Primrose Hill residents are locked in a planning row after the owner of a £5.75m townhouse built a roof terrace that neighbours say invades their privacy.
Residents claim the terrace in Rothwell Street allows people to look directly into their bedrooms and bathrooms.
The terrace was completed without planning permission in November 2024 and includes seating, a table, an umbrella and a worktop with a sink.
The owners, who bought the Grade II-listed north London home in 2023, are now applying to Camden council for retrospective permission.
Documents show it is “for the installation of free-standing composite decking system lain on the surface of the existing roof”.
But residents of Rothwell Street and nearby Regent’s Park Road say approving the decking would “represent a de facto change of use of the entire roof area to a roof terrace”.
Frank Lord, 61, bought his five-bedroom, mid-terrace home at 114 Regent’s Park Road in 2025. The American father of two, who works in sales, has raised a formal objection with the council.
He said his daughter, 31, was left “in tears” when she had to crawl out of the shower in April after seeing people on the roof terrace looking towards their home.
He said he had been forced to move the bedrooms from the back of the house towards the front for increased privacy, and that he permanently partially closed the blinds on the back of his house to prevent people looking in.
Frank Lord said his daughter had to ‘crawl’ out of the shower to avoid being seen – Jack Fifield/SWNS
Mr Lord said: “We bought this house because we wanted absolute privacy, and we paid a lot of money for the house.
“Then we moved in only to find out we don’t have the privacy.”
He added: “At a minimum they should put up a piece of opaque glass that is tall enough that somebody who’s six feet or under couldn’t be seen peering over it.
“That way, if they’re up there, my daughter doesn’t have to worry about building a shelter so she doesn’t get seen in the bath tub.
“They should just spend whatever it costs to put up a glass wall, and at least for me, it would be done and we would go back to being good neighbours.”
Mr Lord: ‘We bought this house because we wanted absolute privacy’ – Jack Fifield/SWNS
Victoria Hooberman, 57, who has lived opposite the home with her husband Ronald, 83, for 30 years, wants planning permission to be refused. She is worried about her neighbours looking directly into her bedroom and people shouting during parties on the roof.
Mrs Hooberman, who has a terrace of her own, said she was “astonished” that the structure was built without planning permission. “It’s subtly depressing and subtly stressful. You do not feel as free and easy in your own home,” she said.
Comments lodged on Camden council’s planning portal include one from a resident who said they feared allowing the terrace would turn Primrose Hill into a “modern-day San Gimignano” – a Tuscan town famed for its skyline of medieval town houses.
However, others have shown their support, with one person saying: “The works undertaken have been completed to a high standard and have materially improved the property’s appearance.”
A housekeeper said the owners would be away for several weeks.
Camden council will decide on the application at a later date.