Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Apr 15, 2010 3:54 pm Our rear neighbour is planning to build a rear verandah on the first storey of their two storey house, which has full view overlooking into the back of my block. The width of the verandah is equivalent to the width of the house. Their land is sitting almost 1m higher than us. What can I do? What would you do if you were me? Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 2Apr 15, 2010 4:02 pm They shouldn't be able to do it. Can you approach your local council and talk to them about it? There are rules regarding overlooking other people's personal space. Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 3Apr 15, 2010 4:18 pm somewoman They shouldn't be able to do it. Can you approach your local council and talk to them about it? There are rules regarding overlooking other people's personal space. What? So if your house is higher than the fence then you cant have a window above that fence line? I doubt that. If I were worried about your privacy I would have a privacy screen made up. I was just at a house the other day, the client did not want to look into her neighbours house, as the neighbours house is only around 1M from the boundary, so they would like us to build a screen that bolts from the fascia to the wall they have built. It will have laser cut aluminium panels, for some reason the neighbour that is close to the wall is the one that was complaining and also petitioned the council to say that they did not want our client to build the wall any higher??? What? You want them to be able to see into your windows?? So a privacy screen was our clients only option, that way, our client does not have to look into their neighbours house and Mr Complainsalot can look at some nice decorative steelwork! Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 4Apr 15, 2010 4:32 pm It various from state to state and council to council, but somewoman is correct. Windows and open living platforms must not invade privacy of rear yards of surounding properties. Also, Their upstairs windows on your side will need to be highline style in any bedrooms or passagways etc. Can only speak for Perth but it is very rare to see a residential suburban dwelling with a balcony at the rear of the house. ( Ive seen a few in the hills but we are talking blocks in the 2000-3000 sqm bracket ) Timeline Aug 08-Land Mar 09-Demo/Titles Sept 10-Handover No1 Sept 11-Handover No2 April 12-Sold No2 Aug 14-Land/Demo Jan 15-Slabs viewtopic.php?f=31&t=25736 Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 5Apr 15, 2010 4:59 pm Echo It various from state to state and council to council, but somewoman is correct. Windows and open living platforms must not invade privacy of rear yards of surounding properties. Also, Their upstairs windows on your side will need to be highline style in any bedrooms or passagways etc. Can only speak for Perth but it is very rare to see a residential suburban dwelling with a balcony at the rear of the house. ( Ive seen a few in the hills but we are talking blocks in the 2000-3000 sqm bracket ) Fair enough then. I dare say smaller blocks like the ones around where I live have different laws that apply to them. I've got a 6M high extension going up at the moment that has windows facing both sides, on one side they are just louvres on the other, well, it's a wall of glass. It made it through council, I'll be getting blinds, my neighbours don't want to barf when they see me walking around in my undies (puke lol). Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 6Apr 15, 2010 5:40 pm I've built in Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide, and in all cases was told that windows overlooking neighbours need to be obscured or moved. So yes, state by state and council by council. Even if a council would generally allow it I think you should at the very least be able to have your concerns addressed. It is a direct invasion of your privacy Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 7Apr 15, 2010 7:01 pm Nathan SteelFab somewoman They shouldn't be able to do it. Can you approach your local council and talk to them about it? There are rules regarding overlooking other people's personal space. What? So if your house is higher than the fence then you cant have a window above that fence line? I doubt that. If I were worried about your privacy I would have a privacy screen made up. I was just at a house the other day, the client did not want to look into her neighbours house, as the neighbours house is only around 1M from the boundary, so they would like us to build a screen that bolts from the fascia to the wall they have built. It will have laser cut aluminium panels, for some reason the neighbour that is close to the wall is the one that was complaining and also petitioned the council to say that they did not want our client to build the wall any higher??? What? You want them to be able to see into your windows?? So a privacy screen was our clients only option, that way, our client does not have to look into their neighbours house and Mr Complainsalot can look at some nice decorative steelwork! Nathan you will have to post some photo of the finish job, sound like a great alternative to the standard slat privacy screens. Cheers Lou http://take2-customdesigndownslope.blogspot.com 07-10-09 omg they have cut the block 14-05-10 we finally have the keys Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 8Apr 15, 2010 7:52 pm Hi, Our house that we are building is double storey. Our main bedroom is at the back of the top second storey - and we wanted to small balcony overlooking our backyard and pool. However, our neighbours were concerned that our balcony would overlook their yard. The council allowed the balcony but we had to build a privacy screen on the left side of the balcony. So we still have views to our backyard - but just cannot see their backyard. This was perfect anyway - as we did not want to overlook their yard! Regards, hills_builder Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 9Apr 16, 2010 10:06 am Nathan SteelFab If I were worried about your privacy I would have a privacy screen made up. How does the privacy screen look like, any pic? I know of privacy screen build on the balcony like what hills_builder did but have not come across what you have mentioned .. With such a big balcony that they are going to build, there would be potentially activities and noise arise from the balcony. I can't stopped them from what they want to do on such a big balcony ... And of course my main concern is privacy. Who would want your neighbour to be sitting on the balcony enjoying the hills view and at the same time giving them opportunity to stare into people's back yard. Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 10Apr 16, 2010 10:19 am Trouble is the block is just vacant and there is no private space. (Apart for the wombats private space). Your only option is to build a house and get occupancy before they submit plans. But off course this will take time. a lot longer then building a deck. Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 11Apr 16, 2010 10:39 am I've just done a fast sketchup of what it is that we are thinking of. http://users.tpg.com.au/nklobouc//DEMO_Model.pdf I've converted the CAD to .pdf. Let me know what you think. Finish can be painted or powder coated. Powder coating can be the exact same as colourbond or many other new and great colours such as pearls. Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 12Apr 16, 2010 10:56 am How much would you expect those angled posts to cost? We need to get something like this to enclose our cat yard with, although will be using mesh rather than metal plates. Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 13Apr 16, 2010 11:29 am My guess around $130.00 each + G.S.T based on 65x65x3 RHS with a couple brackets to mount to the fence. I would get the client to powder coat or galvanise the posts themselves to save money. Or if they want the whole job done I arrange all of it. For small jobs like this it's best for them to get it done, I still have to pay the same minimum charge as everyone else does. Estimated cost of galvanising is $60.00 Estimated cost of powder coating $100.00 Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 14Apr 16, 2010 11:41 am We are on small Vila blocks and every house on one side of the road has to have privacy screen to one side of their balcony (all are double story). But just remember, these people probably want to look into your back yard just as much as you want them to (ie. they do not want to look into your back yard lol). They wouldnt be building the balcony specifically for that reason. Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 15Apr 16, 2010 12:10 pm Echo Can only speak for Perth but it is very rare to see a residential suburban dwelling with a balcony at the rear of the house. Also in Perth. 756sqm block and all the two-storey houses in our street have balconies at the rear of the house . The council rules are that the balcony has to be so many metres away from the neighbours. The same applies for windows. (I have forgotten how many metres it has to be.) We had to have a privacy screen on one side of the balcony, because on that side it was too close to the neighbour's. On the other side we can look into that neighbour's yard and at the back as well, obviously. So, it has nothing to do with if you can see, but only to do with how far away you are. Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 16Apr 16, 2010 12:36 pm Nathan SteelFab sounds like a great idea. We live near the bottom of a hill... and so far every house that is being built on the hill that we've snooped around.. can look directly into our backyard. There is no house directly behind us yet... so when there is that house should block out the view of everyone else. However because of the land that house will most definately have to be on stilts.. so will definately look into our backyard. Will definately have to consider something like you are suggesing when we move in. Our new house - moved in but so much more to do! https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=31696&p=442009#p442009 Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 17Apr 16, 2010 12:50 pm In Perth it depends on the R codes. We have a front and rear balcony and because one side of them was less than 7.5m away from the block to the side then we had to screen it off. I believe the same will be true to the rear, but as we are 12m away we did not have to worry. Also have highlight windows in all upper bedrooms as they are too close to the boundaries for normal size windows. The builder will change or the council will reject anything that does not comply so you should be OK. Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 18Apr 16, 2010 5:28 pm somewoman I've built in Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide, and in all cases was told that windows overlooking neighbours need to be obscured or moved. So yes, state by state and council by council. Even if a council would generally allow it I think you should at the very least be able to have your concerns addressed. It is a direct invasion of your privacy Yes, I will check with the council. I am building in Sydney, the Hills Shire. Does anyone know if council has any constraints/restriction on rear windows of the house? Constraint such as size, proportions/ratio of windows, no. of windows or even obscure window ... etc. Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 19Apr 16, 2010 5:38 pm Ms Builder We are on small Vila blocks and every house on one side of the road has to have privacy screen to one side of their balcony (all are double story). But just remember, these people probably want to look into your back yard just as much as you want them to (ie. they do not want to look into your back yard lol). They wouldnt be building the balcony specifically for that reason. Of course their intention of having that rear balcony is not to overlook into my yard. But frankly, if I have a rear balcony that can overlook into my neighbour yard, I don't think I can help myself from not looking into theirs when I am out at the balcony for some fresh air ... would you? ... haha Re: Neighbour building rear verandah on 1st storey overlooki 20Apr 21, 2010 1:24 pm Does anyone know if with such a neighbour house built with a balcony overlooking into my backyard, would that affect the price/valuation of my property in future? Any advice would be much appreciated ... Hi there, We’ve recently had plans approved to add a 1st storey addition to our existing house for a growing family in Sydney. With the current cost of building… 0 1025 Hi, I'll be starting on my verandah repair soon - replace ledger, rafters, roofing iron, flashing etc. (fascia board already done). My question is about the timber ledger… 0 931 1 1346 |