Neighbours have no blinds

[FaFoutis]

My neighbours at the back have built a huge glass extension, the size of a petrol station, and it is lit up with bright white light. They have no blinds (they said they can't put blinds in it) so I have watched them have their breakfast and dinner and had the white glare all winter.

At the moment the woman is putting away the dishes from dinner wearing a pink tracksuit. I can see this from 5 of my 6 windows. It used to be dark and private before this eyesore and I'm finding it so depressing. The woman who lives next door but one to me has the same view, she talked to me about it and she cried. So not just me.

What should I do?
Option 1. Aim to piss them off so much that they get blinds (I don't believe the blind thing). I don't know how though. Install faulty security lights in my back garden? Get a massive sign that says 'get some fucking blinds'?
Option 2. Somehow screen them off. Their house is raised above mine and the extension is huge so I can't think how.
Option 3. Get therapy to stop being bothered by it.

I do shut the curtains, but there the fucker is again when I open the curtains.

I completely sympathise. I got new neighbours and their hideous extensions and new raised garden ruined all pleasure in my previously lovely private garden and house. I couldn't believe how invaded and gutted I felt. Sorry to say had to move.

@Nancy74

I totally understand op. If you’ve had themlick to have a quiet dark outlook then of course having huge glass box full of bright light all evening/night has completely changed the outlook from the back of your house. To say nothing of problems for birds etc. thoughtless light politician affecting neighbours/wildlife/dark sky is really crap (depending on where you are etc obvs) I live very central London so not really a thing to be upset about here
If not leylandii would a shade sail of any sort help ??

Drinkfeckarse

‘The luck’ and ‘pollution’. Apols - need to use spell check more carefully.

How did they get a planning permussion for that?

I thought of writing 'we can see you' in fairy lights. Or 'fuck off'.

My son is a teenager and his bedroom gets the worst of it. If I stop closing his curtains he won't bother to do it. That might put them off their dinner.

I like the commenting on what they are doing idea. My dc would do that.

You have my sympathy, OP. People whose house backs onto ours had a very ugly extension built, they have a huge picture window a bit higher than our ground floor, no blinds or curtains. It's like watching a film all day long.

Is there nothing you could watch on TV?

We have a very open space at the back of our house I would hate lights on out there most of the time, l love the darkness in the evenings etc.

I hope the screening works!

Shade sail! I thought such a thing might exist, but I was thinking along the lines of a cricket scoring board type thing. Thanks Heron.

It might come to moving Carol. It has ruined the way I feel about my house and I rarely go in the garden now. My sympathies to all of you who know what it feels like.

If they don't care that everyone can see them, and they're not walking around (or worse) naked then I don't think there's much you can do.

You could complain on the grounds of nuisance light pollution - that is a thing councils can take action against. But of your council's as useless as mine they'll probably do bugger all. (Light pollution complaints are more usually about outside lights).

On that note, don't start shining lights back at them, two wrongs don't make a right and all that, and chances are you'll be the one who gets the council ordering you to stop.

Op, I sympathise. I would hate that. Could you contact the council and ask them to come round one evening and look at your neighbou’s lights? They’d gauge their light pollution then too.

Otherwise, talk to your neighbours. Tell them how awful it is, tell them you can see them, get them to come round to your house and show them how it affects you.

Otherwise, screening....

You have my sympathy I would hate this. At the back of our house there are only bungalows surrounded by trees, for quite some distance so no chance of being overlooked. However one of the bungalows has had this type of extension and we can see the glow from hundreds of yards away.

I understand the petrol station glare, it’s the light more than the size and I can’t imagine living next to it. I actually can’t imagine that I would like to be living in it either.

If it’s really big I would speak to your local council about light pollution.

I do feel for you. I gave a neighbour 2 doors down with a massive high square wooden 'climbing frame' in their garden. It actually looks like a lookout tower from some POW camp. To have a massive highly lit extension sounds horrible. I find it VERY weird that they don't mind you looking in.

Definitely get a hedge! And whilst it grows make them feel as uncomfortable as possible. Staring out. Leave the son's curtains open. Get some really hideous garden ornaments and place them on top of your fence on your side. Gnomes. Anything that doesn't fit their aesthetic!

They know how the people they have affected feel kingfisher. One of the people affected is on the council, so I assumed there was nothing they can do.

Unless I got an industrial lighting rig I could not compete with the brightness of their lights anyway.

I see you the hideous glazed monstrosity and raise you naked neighbours ...
We own the land on three sides of them and are busy planting a woodland.

Something similar happened to people I know. They'd lived in their house for forty years, then their neighbour built an extension which meant they (the neighbour) could see right into their bedroom. The neighbour promised to put up blinds, but didn't. It felt very intrusive. I know it'd piss me right off if I couldn't walk into my bedroom without the possibility of someone staring at me through the window.

Cup of tea, tall stool, telescope pointed in their direction. Peer intently into their window light show and when they spot you, do wild gesticulations that bring your DH running to peer into telescope. Then talk animatedly amongst yourselves. For bonus points, pull out a notebook and ostentatiously make notes.

It would drive me nuts. One of the things I like about living in the country is the privacy and the darkness. I don't get people like your neighbours, I'd hate knowing that my neighbours could see my every move.

I am impressed with your use of English, OP - "Lit up like a petrol station" means I know exactly what you mean..

there may just be one opposite my house

Gnomes are definitely not their aesthetic. They have watched a lot of 'Grand Designs'. Garden too big to be bothered by a gnome but I could think along those lines.

This eyesore has a POW vibe too. My son calls it Hiroshima death campen. He is not taking history GCSE fortunately.

@FaFoutis

You could try the council. It's not just the light polution, but the privacy issue as well.

It is very selfish, I had a neighbour with a security light on a sensor that would flick on and off like a fucking disco all night every night.

A really fast growing tree is the Lombardy Poplar, around 3 meters a year. Then put in bamboo in pots(it will spread) in front. Also get an annoying bright light and point it at them. They might get the hint.

When they first built it I assumed they had no taste but am coming to realise it's actually a trend, a bit like grey kitchens and they are springing up everywhere.

Our neighbours when we lived in a vey large block of flats used to walk around naked, on a daily basis. We only had windows on one side, and they looked out pretty much onto our neighbours, who as likely as not, were naked. DH quite liked it.

If you go the planting route maybe consider mixed screening plants (see image) rather than a solid screen barrier that may emphasise and be a constant reminder you're trying to hide something.