Gutted a new house is being built directly facing my back garden?

[mentalhealth323]

I know this is a first world problem and the whole process I’ve deliberately not been a biased nimby.

Progress must happen, people need houses and don’t ever buy a house for the view (if you don’t own it).

I bloody well love my house, it’s nothing fancy, I’m not the greatest area but the back garden is long and very private. The USP for the house was the garden (ex council post war house) and the element of privacy.

Being able to go into the garden in a towel to grab clean washing, gardening in a bikini, work out without having to worry that I can only manage one push up…. Drink wine for five nights straight listening to my guilty playlist.

It looks like it’s going to be finalised (there’s already construction workers placing flags outside) and there’s going to be a huge three storey house built 10ms away from my garden fence directly opposite my house. Their fence will be on my boundary. There’s no way of blocking them from having the perfect view of 100% of my garden.

I didn’t contest the planning permission as they’re building facilities/didn’t want to be a nimby - it’s also a nationwide new build company and the council was very much on board… didn’t think we’d have a leg to stand on. I’ve known for the plans for a couple of weeks and I’m absolutely gutted/can’t shake it off.

I’m in a similar position with almost 300 houses being built in the beautiful paddocks behind me. Building is well under way and I’m already missing the lambs and calves, the quiet and the clear skies behind my house.

I’ve fenced in the bottom of the garden with as high panels as I’m allowed and I’ve bought a lot of native spiky hedging to improve the security and to soften the harsh fencing.

My most favourite house was overlooked but the neighbors were quiet and it didnt bother me. We now live in an apartment and are overlooked from above and I dont like it.

Our next home will not be overlooked. I understand how upset you are.

We are also in the same boat. It happened to me 4 years ago and building work is still on going.

My lovely garden is ruined and my privacy completely gone. I'd like to say I've got used to it but I really haven't.

@Weirdsituationworries

If you are thinking about planting trees you need to be aware that there is legislation about how high trees can be. This might be regional I am not sure. It would be dangerous to allow trees to grow to the height of a three storey building. Also home insurances often refuse to cover any damage caused by huge trees

if its legislation, it national....by-laws can cover smaller areas. In England a complaint can be made about trees over two metres tall if there is a problem but they are not illegal.....good job really as one of the trees in my garden has a protection order on it and it is higher than my upstairs windows, and the protected tree in my neighbour's garden is taller yet. I'd like to know also where you get the home insurance information from? Its certainly not in my policy. www.gov.uk/how-to-resolve-neighbour-disputes/high-hedges-trees-and-boundaries

Definitely talk to a council planning officer right now.

Invite them round. Ask if the developers could pay for a garden architect or screening their side or limit the windows.

I know you didn't want to be a NIMBY, but a three storey house isn't exactly an affordable property which is what we need.

Don't plant bamboo unless you've researched it. It's often a menace.

If you can afford it, get a pent roof shed or gazebo put as close to your house as possible without losing too much garden. The taller bit needs to be nearer your house. The taller the structure nearer you, the less the neighbours of the new houses can see in. Get some garden canes and plot out where the top new windows finish and vision lines. You will be able to make part of your garden private and when you are in the structure you can look back onto the garden and your house in privacy.

@crosstalk tell me about it…

I'd tell the builders you want them to pay for leylandii to be planted all along the perimeter fence because you've now realised how tall the building will be directly behind, they may go for it

Plant some fast growing evergreen trees at the end of the garden.

YANBU to be upset - I would be too.

I would definitely be immediately planting some fast-growing shrubs or trees across the end of your garden to provide you with a privacy screen. If you do it now, this is the beginning of the growing season so they should hopefully get going and be established before anyone new moves in. New homes take 6-12 months to go up, so there is no time to lose.

P.S. Please don't ask them to plant leylandii! If you do this and the new home owners don't maintain them, you'll find your garden is in permanent shade and gloom. Much better to plant something yourselves that you can control. Photinia or Portuguese laurel are dense and quite attractive.

You absolutely should have contested the planning application! People submit planning applications which push the boundaries and there is always scope for the plans to be changed.

I understand why you're upset but you really don't get anywhere for being nice!
The people who own the land next to our house put in an application to build a house less than 3m from our property last summer....no consultation, the application was full of lies and would have ruined our house. Of course we put in an objection! It wasn't approved and now they hate us but we have to live here.

Oh that’s so annoying. If you’ve got the cash, I’d build a summerhouse or similar with its back to the fence so you can sit and look back down your garden, and plant trees now so that screening will happen quick as poss. Or I’d consider trees or some kind of screening halfway down so that you divide it up into private hidden spaces. Relocate sheds/veg patch/compost to the end of the garden now?

Very silly not to have objected for engagement purposes.

I think you should still speaking to planning.

Loosing your complete privacy is simply awful.

Pleached trees offer incredible privacy and are worth every penny versus the alternative.

I feel your pain, we have an farmhouse that is over 160 years old which we have lovingly resorted over 15 years at great effort.

We now have a hideous new build right on top of us and not only that but they have angled the house so it's not facing parallel with the road but obliquely facing INTO our house. Our house runs perpendicular to the road as was the tradition when it was built, our gable faces the road.

This means that ALL our windows and doors on one side of the house are overlooked but this monstrosity.

Added to this they are LOUD and the wife is never done shrieking at the kids so our time in our own garden is ruined. They built their shed along our boundary wall so it's the thing we now see from our living room window.

I have to say I truly hate those neighbours as they have over an acre of land around their house and for no discernable reason plonked their ugly assed house AND their shed as close as it was possible to get them to us.

They have ruined my enjoyment of our garden.We're planting like crazy at the moment to try to screen them out but we also don;t want to block light into our own space.

It's a nightmare and you have my full sympathy

In relation to previous comment….Was looking at pent roof structures and saw this pick to help you visualise what I mean.
This photo is not a pent roof - it has an apex. But can you see that if you extended the roof slant from the boundary and made it a pent roof, you would not see the building work behind it? And the closer the structure is to you the less of the building you see. You could put a compost heap or storage behind the bit behind it?
You’d have to look at planning permission but you can go quite high. Annoying it’s best to wait until the houses are up to get sight lines correct.

@Rosehugger

conservation not conversation!

I do like the idea of a conversation area though!

The house I grew up in was in an idyllic position on the outskirts of a city. Huge garden, fields, hills and cows behind. Then they built a stretch of motorway through the hill. Never the same. Many people would call it progress though.

you have my sympathies, OP.
we live surrounded by Ancient Woodland, with tree protection orders on most of the trees.
Until a developer came along and bought the land, and a whole area of trees mysteriously became "diseased" and allowed to be hacked down.
We objected, along with most of our neighbours. There were badgers and bat roosts in there, so we got their protection agencies involved too. We collectively and individually objected about the unsuitability of the site, the fact that the sub-power station for our electricity is smack bang in the middle of it, as well as the trees and the effects on our single track road (which we maintain privately) of large lorries and building equipment.
The result? Lots of conditions attached to planning, which no-one cares about or is interested in policing, regarding wheer cars and vans can park. Some trees were earmarked for saving (including some potentially in my land-- another dispute!!) but whoops, oh dear, they were cut down before anyone noticed. They even took down my hedge (accidentally!!) Of course we will be be getting a new hedge (sometime in the next 20 years would be good, as looking at a souless building site day after day isn't fun), new fence, they will replant trees etc etc.
So don't feel too bad about not objecting- in my experience it just gets you nowhere, apart from wound up.

Platypus Exactly, the developers know all the tricks and it can be inordinately difficult to do anything other than inconvenience them slightly.

@SirChenjins

You can't really complain now then. You should have contested it and got them to make the house windows face a different way

You can’t ‘make’ the developers do that - that comes under planning conditions and only the councils can set those.

Well you can, I've worked for developers and if people kick up enough of a fuss they'll change the plans. Especially if you only want to change them, not stop them. They'll work with you. It's fuck all to them to angle the house round a bit. And the design department submit the plans to the council for approval, the council planning department don't draw up the plans.

Are the developers part of the considerate constructors scheme op? Ring their head office and find out who their resident liaison officer is for this project and have a chat with them, mentioning considerate constructors. They may well shift the house round a bit if they can. If you get an obstructive vibe, mention your local councillor/mp.

I do understand as this happened to my parents when I was young - not a long garden but a house built right behind them were there was a lovely view.

You can’t stop them building (as you know) but PPs have some good suggestions for privacy

Install a higher fence and some fast growing trees that you like. Get it done now so that when the new owners move in they can't complain about your leylandii or whatever because it will have been there when they looked at the place. Make the planting by the fence quite dense, it helps with the privacy more than just a few weedy tall trees.

@HulaTheHedgehog

Sorry *@mentalhealth323* Whilst you have my sympathy for a 3 storey monstrosity being 30 feet away from your house, I voted for YABU, because you never objected, and are now complaining. Sod being a NIMBY. You should have objected immediately. You really have no cause for complaint now.

I still feel for you though, and maybe (as some posters have suggested,) you could plant some fast growing trees that will grow the height of the 3 story house (ie leylandii ...)

As pps have said, never buy a house overlooking a field or woodlands and assume it will always stay that way. I would only buy a house opposite woodlands and fields if I could buy that land too (so no-one could ever build on it!)

I disagree with this narrative that the Op should have objected.

99% of the time objections from members of the public are ignored. The other 1% they are considered and then ignored.

There are basically zero viable grounds for ordinary people to object - and even if they managed to stall development, the developer can appeal and will very often win.

I've given up objecting, but have started trying to get changes made.

I always found the council to be on the side of the person objecting rather than the developers and architects. It’s normally hard to get a development through that overlooks and non previously overlooked house.

When you do extensions you have to be very careful.

@CrazyTimes123

Pegolas and gazebos are your friend here - your garden can still be an area of privacy and rest with a bit of thought x

This.

Something, even a section of L-shaped fencing that’s at least halfway down your garden will create a private area of garden for you that your neighbours can’t see into. You can grow plants up the fencing to make it more attractive.