Neighbours New Tree house

[Silvafoxa]

Hi,

Just some background. I have DC and we are friendly with neighbours. We live in a semi rural area but our garden is (was) completely private and we enjoy that! especially with lockdown.
There are no other neighbours in close proximity.

So our neighbours started work on a treehouse that is approx 10ft + in a tree at the back of their garden. Our garden and house wraps around the back of the garden.It is at the very bottom of their garden. The tree house is 5ft from out kitchen window and looks directly into it.

It’s all we now see looking out our kitchen window and completely dominates our view (I have shrubs and planting but nowhere nr 15ft to cover).

It also now blocks all light into kitchen. It’s a big shed on stilts with overlooking windows. With added fairy lights. It use to be pitch black outside our window snd it’s lit up in the evenings.

Since it’s been erected random adults have been up and looking through into our house (maybe unintentionally but it’s really not nice).

I spoke to neighbour who said it’s for children and to lighten up. They were very dismissive and said it’s staying.

I just think come summer it’s going to be hell with kids in there so close to our kitchen and patio. They didn’t put it nr their house probably for the same reasons I do not want it so close to mine.

Am I being miserable, it’s such an eyesore ?
Should I report to the council ?

It’s likely to be in breach of planning but they’ll obviously know it’s you

Strictly speaking it requires planning permission.

If you feel strongly about it, and the neighbours aren't amenable to solving the problem, then your only option is to report to the Council.

The neighbours will have the right to apply for retrospective permission, and oyu can object to it. There is always the risk the PP will be granted, but from what you have described, it would seem unlikely.

It might be worth seeing if you can persuade them to come and look at it from your side - they genuinely might not realise the impact it is having on you.

However, your relationship with your neighbours will probably never recover. Although with their attitude, it seems as though that has already broken down.

Yeap, it’s in breach of planning as has platform around it as well. It’s so large and high!

They will know it’s us as we are the only ones it effects.

I’d never be that inconsiderate as a neighbour, makes me sad ppl just do not care about others privacy or space.

Report to the council ASAP, these processes take a while. There's no point trying to reason with your neighbours, a reasonable person would have considered the impact it might have on you before they decided to build it.

We sent them a photo.
They just said that their house was built first and they always planned to put a treehouse there before our property was built.
Such an odd response ! We didn’t build our house we purchase it.

Should a build a taller treehouse ? 😂

People are such selfish knobs.

Who cares if they know it is you who talks to the council? They didn’t care about you when they constructed a monster surveillance tower over your windows!

Planning is planning: an objective process and system. Talk to the council.

Well in that case, yes report to the Council. They are obviously not at all concerned about the impact it is having on you!

Of course they will know it's you and that's ok. They are being dicks and they are being dismissive because they don't want to spend money rectifying what they have done but it's not fair or reasonable. These kinds if structures are relatively easy to move so if there's another position in their garden it can move to then that's fine, and if not they can recoup a lot of its value selling it to someone else. You have to complain though it's clearly having a massive impact on your ability to benefit from your own home and you can't just accept that.

I think them being so dismissive of it would make me angrier. I'd report it and to hell whether they'd know its me or not
They knew precisely what they were doing and didn't care
Going forward it would put me off buying a house with that there.. Things like this are so avoidable too

I'd report it. It will have a negative effect on your relationship, but it sounds like the current impact on you is worse.

I would be angry with my light and privacy gone. As you say they didn't put it best their own house for a reason. Definitely report to council. Your neighbours can always rebuild in another part of the garden.

YANBU but not stretchered is anything you can do.
I guess you could put up some kind of screening or sail construction on your boundary completely obscuring their view. Doesn't solve the aesthetics but will at least give you privacy. although I'd be tempted to set up somekind of motion sensors watering system 🤣

Sorry OP, we need a diagram.

Definitely report to the council. There is no need for it to be 15 ft high and directly looking into your kitchen. Your neighbours are CFs.

When neighbours (in a previous house) built a conservatory on the back of their house which completely overlooked my garden, I asked them to put something in place to preserve our privacy. They didn't, so the next time they were in there, I sat outside staring at them. They put blinds up the next day. Might not be quite so easy to do in your position, OP, but maybe you could try something similar? Your whole family sitting watching their parties like it's a TV programme, or a film? With popcorn and everything!

Given their attitude, I would 100% report it and take great joy at it being ripped down. So bloody entitled!!!!

You need to report to the council. It will be easier for them to apply for retrospective pp if you leave it, I wouldn't buy your house if people could look into your kitchen, so I'm sure others will feel the same.

Is it a decent tree? It might be worth checking of there is a TPO on it. The COuncil would definitely do something then!

I was gonna say live and let live. Put in some blinds and just let it go, but their entitled attitude pissed me off

Report it

Do you have a photo / diagram

What makes it hard to complain is that i’m a single parent and feel isolated as it is.
Falling out with my only neighbour really is quite a big thing.
They are very rich and intimidating. I worked so hard to create a home for my DC and on the weekends off just do not need to feel I cannot relax.

That’s what makes my AIBU so tough. It’s unfair ppl are so inconsiderate.

Report to the council.
I had to do this with a small tree house that looked straight into our living room (townhouse with living on 1st floor). Men would sit in it drinking and sniggering at me if I went outside.
The council made them block up the windows facing us.

There is no TPO on tree.
It was a beautiful tree before they cut all the limbs off to fit a small house in it 🤣

Blinds would mean I do not have a window in my kitchen as it’s the only one in the room.
I do have blinds for evening as the fairy lights are just awful.This house is rural so not many other lights around so it use to be lovely at night.

Just report to council. Your neighbours have already showed you they don't care for neighbourly relations.

What selfish people. Do act now. It will be awful in the summer but you could get the adults using it for drinks etc in the evening. It restricts your light and takes away your privacy and they did not even mention it to you. They have shown their true colours.

Report to the Council and maybe ask them to come take a look. We have neighbours who built a newbuild towards the back of our house. It looks like a storage/shipping container or mobile home, all clad in metal with tiny windows. It completely overlooks our neighbours as it is on a hill. So when they sit in their back room with patio doors it looks directly at them. They moved and it is now a rental.

I wonder how they would like it if you built a structure looking right into their home. Bet they would go mad op.