry for you OP, this would drivee mad!
Do you have a dog? You could train it to do it's business really closeor move the 💩 there yourself
Otherwise, I'd be tempted to move my smelliest bin or a small food compost caddy right under the fence. It will take attract flies and stink in no time at all 😈

@MrsArchchancellorRidcully

In my experience hot tubs are very quiet actually

They're really not. We're in a holiday lodge with a hot tub this week. Went out for a walk this eve and could hear a horrible noise - sounded like farm machinery. This is on a very quiet lane. Got back and found that our neighbours also have a hot tub, and it's really fucking noisy!! I had no idea ours was also so noisy...

Could you put trellis up with some fast growing climbers? I can recommend a Dvaid Austin rose called veilchenblau - it's a rambler, I planted 3 last September and I've had to arrange them diagonally already as they have grown over the fence (2m plus about another 30-50cm wall, we have the uneven sloped newbuild gardens too). They're quite dense too so something like that would help a bit with sound deadening. Bees love it too...

I'm pretty sure that you need planning permission if you cover more than half your garden with decking (which it sounds as if your neighbours have).

If you're on your phone click the paper clip under the comment box.

(Might be different on the app, I haven't got that).

To post an image, I mean

Planning department is a good idea if it does breach regulations. It may make your house less attractive to buyers in the future and if it remains there too long they may gain the right to keep it. The whole point of planning regulations banning this sort of thing is because we've decided as a society that it's not fair on others, so why would it be unreasonable to use that route?

If it's not against planning, or if planning just say they have to lower it by x feet and it's still a bit of an issue - compost bins, trees and bird feeders, bee hives are all things you could put right by that spot. You might also consider a garden office with a generator that's quite nosy. Or, if you have kids, it's probably the perfect spot for a trampoline. Of course they might not like it, but you can't please everyone.

I would do this as well as putting up my own screening which I would try to ensure was primarily pleasing to me, but any ugliness on their side would definitely be a bonus. As a fast acting, temporary deterrent to the twinkly lights, get spot lights, stick them on something high in your garden pointing at their hot tub and turn them on every time their fairy lights bother you.

(I would only go this route if you've had unambiguous conversation with them where you tell them their set up is a nuisance and if they don't do something to screen it you will do as you please in your own garden without any consideration for them.)

And it looks like it does need planning permission on two grounds:
www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/11/decking

You could build an enclosure for compost at the end of your garden. Grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, vegetable peelings and kitchen scraps make good compost your garden plants will love. They can be a tad unsightly what with flies and such attracted to the smell of rotting vegetation.

I'd be very surprised if this didn't breach planning rules. 30cm above ground level (height limit for decking under PD) to me is 30cm above ground level, nothing to do with what level the house sits. As PP mentioned also sounds as though they've decked over 50% of the garden, which would need planning. Contact your local planning department and speak to someone about your concerns. Neighbours might be oblivious to the need for planning, or well aware and thought they'd do it anyway and hope no-one complained! Hard to know for sure without seeing the specifics, but definitely contact planning.

I’m not sure I understand some of these comments, the op has not said at any stage how raised the decking is or the size of it? It could easily be within permitted planning.

Get a couple of cats and train them to poo on decking.

Plums and other soft fruits are great at attracting wasps so might be worth just throwing some on a compost heap.
Rats love living under decking they need a food source though, feeding the birds especially the ground nesters will help encourage rats. Rats also like a compost heap.

Theres a type of lime tree that drops sticky bits and makes a dreadful mess of cars very difficult to remove. It would be awlful over a hot tub and decking, need lots of cleaning

Put something smelly near their hot tub. Really smelly.

This is a good idea. I walk past some plants on my way to work every day. They smell like stale wee I'm no Alan Titchmarsh though so I don't know what they are called unhelpful

It would be far better to ask planning to deal with the problem at source than have to mitigate the impact.

I did not realise that reporting to planning was not something one would have to declare on sale - that is very positive if correct as it provides a good option to maybe get the structure altered.

I noted that changes that affect 'neighbour privacy' require planning permission - so this example of decking could hopefully be reviewedt on a number of grounds.

Trampoline at the end of the garden!

Yesterday 21:40 MrsArchchancellorRidcully

In my experience hot tubs are very quiet actually“

The people using them usually aren’t.

@Bluntness100

I’m not sure I understand some of these comments, the op has not said at any stage how raised the decking is or the size of it? It could easily be within permitted planning.

Given the decking is raised enough for the fence to be torso height I can't see any other possibility?