To ask for advice about right to privacy from our neighbours

[Colourofspring]

I have posted about this before but the situation has got worse. We live in terraced housing with small back yards & our neighbour has built a massive garden room that fills the whole back yard pretty much and looks directly into my 12 year old daughters bedroom.

The neighbours have teenage boys and yesterday (and for the last few weekends) there have been large groups of teenage boys in the garden room looking straight into DD’s bedroom so she has to sit with her curtains drawn all the time. I feel like it’s not on on multiple accounts - it’s also really noisy and impossible to sit in our back yard quietly too but I am more bothered about how much of an invasion of privacy it is for my DD.

Aibu? Anyone got any advice? Am feeling pretty pissed off and resentful about it to be honest - I feel like our peace and privacy is being invaded. It’s really tricky in terraces anyway as it’s such a small space!’

To add- the garden room was built under ‘permitted development’ but i question this!

Get some of that one way glass fitted. Get one of those daylight blinds from dunelm or the day /night one from IKEA, you can't really see through them. Put some trellis or better fencing up.

Unless you can change bedrooms the only alternatives are privacy film or blinds. The neighbours are in their own property so I'm not sure what else you can do really.

I take it that they did get planning permission?

How does a garden room look into a bedroom? Is the bedroom downstairs? Do you have a fence?

You can buy rolls of cheap plastic film that cling to the glass and create a translucent effect. We have it in our bathroom as it was once a bedroom. Still need to close curtains at night, though, when the light is on.

You can easily check what's allowed. We have one being built and there's size and height restrictions

I must add that planning permission would be refused if a new window looked directly into a bedroom. Do you need planning permission for a garden room?

No they didn’t get planning permission- all done under ‘permitted development’

I think a garden room is like a conservatory so under a certain size it's permitted, assuming it has some sort of sunlight roof.

Build the fence up and sort some screening. I don't think you can object to them using their house any more than they could object to your dd being in her room. If you genuinely think it's not permitted get some photos and email it to your local planning departmen, they will be able to let you know. Our neighbours built a 9ft high fence and the planning dept came out and made them reduce it.

Their yard is kind of raised and they built they room so it looks directly into Dads bedroom - it’s hard to explain without a photo but we have tiny yards and their wall is low. I’d send a picture if it wasn’t so revealing of who I am!!!

They made a big deal of it being ‘permitted development’ but I don’t think it is to be honest

One way privacy film cheap and take about 5 minutes to do problem solved

Get some privacy film. Then DD will still be able to see out but they can't see in.

Can you put a fence on your side of the wall?

If it’s permitted development there is little you can do. I very much doubt teenage lads are staring in. Put some one way film on the glass or put up voiles. I recall your previous thread, why didn’t you just do that then?

But it's permitted so you don't have any recourse via planning (which is what I was getting at). If you think there's something dodgy about the build look into it, otherwise you're still in the same position.

Put some film on the window.

A group of teenage boys is doing nothing wrong by hanging out in one of their back gardens and and they are probably a lot less interested in looking through your daughters window than you seem to think.

Put a garden sail up that blocks their view.
https://zephyrsailshades.co.uk/products/waterproof-sun-sail-shade?variant=41687176216758&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwudexBhDKARIsAI-GWYWahfd4x36Vd8m1NApjjMg5a0chl5UeERUXVks6IzN9tfhNXfJyI2saAsmxEALw_wcB

My last post was about the very bright lighting they put up which I spoke to the neighbours about and they have kind of toned it down a bit but not loads.

I am thinking of speaking to them again but actually some of the ideas here are good- we might try and get some of that bamboo roll fence to block off some of the visibility!

For permitted development it would need to only take up 50% of the existing outdoor space on their land; if it takes up the whole garden as you say it may have breached this (unless they have a big drive out front). It also shouldn't be within 7m of their rear boundary so again if it fills the whole garden that would be a breach. Might be worth checking? Could you put a fence up?

Honestly I'm not sure what you can actually ask them to doz please don't sit in your new room ?

Privacy film is your answer and it's not expensive

@Colourofspring I assume you mean a glorified shed rather than an extension to the house?
If it's as big as you say, I doubt that is was permitted development. Extensions and outbuildings can't cover more than half of the plot (so including the front garden as well,).
How long has it been there?

About 6 months!

If you think it has fallen foul of rules for permitted development then report to the council.

Right well you need to speak to the planning department at your local council and ask them to check. If they've not kept within the (pretty precise) limitations of PD they'll be made to apply for retrospective planning permission and if they don't get it they'll have to take it down. They won't like it but I think if they've got groups of teenage boys looking into your daughter's bedroom the relationship has probably already gone.

Meanwhile invest in some really good blinds for you daughter's room, the sort that let a decent amount of light in but which you can't see through.