Putting fence in raised garden- neighbours

[sweetpickle23]

I have tried to draw a diagram to explain this, but I don't know if it will make sense!

I am buying an end terrace on a row of terraces that have steps up to the front door- down the side of my house is an alley for access to other houses gardens, these houses are at street level so are lower down than my house (see diagram). There is a house behind the street level house on this pic, also at street level.

As a result, my back garden overlooks a back garden of this house- you can literally look down into their garden and their living room etc. The garden currently has a short wall, however we will want to put in a higher fence for various reasons. I understand legally we can put a 6ft fence in, but could they take issue with this?

I would think from a privacy perspective it's better as we won't be able to peer in anymore (not that we would be peering anyway as a matter of course but it's almost impossible not to, you are literally on top of their garden)- but if it obstructs a view or sunlight, where would we stand legally?

Rubbish pic attached!

The planning portal has the rules. Normally 2m in back gardens maximum height. But measured from where? The ground your side of the wall or the other side? I've also seen something about the original ground level, but how would that be determined?

World a hedge work instead?

I'd speak to them beforehand. Better to get on and explain your plans and any concerns they might have. I think they'd be grateful for the privacy!
We had double gravel boards at the bottom, plus a trellis bit at the top. I 'think' (might be wrong) that overall it can be taller than 6ft due to the trellis bit at the top not being counted. I wanted as tall as possible! Don't forget to ask for hedgehog holes in the gravel boards.

If it was measured from the other side @Rollercoaster1920 the it would be about 10m just to the wall that already exists, so it must be from our side.

Ideally I'd do something like this, to make it 6ft total (from the ground on our side).

We want to cat proof which is why it needs to be fence!

My garden is kind of like this, but the fence was already there.

Firstly, have you done a shadow analysis to see where the shadow of the fence would fall ? This can easily be done on google.

Secondly, Re the current state, my guess is that if your neighbours actually were concerned about privacy they would have put a fence up on their land already.

The problem is if the house is in some orientations, the fence could cast a large shadow accross their garden making it quite difficult for them to grow anything, including grass.

I would also check the deeds to see whether it mentions anything about fences and maybe check to see what local guidelines are about fence height.

Thanks @GasPanic I will look into the shadow analysis now.

The neighbours have a fence up, we can still see over it. There is only a narrow alley separating our garden from theirs so I can't stress how literally on top of them we are!

The casting a shadow is what I'm concerned about- we need to cat proof the garden, its a non negotiable for us, but I'm worried this won't be possible.

I've just read something that says a fence can be 2m legally unless it's next to a footpath in which case it can only be 1m.

This could be where we get into a pickle- does an alley count as a footpath? It doesn't lead anywhere except to the back garden of the house that we overlook.

It seems like cats can climb anything!!

Would that fence make the garden cat proof?

I suspect it will probably be possible. The question is whether it will cause a row or not, whether that will lead to potential action and what chance that action has of succeeding. That's something you can only take legal advice on.

People generally who have been in a place a long time don't like change and if they wanted things differently they would probably have already done it.

You need to be a bit careful of convincing yourself in your head that they must like your ideas because they get better privacy. It may be that they value the light more.

Remember that from their side any fence will be a lot more imposing and if it does shadow their garden it could stop a lawn from growing etc.

Sorry @NewIdeasToday should have been clearer- in order to install cat proofing, you need fence to start with (or wall, but needs to be 6ft). The fence itself is not the cat proofing 😊We have cat proofing on the fence in our current home which works great.

Thanks @GasPanic I certainly don't assume they'll like the idea because of better privacy- it was just a possibility that occurred to me. I realise they may hate it, hence this thread!

The alternative idea is something like this on the low wall- wouldn't block light out but would keep kitty in. Although it's obviously the much uglier option haha

@sweetpickle23 your fence so it is two metre high. does not matter how high at their side, my neighbour and i have a retaining wall which is about ten feet because they are lower than us.we could put 6 feet fence on our side and still be legal. the wall between you and your neighbours is a retaining wall not a dividing wall.

The best thing to do would be to have a chat with them about your plans. Some people are completely unbothered by anything, other people are bothered by everything so you never know until you ask. Do you know if the neighbours own the property? If they are renting short term they may not care so that makes it simple.
I don't think an access alley counts as a footpath as you are entitled to privacy in your back garden and lots of peoples gardens have access alleys alongside and they still have 6 foot fences in the back. The footpath is the public pavement which runs in front of (usually) the house.
I moved into a house last year and the very first thing we did on week 1 was install a huge 6 ft boundary fence. The top 1ft is trellis so it felt less exclusionary. I was really worried about whether the neighbours would say anything, but no one cared and we got compliments on our nice fence panels!

The law says 2m total height so that is ok but the picture you included seems higher the 2m with the wire sections and very ugly, prison like - if that takes you over 2m then they would have a basis to complain.

The picture is just illustrative @gotomomo, you can buy all different heights and obviously wouldn't exceed 2m total. Agree it's not the most attractive, but cat proofing rarely is! The least offensive stuff definitely requires 6ft fencing to attach to.

We have something like the first picture between us and our neighbours. They are to the side of our garden. When we moved in there was just a low wall between us and we could look down into their garden. We have a dog so needed something higher so she wouldn’t jump down into their garden (and injury herself as a big drop!). We had a 2m fence put around the whole of our back garden. The fence on our side is 2m but from their side it comes well above their ground floor windows as they have a maybe 2m wall and then our fence. We spoke to them about it before we did it and they had no objections. Maybe we were lucky though as they’re great neighbours and very laid back!

What about a roller top rather than cat proof fencing attachment? Looks like it would work even with a lower fence (unless they learnt to Fosbury flop completely over the fence of course 😁)
oscillot.uk/

Thats the one I ideally want @Judashascomeintosomemoney and why I started this thread- sadly needs a 6ft fence or they'll just be able to jump clean over

Can you not put a steel grill fence in instead? They're sturdy with real fence poles but won't block the light. Also won't rot or blow over in a storm!

Fencing on a boundary not forming a boundary with a road can be up to 2m in height, and that height includes trellises or anything else on top. The height needs to be measured from the existing ground directly under where the fence would be sited. If there is a huge drop in ground levels at the other side making the fence appear very high, that is OK. Hope this helps

You need to speak to the council as to which rules apply. You could submit a planning application for anything above that.