Do my neighbours need planning permission for a new fence?
PROPERTY CLINIC: Do my neighbours need planning permission for their new fence that blocks my ground floor flat’s bathroom window?
- Homeowners can carry out some minor works without planning permission
- In terms of planning permissions, new fences can’t be any taller than two metres
- We speak to a planning expert about what your options are to raise a complaint
I live in a ground floor flat in Walthamstow in east London. The garden outside the back of my flat is split between me and the flat above so that their part of the garden is outside my bathroom window.
The neighbours have put up a fence immediately outside my bathroom window saying that our window affects their privacy, but our window is frosted glass and we only open it for ventilation etc. Surely they need planning permission for this?
In terms of planning permissions, new fences are not allowed be any taller than two metres
MailOnline Property expert Myra Butterworth replies: I am sorry to hear about your situation. It must have been a shock to find a new fence directly outside of your bathroom window.
Apart from blocking out the view, it may be blocking out light. We speak to a planning expert about whether planning permission was required and where you may be able to go from here.
Martin Gaine, a chartered town planner, replies: Homeowners have what is known as permitted development rights (PDR). These allow them to carry out some small-scale and minor works without needing planning permission.
One of these rights allows the erection of a fence, wall or similar – the only real requirement is that it can’t be any taller than two metres (one metre if it is close to the street).
The first thing you should do, therefore, is to check how tall this fence is.
Homeowners can carry out some small-scale and minor works without planning permission
If it is less than two metres tall then I do not think there is much you can do from a planning point of view. It is likely that the fence is lawful and does not need any kind of planning consent.
It may seem crazy that the planning system allows neighbours to block each other’s windows like this, but the authors of the permitted development rights probably did not imagine that the right to build a fence would be used in this way.
However, there may be some other legal remedy, outside of the planning system, that can help you.
For example, you may have a ‘right to light’ through your window, a form of legal easement that could prevent your neighbour from obstructing your light.
A right of light can be established if the light has been enjoyed unobstructed for a period of 20 years and you may be able to obtain an injunction against the fence or some kind of compensation.
Contact a solicitor or right to light consultant for advice bespoke to your situation.
Martin Gaine is a chartered town planner and author of ‘How to Get Planning Permission – An Insider’s Secrets’
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