What can I do about light completely blocked in my kitchen window?

Question

My husband bought the house over twenty years ago and the kitchen in the window gave light into the kitchen however approximately 20 years ago while my husband was very ill previous next door neighbours boarded our kitchen window so we have no light and it gets quite dark. What on earth can we do? Can someone just block off our window kitchen window?

Answer 1

NOBODY has a right to block your light. If you cannot remove the obstruction yourself, be sure to get somebody to do it for you. What a cheek these people had to interfere with your property. This sort of bullying makes my blood boil, and if I lived near to you I would personally remove it for you. Let us know how you get on.

Answer 2

If you own the house then no they can't.  

You have the right to take down the boarding if it is on your property.  Even if you window looks out onto their boundary you can still do this.  

A new window isnt that expensive, just rip the hardboard off, you may be surprised there might be no damage to the window at all.

Answer 3

No, they cannot.......Whats the thumbs down for?

Answer 4

Well, they did do it   The real questions are did they have a right to do it and what can you do to fix the situation.  You have a complex issue that I could see as part of some law book.  Students would be arguing over the priority of different rights.  Let me try to take them apart:

First of all I am assuming that you live in a city. Your house is built right next to theirs with an adjoining wall or not.  But I would expect that there is not a lot of room around the house.  

The amount of room around a house is usually set by local laws.  Often is is zoning laws that dictate the "setback" from the road and the minimum clearance you must have when you build a new structure on a property.  

Part of the process of building something like an extension is filing for and receiving a building permit.  The permit application should include a drawing of the lot and the location of the proposed structure.  Typically if it does not comply with applicable laws the permit will not be issued.

There is something called air rights.  This is the right to the space above your property.  Sometimes you don't have air rights like often when you live in a flight path of an airport.  Some buildings I have seen in NYC and Boston were built using "air rights" overtop of an existing structure (a road.)  The question of light coming in over a neighbor's property is a little more ambiguous.  There have been cases that uphold the right of a person to a particular view (a river or park) but generally you can't dictate what your neighbors build.  

The laws or your particular locality will govern.  Perhaps the permit was never requested,  Perhaps the permit filing was flawed in another respect.  Perhaps either your deed or theirs has a restriction (like an easement) in it that may have been violated.  Perhaps your rights to the view were violated.  You will have to take these issues up with the proper professionals.  

They will undoubtedly advise you that there is another concept under the law.  That is the concept of "Adverse possession."  This says that when someone has taken your property rights and clearly and openly held them for a ccertain period of time (I have seen 7, 10 12 and 20 years), they gain rights to that property.

Two things are also clear.  1. For some reason you did not say that you purchased the property with your husband 20 years ago.  2. This is not a "do it yourself" question.  For you to get the "relief" you desire the neighbor's 20 year old extension would have to be removed.

A "do it yourself" alternative would be to make a light box out of the window.  You have seen the same sort of things where they have sample bedrooms or kitchens set up in a store and the display has a window in it.

Another thing might be to do something tricky with a skylight and mirrors.  This might be more of a contractor project.

Answer 5

Is the extension part of your house or their house?

Is this two separate houses not connected or like a duplex?

If it is two separate houses then you can remove the cover.

Answer 6

no they cant, they should have got planing permission first, which ye can object to, i would talk to a solicitor about this,  

Answer 7

They have no right to board over your window. However you've seemingly accepted it for 20 years, which might make things difficult. You need to speak to the planning people at your council.