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.

Thanks Bubble I think that's the hornbeam thing a PP was talking about. I looked them up and am going to order some, they look lovely and it's cheaper than moving.
Bell-ends seem to turn up on threads about massive extensions and chopping down trees, they are usually in favour of both.

I would fill the entire garden with pergolas in that situation SirVix.

I know what you mean. I did no gardening at all this year.

Motion detection security lights that are sensitive enough to be activated by a cat, and then get a cat!

"Hell is other people", Jean-Paul Sartre.

I totally get the frustration of light pollution.

With that said, it doesn't sound like there is an easy fix to the problem itself. There are blackout blinds that velcro to the edges of the windows. Could this be a solution in the rooms where the light bothers you the most? (We have some in the bedroom that we inherited from the previous tenants and they are almost 100% effective at blocking out light; I really like them actually)

I would talk to them, and suggest the bamboo screen. Perhaps they could put something on their side so it won't need to be so high. If they won't do anything to help the situation I suggest putting up a big mirror so they can see themselves, or a small one on an angle so the light reflects back on them. If all else fails buy your kids Lazer pointer lights and let them annoy the neighbours that way.

People on here can be utter wankers.

Of course you fond this difficult. You are being forced to look at them.

We had the same, it was awful. We planted mature (expensive...) bamboo to screen it. They built right up to the boundary line, plate glass. We can't fence it off without losing some of our tiny garden. They don't seem to care that we can see their every move, in fact they seem to.like it.

I would move, how awful to be staring at strangers all day.

There are some right knobs on this thread. Op used to have privacy and a nice outlook, now doesn't - is in the wrong!

Op that would drive any normal person nuts. People are entitled to privacy in their own homes.

Hope you find a solution op. Your comments are hilarious!

This would piss me off too OP.

As an aside, this thread has been useful for me as I need to look at options to replace screening plants at the back of my garden and there are a few good suggestions here.

I would hope that they start to get naked. I had a neighbour who deliberately danced naked at her uncurtained bedroom window. I advised her that the teen boys in our home could see here daily and were enjoying the show. She continued so I spoke to the police. She was spoken to and threatened with being charged for something or other. The police told us that she was enjoying being watched

We have bamboo on one of our boundaries, put in by previous owner, does excellent job of screening next door which is up a slope from is.

Eucalyptus is one of the fastest growing trees in the world OP.

No idea how much space you have between your house and the boundary, but something else to consider that isn't bamboo, Lord have mercy on our souls

(My neighbour has bamboo, it must be the clumping kind as it's only spreading under the fence a little bit rather than rampaging away all over my garden)

I asked why you can't draw your curtains ?

I never got the obsession with huge windows. I like my privacy too much. Maybe some viewing parties in summer? Invite the neighbors over and sit outside on chairs facing the neighbors watching them eat dinner every evening?

How is drawing the curtains going to solve OP’s problem with light pollution in the garden?

Do they live in the garden at night?

OP I'm missing something - if your neighbours lights offend you, why do you not have curtains or blinds to close at night?

Salli, were you wearing a pink tracksuit yesterday?

I haven't read was everyone's posts but I've read some and all of OPs

You can complain to environmental health about the light. It comes under nuisance legislation and should br treated in the same way as noise. Just all up your eh dept/noise or nuisance team and talk to them-it doesn't have o be a formal complaint in the first instance.

Secondly you can buy panel trees for screening-the second picture on that link shows a fairly new 'hedge' it'll look better once it's established.

So sorry for you, so upsetting. Totally get it.

Terrible trying and preview still isn't working-sorry

That site is good Don thanks very much. Tree privet looks like it would help. It's a bit cheaper than hornbeam.

OP, some of your comments are just so funny 😂

I would despise that, I’d just have to move. They sound so snobby. I couldn’t deal with people being able to look in to my house.