Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Oct 02, 2013 5:48 pm Hey guys Here's a short vid of a massive house going up behind us. [youtube]http://youtu.be/7WCaoUaoG_Y[/youtube] http://youtu.be/7WCaoUaoG_Y Builder said they will screen this with a screen between fence and house. There is some guide where looking out their window at a height of 1.8 m they are not allowed to look 9.5m into my property I can't work this out, surely if they stand at the window they will be over looking... I think the question I'm asking is does anyone gave an idea what it will.could look like and whether it will stop them overlooking. I'm fully aware it's their right to build...yadda yadda....and that it's usually the person who overlooks who ends up feeling uncomfortable ....but it's just so in your face at the moment. Thanks! Here is the regulation I found. 419. Overlooking (1) A habitable room window or raised open space of a building on an allotment must not provide a direct line of sight into a habitable room window or on to a secluded private open space of an existing dwelling on an adjoining allotment. (2) In the case of a direct line of sight from a habitable room window, the line of sight is any line measured from a height of 1·7m above the floor level of the habitable room and contained within the space enclosed by- (a) a vertical plane measured at an angle of 45° from each side of the window; and (b) a horizontal plane 1·7m above the floor level of the habitable room; and © the ground level below; and (d) a horizontal distance of 9m from the window. (3) In the case of a direct line of sight from a raised open space, the line of sight is any line measured from a height of 1·7m above the floor level and along the perimeter of the raised open space to any point within a horizontal distance of 9m from the raised open space and extending 45° beyond any point where the perimeter of the raised open space meets a wall of a building. (4) In the case of a secluded private open space, the horizontal distance of 9m referred to in subregulation (2)(d) or (3) is to be measured at ground level. (5) A habitable room window complies with this regulation if- (a) in the case where a habitable room window provides a direct line of sight into a habitable room window of an existing dwelling on an adjoining allotment, it is offset a minimum of 1·5m from the edge of one window to the edge of the other; or (b) it has a sill height at least 1·7m above floor level; or © it has obscure glazing in any part of the window below 1·7m above floor level; or (d) the direct line of sight is obscured by a permanent and fixed screen that has no more than 25% of its area open. (6) A raised open space complies with this regulation if the direct line of sight into the habitable room window or on to the secluded private open space on the adjoining allotment is obscured by a permanent and fixed screen which has no more than 25% of its area open. (7) A window referred to in subregulation (5)© may be able to be opened provided that when open the obscure glazing does not permit a direct line of sight on to the secluded private open space or into the habitable room window referred to in subregulation (1). (8) This regulation does not apply to a new habitable room window or raised open space that faces a property boundary if- (a) there is a visual barrier at least 1·8m high at the boundary; and (b) the floor level of the room or the raised open space is less than 800mm above ground level at the boundary. (9) The report and consent of the relevant council must be obtained to an application for a building permit in relation to a design that does not comply with this regulation. (10) In this regulation- raised open space means a landing with an area of more than 2m2, a balcony, a terrace, a deck or a patio; secluded private open space means any part of private open space on an allotment- (a) which is screened for at least 90% of its perimeter by a wall, fence or other barrier that is at least 1·5m high and that has no more than 25% of its area open; and (b) which is primarily intended for outdoor recreation activities. Re: How will they screen this ? 2Oct 03, 2013 11:48 am You'll find that those windows with a sill less then 1.7m from floor level that overlook your property must have obscure glazing OR some form of screening. This allows light into the room, but no-one can see out. When they use screens these are usually fixed outside the window much like louvres that are angled up so to allow light in BUT someone in the room can't look down; ie they can see the sky but not the ground. The regulations apply to habitable rooms only (bedrooms, living areas, etc and NOT bathrooms, toilets, stairways.) Hope that helps! Re: How will they screen this ? 3Oct 03, 2013 8:18 pm OurLindrum52 You'll find that those windows with a sill less then 1.7m from floor level that overlook your property must have obscure glazing OR some form of screening. Not unless the window in question specifically overlooks a particular window or space within a specified radius and angle. A window can have a perfect view into the neighbours backyard/house and require no treatment at all because the fence is *just* high enough to meet the cutoff criteria for the calculation or the angle of view is just outside the requirement of the regulation. Two windows side by side that essentially offer the same view can, upon application of the criteria for overlooking, be treated differently - one requiring obscure film, the other not. It's a little arbitrary in my opinion. Typical treatments for overlooking are a slightly taller fence, whether it be the fence itself or a lattice extension, obscure film up to 1700 high from floor level on the window, a fixed screen directly outside the window affixed to the house, or another fence or fixed barrier inside the property line between the fence and the house. Which ever way it is done, you can be assured that it will be built to the minimum requirement and you are likely to still have neighbours able to look out of their window into your backyard without too much hindrance. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: How will they screen this ? 4Oct 03, 2013 9:00 pm No helpful advice sorry but just wanted to say that I would feel the same way about that build, OP. Not nice. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: How will they screen this ? 5Oct 04, 2013 7:22 am If it's NSW they may have used the complying development provisions on privacy. My understanding of this is that if you the window is more than 3 metres from a boundary, you can have any windows at any height you want. If they're less than that then they must be begin at 1.5 metres high or screened. Re: How will they screen this ? 6Oct 07, 2013 1:33 pm At the moment we are fighting this from the other side ... ie. we are the people building a (not this) house with an overlooking issue into our neighbour's property. The said neighbour has been stand off-ish with us since the build begun AND was one of the neighbours that continually objected to our town planning (costing us lots of extra $$$ trying to meet his requests), his continued complaints are possibly whay made council push it thru in the end. Anyhoo .... back to the facts House is almost at lock up, said neighbour has contacted council and made a complaint about overlooking. Council man has called us (extremely abruptly) and demanded we do what ever we have to to fix this issue, or else they will put a stop works on the building and the actual council man will make sure HE personally inspect the property to do the occupancy certificate. Because of said neighbour's extremely un-neighbourly attitude, in addition to the way the council man (who we later established was a friend of the neighbour) handled the matter we employed a lawyer, town planning consultant, and a few other people to offer advice on where we stood and what we HAD to do, if anything. After our lawyer spoke to VCAT it appears that the said neighbour has no leg to stand on as the 28 days to object the town planning permit has passed, if he tried to stop works we are within our rights to sue for damages (as the screen doesn't constitute a structural defeat). We are trying to be neighbourly about the matter and realise his issue, and will attempt to put something up that doesn't block out ALL of our light - but because of his attitude it is not a priority for me. What I am trying to highlight is -be careful about the way in which you handle this, I wouldn't personally be happy about finding videos in the internet of my house like you have done -handling in a neighbourly fashion might (and I only say MIGHT) result in a better solution, after all you have to live next to this person -seek out advice, our neighbour and council threaten us, this forced me into 'fighting back' and seeking legal opinions and finding our exactly where I stood. Had it been handled more friendly, we would have responded more friendly. -Ask to see landscaping plans (the council should have them) to see exactly what and where to will be placing this screening -realise that ultimately they possible want to screen out your place as much as you want it screened ... I know as the neighbour overlooking, I have no interest in seeing another person's property You have no photo with your post. Best I can say is to remove an A&L flyscreen don't be afraid to distort the frame almost like a trapezium. It doesn't take a lot of… 1 7071 2 4491 Hello everyone Please advice me how can I install mesh security window or we cab say mesh flyscreen inside while the pvc plantation shutters are already installed? Is… 0 11606 |