Big Col

Need Scoobynetters advice here..

My mate has decking in his garden which goes right up to his back fence. Due to the slope on the garden the decking is level with the grass at its front edge but at the back is about 30cm off the ground. The problem is when standing right at the back of the decking next to the back fence you can see over the fence into the neighbours garden.

This is on a new estate and the decking has been there for about a year before the house over the back was built. The problem is the new neighbour has asked that the decking is removed. The situation is somewhat worsened due to the slope the houses are built on. My mates ground floor is level with his 1st floor.

What's the legal position on this?

midget1500

no idea but i don't think you need planning permission for decking as it's not a "permanent structure". i could be totally wrong

the neighbour must be a bit of an *** as they would have surely seen this when looking at the new property?

LG John

There was some relatively recent case law where decking was regarded as an extension to the house (much the same as a balcony is). If any part of the decking is within 5m of any part of the house then its falls under Class 1 of the Town & Country Planning (General Permitted Development)(Scotland) Order 1992, as amended, which is the class the deals with alterations and extensions to a dwellinghouse. It sounds like there is a substantial amount of decking (in terms of sqm) in which case he may well have gone over the permitted development amount for his house. Under such circumstances the decking would have required planning permission and if the neighbour goes to the planning authority they may start enforcement action.

Enforcement action would probably lead to a retrospective application for planning permission (110 buck btw!) being made by your neighbour and it may be the case that the fence height would have to be raised. Worst case scenario he'd have to remove some or all of the decking. I'd sit tight and see what the neighbours next move is for now

P.S. I'm a planning officer

ProperCharlie

I'd toss a couple of dead animals over the wall.

Big Col

Cheers for the replies

Saxo Boy, if you don't mind could I email you a pic to give you a better idea of the situation?

Freak

Tell him to ram it.

Victor meldrew-moaning over someones decking.....

LG John

By all means As per profile

Tiggs

i am doing a deck at the mo, as the deck near the neighbours fence will mean that me (6ft6) will see over the fence (6ft6 less 6 inches of deck) i am adding a large trellis to the deck.

no one wants to have heads looking over fences, i'd have thought the deck bloke would be as keen to sort it as the new bloke.....id feel a bit of tit if my head was poking over the fence.

T

Big Col

Saxo Boy, YHM

Freak

How does the neighbour know there is decking unless hes been peeking over the fence...

Pete Croney

I can't see this myself.

Last year I put down a fair sized deck (48m2). On one side my neighbour has a 3ft fence and on the other side I have a 6ft6in fence.

Legally, there is nothing stopping me from taking down my 6ft fence and putting in a 3ft chainlink job and sitting there watching both sets of neighbours all weekend. Lots of new houses have just this, with only the first 8ft next to the house being a fence panel.

SB, maybe its different in Scotland.

LG John

It seems clear to me that the decking is over 5m from the house as is the shed. The decking and shed are also not within 20m of a path/road and closer to it than any part of the house and as the properties are modern its a fair bet that he isn't in a conservation area. The decking would appear to be easily less than 30% of the garden floor area and is certainly not higher than 3m!

On this basis, I am of the opinion that (assuming your mate lives in scotland as well!): under the terms Class 3 of the Town & Country Planning (General Permitted Development)(Scotland) Order 1992, as ameneded, the decking is permitted development and does not/did not require planning permission

Thats a long winded way of saying I think its ok

Get him to send that picture and a sketch of the garden with the dimensions of the garden and decking (including) height to the local authority (planning dept). Unless I've missed something then its very likely the authority will write back and confirm that its permitted development. Then copy that letter to the neighbour and its game over

If I recall breach of planning control is not illegal unless you screw around with a listed building so tell him not to get overly worried.

Big Col

Cheers

logiclee

What next, is the guy going to ask him to board all the upstairs windows up so he can't see into the Garden?

We have 3 foot fencing over four gardens, everybody has a chat and gets on with each other.

Some people Eh?

Lee