Owners of four flats overlooked by the Tate Modern’s public viewing platform have narrowly won their privacy case at the Supreme Court.

Neo Bankside residents said “hundreds of thousands” of visitors to the world-famous London gallery were looking into their homes in a “relentless” invasion of privacy.

They wanted the gallery to cordon off parts of the platform or put up screens.

The High Court and Court of Appeal sided with the gallery, but the residents took the case to the Supreme Court and on Wednesday it ruled 3-2 in their favour.

It said a viewing gallery was not a “normal” use of the gallery’s land and that it was a legal “nuisance” to the flat owners.

The properties have floor-to-ceiling windows and the Supreme Court’s Lord Leggatt likened it to “being on display in a zoo”.

“Inviting members of the public to look out from a viewing gallery is manifestly a very particular and exceptional use of land,” he said.

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“It cannot even be said to be a necessary or ordinary incident of operating an art museum.”

Flats in the block – situated next to the Thames on the South Bank – go for a premium price, with a three-bed currently on the market for £3.4m.

The case will go back to the High Court to find a solution for the flat owners.

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