Legal advice on neighbour law and dormer windows

Questioner

We have been granted a permit to place a dormer window. This will be built less than 2 metres from our neighbour because we live in a semi-detached house. The dormer window will be placed on the side of our roof and will look out onto our neighbour's roof. We have made the plans known and discussed them with the neighbour. He has now stated that he does not agree with the placement and wants to invoke neighbour law. He believes that he no longer has any privacy because we can look out onto his roof window from our new dormer window and if the window were open, we could hear him talking. He is alone and the roof window is in his bedroom. He wants the windows to be tinted and the windows to be fixed. I don't think tinting is his problem (after all, I'm looking out on a roof), but I do have a lot of trouble with closing one window because then I can no longer reach the outside of the chapel (maintenance) and I can't clean the windows either. Can we install the dormer if the neighbor does not give permission? Even if we tint the windows? What are our chances if this goes to court?

Lawyer

The description of your home in relation to the home is not entirely clear to me, but the rule that applies here stipulates that there would only be a 'blinding obligation' if you can see 'the yard' when looking straight ahead (i.e. not diagonally) from the dormer window. There is no obligation to install windows that can never be opened. In this regard, see this statement: http://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/inziendocument?id=ECLI:NL:RBUTR:2012:BX1226 4.16. On the basis of Article 5:50 paragraph 1 of the Dutch Civil Code, it is not permitted, unless the owner of the neighbouring property has given permission, to have windows or other wall openings, or balconies or similar works within two metres of the boundary line of this property, insofar as these provide a view of this property. Section 3 of Article 5:50 of the Dutch Civil Code stipulates that the distance of two metres referred to in that article is measured at right angles from the outside of the wall where the opening has been made, or from the outer edge of the projecting work facing the neighbouring property to the boundary line of the property or the wall. This third paragraph must be interpreted as follows. The first part of this provision (“rectangular from the outside of the wall where the opening is made”) refers to window or door openings and clearly states that only windows and doors that, viewed from the position in front of the window or door opening, provide a view straight ahead of the neighbouring property, can be in conflict with the provisions of Article 5:50 paragraph 1 of the Dutch Civil Code. The second part of the provision (“from the outer edge of the projecting work facing the neighbouring property”) makes it clear that only the edge of a balcony (being a projecting work), over which one looks straight ahead of the neighbouring property, can be in conflict with the provisions of Article 5:50 paragraph 1 of the Dutch Civil Code. In another ruling, the judge came to the conclusion that a window must be tinted if you can see (when looking obliquely) 'the yard' (in that case 'the garden') of the neighbours. So there are certainly arguments to be made as to why you should not have to tint your window, but if your neighbour goes to court, you run the risk that you will still have to do so, because your window is within two metres of your neighbour. However, there is no rule that says you shouldn't open your windows.