Are those fences yours?

Are those fences 6’ tall?

What does this sentence mean: ”I was going to line the fence with trees but there is a 6’ easement”? Is the easement on your property?

"When my subdivision was built there wasn’t supposed to be anything built behind us." Was this statement said to you in writing or verbally? "A verbal agreement is a contract even though it is not in writing. Assuming the contract is valid, it is a binding agreement between two parties or business. While certain verbal contracts are considered enforceable, they are problematic and complicated as the amount of information often varies for each case."

https://www.upcounsel.com I'd get a lawyer.

I think trees are your answer. In the first picture you can see how the tree next door will provide quite a bit of privacy after it's leafed out. Go ahead and landscape your yard with a fence, trees and shrubs, put in the pool and enjoy it. Unless someone in the apartment building is using binaculars, they won't be able to see much.

No one in those apartments is giving you nearly as much attention or thought as you are giving them. And as the buildings are so far off, a well placed tree/sunshade/umbrella would block the view

It would be somewhat of an investment but you could look at landscaping the perimeter of the yard to include arborvitae shrubs and the like depending on your plant zone, just to minimize the full view of your yard. Could have like a pergola or small pavilion with privacy curtains too. Sorry this happened, we were told the same thing and then 2 years after building our home they suddenly cleared the land behind us and we lost that privacy except ours is just more homes behind us so putting up a fence was enough.

Green Giant arborvitae trees are wonderful for blocking views year round. Look to see if they would work in your area. They won’t grow as fast as you’d like, of course, but they do grow fast if given some care the first couple of years. Other than that they are pretty maintenance free.

There have been so many threads on these forums with this exact question. Maybe look through these and see if any of the ideas appeal to you - there are lots and lots of suggestions that could work:

Backyard privacy

When the existing trees leaf out, they must provide some screening. Add some more trees, but use evergreens.

I would consider perspective: you could plant and still those on the third floor of the apartments might be high up enough that they would still see into your yard. I would befriend a tenant and ask to see the view of your yard from their windows or balcony. Or look up units on zillow and see if there are any pics of window views.

As someone who has lived in a city my entire life, I'm used to a lack of privacy. It just seems natural to me to live within someone else's view.

An excellent landscaping company can plant some very large trees that will provide immediate impact and privacy. They will require serious water to keep alive, not to mention a high expense. For reference, we had 3 trees planted that were only 8-10 feet tall and that cost about $3000. The wholesale tree lot had trees that were already 30 feet tall, take a crane to plant and the trees them selves can cost $10-30k.

Another option is to put up sail shades in the summer or when you use your pool. Hire a landscape architect with pool experience to help create privacy.

Good luck and post updates!

Honestly you live in the city and IMO privacy is more in your head than in fact. Most people have better things to do than spy on you all day. I think umbrellas, trees placed well and the sun sails will provide more than enough privacy. Use the sunsails well placed while the pool is being used.

This gives me some great ideas!!! Thank you.

Thank you all! Some amazing ideas here.

Regarding the fences, they are mine and the easement is on my side is six feet from the fence, meaning anything I plant or build within 6’ feet of the fence in my yard can be removed or destroyed by the utility companies. I had originally planned to plant mature trees there for privacy, but given the cost I do not want to risk having them removed down the road if one of the utility companies wants to do work.

Regarding people not worrying about me, that may be true. Either way I have approximately 24 balconies facing my yard and prefer to be less visible. If a solution only cuts that in half that is still worth it. I hear people’s music and arguments (very awkward) and dogs. Two in particular spend all their outdoor time barking at me, lol. I hear and see less when the trees fill in. The apartment people also dump in the green belt, mattresses in particular. So I had a view of a disposed of mattress for almost 6 months. City came and got it, but there is another one today. Even if I only end up blocking the parking lot and mattresses, it’s a win.

Good luck. Also, trees planted closed to your patio than the fence will give you more privacy.

Several trees, not in a line but attractively placed with large flower beds around them, around the 6' mark. A pergola with vines on it (including with an arbor as 1 or more "walls" of the pergola), with your patio and/or hot tub underneath it.

You'll want a landscape architect or designer for the pool. Get them in sooner rather than later--even if you don't install a pool for a few years, you'll want the trees or whatever you plant to be in the right spot.

Remember that trees closer to your house block better than ones by the fence (until you go to the other side of the trees of course). So it's pretty easy to screen a patio area compared to screening the entire yard.

Incorporating a berm into the landscape plan will give you a jump start on creating a vertical screen, whether you plant trees on it or install screens. It will taper down on the easement side so trees won't be uprooted if maintenance is ever required. You have a large lot, bringing the trees/screen closer to the house will still give you plenty of yard.

Placing the pool in one of the gaps between apt buildings or on the side where there are fewer apt windows may give you more privacy, and adding a waterfall feature could be another layer of vertical screening, plus help mitigate some of the apartment noise. If you build a lounging area, include overhead screening, like with a pergola or a covered roof, and orient it to face the house so you aren't looking at the apartments, especially at night, and they won't be able to see you.

ETA: Gaining privacy is certainly a big consideration, so is screening your view so you have something beautiful to see, not just the apartments looming over your home.

As others have said, a landscape designer can help you figure out a plan. The name of the game these days is "density," but if you bought when you wanted wide open spaces, it's understandable how you would feel so surrounded and exposed whether people are looking or not.

Maybe a couple outdoor "rooms" defined by pergolas would give you a sense of privacy by blocking the full view of those big buildings. One could be for eating outdoors, the other for lounging back there. Hardscaping with gravel spaces/pathways and perennial borders would give you a views fromt the pergolas.

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Privacy issues are not really about whether or not someone is actually watching or spying on you.......as noted, most folks have better things to do :-) It is more to do with the feeling that one is on display. That sense of exposure produces a feeling of vulnerability or insecurity. Even partial screening can go a long way to deflect that feeling.

You do not need to line your property with a solid row of trees. Even with the easement, you have plenty of room and few well-sited trees will immediately start to provide a sense of enclosure. And if they are well-selected and sited, you won't need many, can select larger specimens and the expense should not be exorbitant.** Also, unless you spend a lot of time in your backyard in winter, they need not all be evergreen. You can fill in the areas with some larger growing shrubs to provide additional screening and to provide some context for the trees.

It might make sense for you to engage the consultation services of a landscape designer to help you with the best placement. The closer the trees are to where you spend the bulk of your outdoor time and feel the most exposed will provided you the fastest sense of screening/enclosure and privacy. And you really need someone there with you onsite to help make that determination.

** planting 3 trees 8-10 feet tall at a cost of $3000 IS exorbitant! I do this for a living and in a very upscale, high COL area and no way would 3 trees of that size and their planting cost anywhere near that amount. Unless they were very exotic trees being planted in impossible-to-plant-in soil.

If sitting under patio cover, there's still open view, so I suppose you'd have to build its roof farther out into the yard. Can have ceiling louvers. Or Home Depot large wood one.

"Solisysteme Louvered Pergolas protect from Sun, Rain, Temperature. Light & Ventilation Control Louvered slats on pergola can open to let in sunlight, and close to provide shade or block the rain. Downspouts are hidden inside the columns, essential as they redirect rainwater away from the house. 175 wind / rain 9”hr."

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Do you need patio to be covered above? maybe side retractable would do it.

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Placement and roof in this direction might hide just a bit more.

Can a plastic, large enough go partly over the pool?

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[Could spend money on that pergola instead of by the house.]

I live in a city, 50 ft wide property, back yard about 50 ft deep. I built a big deck and planted 3 trees, just a few feet from the edge of the deck. It gave me immediate privacy, and as they've grown they provide lovely shade to sit under, right on the deck.

A section of my deck needed more, so I put in some uprights, and added strategically placed pieces of lattice. I can still see my own yard because the lattice is open to the view of my landscaping, but when seated and standing I can't see any neighbour's windows. This is the idea.

Yes the trees were expensive bc the landscapers had to use a front end loader to dig the holes in our very rocky (and near ledge) soil. Trees, materials and labor are expensive near Boston. And during the height of the pandemic we paid an additional premium for excellent work done in 8 days (trees were part of a larger garden project in a tricky site, including a retaining wall, cedar fences, bluestone patio). My southern family would have a coronary if they knew what we paid for the total scope. Do we love it and use the garden now? Yes!

About where are you located?

Those are great ideas for fast screening which will be nice even after longterm plant screening comes in.

If you give yourself some time, you can get a pretty tall not-a-fence. :P Grow some vigorous vines on that fence. Many will keep going. Some will flop onto the other side (who cares? let them!). I don't know your climate, but some woody vines will just keep going up.

I only have a 5 ft fence across my backyard. But I have over 20 ft of vertical privacy thanks to a combination of Lady Banks rose and some kind of Hedera ivy, welded together into a deadly vertical hedge with Mermaid rose. Now, I wouldn't recommend the ivy because it's a spreader, and the Mermaid is a thorny nightmare that throws up shoots a dozen feet away, and even the thorns have thorns. (Lady Banks is nice to deal with.) But plants with similar growth patterns might work.

The utility company isn't LIKELY to dig up stuff, especially it it's right along the fence. They just CAN if they have to. If there are wires above, you want to miss them because utility trimmers don't do a nice job. But it'll be a rare emergency that requires digging.

seems like easements should be forgiven since the city/county renegged on the no-tall building promise. alternatively, is the 6' easement to the tree trunk? would that give you enough space in your yard for your pool? what are those super tall and narrow cedars? they make great privacy (per my first sentence---no 6' high limitation with the tall building u-turn.)

Wayfair and Home Depot sell "outdoor shade structures." Honestly, a couple of those, though pricey, would give you overhead privacy in a way that higher fencing will not. Maybe one could be a screen gazebo. Then get professionally designed landscaping and hardscaping to give yourself ground-level natural beauty to look at from your outdoor "rooms."

I don't know how an easement could be changed if there are power or gas lines already buried there.
I think the suggestion by JT of berms (or even terracing) at the 6ft mark is brilliant and will give you protection from views much more quickly. You'll have to plan carefully so the soil stays in place and water doesn't just leach out quickly, but it can be don