Conservatory Privacy

I suggest you post this in a legal NG. The DIY NG is more for people who wonder what paint to use rather than their right to use it.

Rob Graham

Big mistake on your part, getting them to take the fence down. You could have p'ss'd them off something rotten by painting the see-through panels on your side with coarse slogans in mirror-writing! Would have destroyed the 2nd hand value of the fence panels, for starters.....

I suggest using small mirrors angled to reflect light back at them and with any luck cause unpleasant glare; strings of garish winking Christmas lights - anything that can be placed so it doesn't impact on your view but catches them in the eyeballs every time they glance your way.

I doubt if you can do anything legally about their glass windows as long as the conservatory has been built according to the local regs about distance from boundary; height of structure, etc. But you can build a fence of your own immediately in front of those windows to the appropriate height allowed, with pole extensions for quick-growing creepers to climb up. In the meantime a set of posts with decorative display of bright coloured banners or flags of the world would serve the purpose, then come spring get those climbers planted and fed with the best fertilizer you can lay your hands on.

A L P

Put your own solid fence up, on your boundary. If their conservatory is that close it will be as good as painting the glass. ISTR planning does not allow for extensions right up to the boundary, but might be wrong. Check with your local planning office.

Mike

Thanks fellas. I have a man from the council's planning department coming to take a look this week, hopefully he will say "take it down" :) If not I will get the legal 2.2 metre fence put up slap bang next to their windows with a 4 letter word enfind in NT painted on in nice big letters.

And lash out on a few of those door spy gadgets - you know the ones, a little wide-view lens that fits into a hole not much wider than a pencil so you can peer at who's on the doorstep before you open the door. They are very cheap and would give the neighbours the uneasy feeling that you could be lurking behind your fence peering at them :-))

A L P

Thanks for all the tips, you guys amaze me and entertain me too, cheers.

I like that...

Mike

contact the planning enforcement section of your local council and ask if it is an unauthorised structure.

Yes I have a guy from planning coming to visit this week.

I thought there was a minimum distance from the boundary where the conservatory must be? I had a conservatory built several years ago and it HAD to be built a minimum of 1m from the boundary. If your neightbours conservatory is within 1m, they could be in trouble.

I was of the opinion that certain structures had to allow enough room for the owner to be able to walk around it i.e. to carry out repairs - CLEAN GLASS! without having to trespass onto the neighbours property

No, that's not so, at least in our part of the country. Regs may be different in different parts but we have part of our property bang in the line of our neighbour's and the neighbour the other side has his bang on the line with us. I believe the rule is that if we want to go round to maintain our property the neighbour has to let us do so at reasonable hours. We've never had to put this to the test because we or they just ask and it's allowed.

Rob Graham

" I believe the rule is that if we want to go round to maintain our property the neighbour has to let us do so at reasonable hours"

Eh? Really?

You express surprise. Is what I've said not a reasonable position? Or would you want to have to take your neighbours to court if you wanted to paint round their side?

Rob

We do not have a conservatory but an extension on the dining room and that had to be inside of the party wall line. Puts it about 4.5 inches from the line of the fence. It went up about ten years ago and the builder (a local highly recommended one) and his architect made sure it was fully in line with the planning permission / building regs. There are, however, no windows in the side wall which may have an effect.

You might as well throw paint stripper on their car as well.

It is a good way to start a war.

Adam

No I won't be throwing paint stripper anywhere it's too expensive to waste on trash :)

I would have thought that they would have been obliged to put in obscured glass as a minimum.

mark

My sentiments exactly. I will accept no fence but I want obscure glass as a minimum. They have a blind but they keep opening it which to me is NOT acceotable!