Planning Breach by the neighbour and the council allowed it

[compkeen]

I have had lot of problems with the council Planning department where I ended up dealing with whole of the planning department members including the senior planner , head of the department and the director of the planning , council members, Local MP . My local councillor stood by me since the last 1 year.
I will put a few bullet points so you get some idea in a nutshell bearing in mind that lot has happened before I got to an unsatisfactory end. Reigate and Banstead council needs to be exposed.

• 2013 – neighbour replaced the window without planning permission. I complained immediately. I was pushed by the senior planners to go to mediation, Citizens advice bureau and various legal bodies. Nothing came out of it. They insisted no law was broken and the neighbour is within his right.

• During the course of 3 years a lot of correspondence took place between the council and myself. The head of the planning insisted the matter came under general planning Development Order and kept dismissing me . I took the advice from a planning consultant and Royal Institute of the Town planning . Both of them concluded that a planning breach has taken place and the council should enforce the window to be replaced with non-opening, glazed ,frosted glass. The opening should be ONLY fanlight opening 1.7 meter above the floor on the neighbour's landing .

• Finally in the end the head of the planning admitted that he got confused and did not interpret the law correctly and apologised.

• The neighbour refused to change the window and the council refuses to enforce the replacement despite the planning breach. The neighbour says he was misguided by the council.

• Meanwhile his window being in the upper elevation of his property, facing my property which is only 3 meters away, and he can look into throughout of my accommodation. There is no privacy in the bedrooms, kitchen, all the living areas , garden, driveway.

• I have been living behind closed curtains , with no privacy anywhere, no light, and spending time at work from 7.30am to 11pm until the neighbours have gone to bed every day. This is obviously is affecting my health, my work, and my mental health. The impact is huge.

• Finally the council, after persuasion by me , offered to pay for the replacement of the window but the neighbour disputed and demanded the council pay for all the decorating , that would be disturbed and the whole hall way and the landing.

• The council decided that the damage to the neighbour’s decoration was more important and as a result his suffering was more serious at my cost and decided to withdraw the offer.

• The head of the planning in the council manipulated the issue by holding a private committee meeting between the councillors and the planning committee members. The planning committee was briefed what to say by him. This way they closed the doors on me and my own local councillor , who was ignored and public was not allowed to listen. There was no planning appeal or any enforcement notice ,thus blocking me to go to any institution with my plea.

• The council chose to action the option which was to tell the neighbour to put restrictors which can be moved or taken out and put opaque film on the window panes. Due to the restrictors, a wide gap would be created in the whole length of the middle of the window . Again I was dismissed when I objected saying that this is absolutely unworkable option because the neighbour can still overlook ‘head on’ into my whole property.

• The council has locked the door on me , thus stopping me going to any institution for complain. I despair that I have to spend rest of my days in my own home overlooked with closed curtains and no light. All my human rights are taken away by the Council. If the head of the planning cannot understand the law or understand how to uphold the law, and mitigate the consequences as a result of it, who can we trust in this borough and where can we go.

We have something like this
www.amazon.co.uk/Barnes-Textiles-Butterfly-Roller-30-5cm/dp/B083V3BB1T?th=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21
Which could work well and look nice.

I’d wander about in the buff. He’d soon want to not be looking. That or the film that blocks him
Seeing in. Can’t remember what it’s called by my husbands granny had it on her back door. Worked a treat

Sorry but you're behaving crazy. No wonder the planning authority is on your neighbour's side if you've been harassing them non-stop since 2013 for literally a non-issue!

You sound unhinged OP, he replaced a window, he didn’t install spy technology to watch your every move.

It’s been 8 years, for the sake of your MH and that if the council workers lay this to bed and buy some netting’s.

I second the PP who suggested speaking to your GP. Your behaviour is irrational and concerning

Gosh, this has been going on for a very long time, OP. How much have you spent fighting this? How big is the window in question?

If it's causing you this much distress, why don't you just move?

I’d get the privacy film op. After so long the council can’t abs won’t do anything.

If he truly is being a spying weirdo the film will really piss him off too.

There are so many solutions to this, my house has large windows out onto the road, we have wooden horizontal blinds, we barely ever open them. They are angled so we get lots of light but no once can see in.

You can get one way mirror film (so it’s mirrored on the outside during day time) that you can see though clearly.
It would probably dive him nuts.

Get some bright spot lights and lots of wind chimes, tell him you will remove them when the windows sorted.

OP, gently, you need to see your GP. This is not normal behaviour - from you.

@VioletPetals even with that diagram I’m struggling to imagine how the Hell every single room of her home is being “looked into”. I am a bit spatially dim, though.

My living room is right onto a busy street. I’ve been here 5 years and have had £3 paper blinds from IKEA pulled down the entire time. It’s not a difficult issue to solve.

OP, you’ve got to let this go. Get things in perspective, stick up a blind/curtain/frosting and forget about it!

@ObnoxiousFeminist

OP, gently, you need to see your GP. This is not normal behaviour - from you.

@VioletPetals even with that diagram I’m struggling to imagine how the Hell every single room of her home is being “looked into”. I am a bit spatially dim, though.

My living room is right onto a busy street. I’ve been here 5 years and have had £3 paper blinds from IKEA pulled down the entire time. It’s not a difficult issue to solve.

I’m imagining that the OPs house is quite small, or at least narrow, so there aren’t really rooms ‘side by side, iykwim, it’s like a living room, with a dining room behind it and a kitchen behind that, so every room could have a window looking out the right side of the building. Does that make sense?

That’s how I’m imagining it to be anyway.

If the house faces yours, surely you’re just talking about normal windows at the front of his house? It’s impossible for him to see into your whole house through one window, though, and it’s worrying how paranoid and anxious you are about this. You’re probably spending far more time watching out for and thinking about your neighbour than he is about you.

One way window film is your friend here. Tenner a roll from Amazon but you will need a few rolls. Oh, and don't use the silly little tool that comes with it, buy a car ice scraper and use that.

I have it on the front of my house, as does my next door neighbour. Not to deter the neighbourhood peeping Tom, but because we have a bus stop right outside. And to be quite frank about it, the last thing I want is for the upper deck passengers of the 77A seeing me in my nightwear.

You’ve given this headspace for eight years? Life is too short please find a solution (blinds, nets, film) and let it go.

@VioletPetals ah I’m with you now

I really feel for you.
My parents had similar, a neighbour was allowed despite objections to install 3 windows into the side of their very large extension that looked directly into my parents home and elderly neighbours.
They had a condition that the windows must be non opening obscured glass.

Just like your neighbours, they installed opening clear glass windows and like to stand at the windows staring into my parents and neighbours houses.
The elderly neighbour felt so intimidated that they lived in total darkness with their curtains shut all day.
It was really awful and uncomfortable.

It took a year of complaints to the council who admitted they were in breach but all we could get was them putting stick on plastic onto the windows to obscure them.
No doubt they will remove the plastic at some point.

Despite what others have written, unless you have experienced this you have no idea what’s it’s like to have all your privacy and enjoyment of your home taken away. You shouldn’t have to be the one putting up net curtains etc
And yes you can tell if you are being watched without needing to look at the other house.

you need something in the middle of your back garden that would obscure his view into your living spaces. A tree, a structure or as someone suggested, a sail

What exactly is the planning policy breach? What has the neighbour done wrong in policy terms? The council isn’t there to respond to the public’s opinions, they only serve to make sure work carried out conforms to the local planning policy documents and guidance.

Your 'human right' not to have your house looked at doesn't exist, I'm afraid. You're massively too absorbed into this situation.

@Bingbong21

This is all so bizarre. Just get privacy film/shutters/nets/blinds

Yup, this is what we have. Victorian urban terraced houses in my street. Everyone does it.

And may I just add that All my human rights are taken away by the Council is simply ridiculous tbh, OP. It's that kind of hyperbole that makes local councillors and council officers cringe. And it's offensive to all the people whose human rights ARE being taken away right now.

Please try and draw a breath and get some calming perspective. You have rights to complain and to appeal, as others have said. Use them wisely.

If it's causing you this much grief then it's probably just easier to move.

sell and move. you're neighbors windows regardless of what is done or not done and the location shape of the lot will always be an issue.