Is this actually legal?

[Lima45]

Two doors down are building a raised decking/balcony thing (attempting to attach pictures, fingers crossed it works)
Our gardens are on a steep slope downwards, meaning that this decking is hugely above the lower bits of the garden. They're doing it themselves, so I'm also worried about the safety aspect of it. But if they're standing on their new bit of DIY they'll be able to look straight into my kitchen and definitely into my garden over our 6ft fences.
So is this actually legal and safe? There's no building permission logged for the house as I had a nosey around on the council website already, mainly due to the constant sounds of drilling etc going on over there.

i have no idea if that's legal or not, i would assume it is. maybe once they are finished they might put something on the side for privacy.

There is a height restriction above which you cannot raise the level without pp. i would have thought this exceeds it.

Limit is 30cm above natural ground level. If it is on a slope it needs to be within that at some point.

Nope, council will insist they get planning permission or issue an enforcement notice. See www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/11/decking

Apart from anything else its bloody ugly and incredibly selfish of them.

There is no legal right to privacy from overlooking.

If there was then half the houses in the country would need to be demolished.

You should call your planning office to see if they need/have got planning permission or building regulations approval.

You need to contact the council, and yes, there is such as thing as protection from overlooking, it is the reason that windows between houses have to be a certain distance apart.

My own planning permission to extend my kitchen states I am not allowed to remove the 6'6" wall at the rear of my garden as it would allow views from my kitchen window into the lounge windows of the houses over the road behind my house.

Maybe in Victorian times you could just put up houses without consideration for those around you but any planning portal will tell you that you cannot have windows overlooking, that there are rules on angles for the distance someone next to you can extend and that decking cannot be raised more than X number of cm above the ground without planning.

Someone near to us did exactly what these people are doing, gardens sloped down away from the house, but worse, the house with the raised decking was higher up the hill. They were made to remove it.

We called our local council and they told us there's no permissions for the house. Got bounced around 3 different departments and in the end given the email for the enforcement office, who apparently don't have a phone number.

Have emailed but no response or acknowledgement that they have received it. So no idea if they're going to look into it or not.

I think that they have put up the fence with trellising so that they can't see and as there is another panel in the garden I wonder if that's meant to go up in the gap?

That's kind of what we were thinking with regards to the extra panel. Also it appears that there's no way onto the decking from the garden so maybe it's a make shift balcony?

Among other things I'm not 100% sure how sturdy it is? Also it's the owner (tenant??) who is doing the work. Can't actually ask them as they either don't speak English or refuse to acknowledge me when I try to speak to them. It's a house that's been converted into two flats

There are small kids living there in one of the flats but I don't know if they'd have access to it or not?

I'm just very uncomfortable with them being able to see into my back windows from there, add in DIY work that appears to not have permission and I'm feeling very uneasy about the whole thing.

Did the council not have planning for the conversion of the house into two flats? It would definitely need it. I suspect the terrace thing would be illegal too.

The flats were converted years ago and that was all done legitimately.

Nothing for this new decking/balcony though...

What does the neighbour between you and the DIY terrace have to say about it?

Honestly I have no idea. She works all hours and I rarely see her. This has popped up in the last four days and between me working nights and her working days our paths haven't crossed.

However DP (disabled and homebound unless I'm around to drive him) has heard raised voices a few times this week from the front...

Have they taken down part of your neighbours fence to do the building work? I’d be raging if I was your neighbour. Looks shite for you but bloody horrific for your poor neighbour!

the council departments will not be back in office until Monday so you won't hear before then

Yep. I'd be raging rather than just mildly miffed if they were next door to me. I think that technically the fence they've removed is "theirs" according to the deeds, as "my" fence is the one to the left in our garden. Although those of us that have been here a few years all tend to go halves if fences need replacing but that's neither here nor there.

Will attempt to have a word if I hear neighbour going in or out over the weekend and see how she's feeling about it.

I’m just shamelessly place marking.

It's hideous and will probably start to attract vermin to the area. Report to council planning dept.

@Clangus00 me too

Not gonna be much to report for next day or so.

Next door Neighbour is out.
No response from the enforcement dept (emailed them on Wednesday when all this started)

I have emailed our local councillor to ask him to chase it up as I have no idea if enforcement is the right department.

But won't hear anything til Monday at least.
Will update when someone has got back to me or I've managed to talk to my next door neighbour.

Working again tonight so I'm going to go get some sleep before starting at 8

I'm sure the council will get back to you. You could always write them a letter if you think your email has been overlooked. Lots of councils don't allow balconies.

It's massive, hideous, and looks like a death trap. Also what's all the 'stuff' underneath it? Looks like concrete slabs of some sort? I'd imagine the neighbour is going wild! They've clearly shoved some 'privacy panel' in at the side to try and placate next door not being overlooked First string winds will bring whole lot down.

*strong