Net curtains are not a legal requirement!!??

[NetcurtainProblem]

Have had a visit from the person whose house backs onto ours. We have small gardens so it’s very close (new build estate).

She asked me to get net curtains! Apparently it’s a legal requirement for privacy and modesty reasons when houses are so close together ?
That they can see me eating in my kitchen and can see directly into my bedroom.

If I’m getting dressed / changed I shut the actual curtains??

In the morning I do like to open them and have tea / breakfast in bed. I’m not doing naked pilates or anything!
My kitchen table faces out towards the garden but I fail to see how them being able to see me eating is a modesty issue ?

I explained I don’t like nets. Also I can see that they have nets????!!!!!

She told me she will take it further as it could be seen as a nuisance issue ?

😂

'Chilling'

😂

Actually I think a chemise made of something sheer and lacy, maybe an old pair of net curtains?

She sounds mental. However now you know they are watching you I’m not sure if like the thought.

How about some shutters?

She's a creepy pest. Why is she so obsessed with looking at and in your windows?

Reminds me of the time (25yrs ago) my neighbour told me she could see our silhouettes in the bathroom (frosted windows in both bathrooms, facing each other over a drive wide enough for two cars) I nearly died of embarrassment. Looking back now I can see that I was young and gorgeous and that my silhouette might not have bothered her so much if I had looked different. Honestly, just don’t look? It’s also just a body, if you don’t care that they can see you why should they care? I find some people so odd. They don’t have a leg to stand on here, don’t bother with blinds. I don’t have any in my kitchen, the garden is really private but if someone wanted to look then they could look over the fence or twist their body to look through their windows etc. if they’re willing to do that to catch a glimpse of my saggy titties then more fool them 😂

There was a thread a couple of weks ago where OP had a note from a whining neighbour because she did not have a blind in her bathroom. Neighbour was complaining she could see through the frosted glass.

There were some wonderful suggestions of how to react. You could have a lot of fun with this!!!

I would, but then I hate neighbours and would gladly take an AK47 to the lot of them.

I fully recommend she has a few days in Amsterdam, she'd be having fainting spells!

Obscured glass can sometimes be a planning requirement. Some house near me have velux windows at the back so they don't overlook pre-existing houses, normal windows on the groundfloor and a high fence, presumably it's ok for them to look into the neighbours bedrooms, but not into the living rooms.

Knowing the way things work I'm sure these were highly specified, high cost things. What I can tell you, without breaching the Official Secrets Act, is that they were very long (actually on purpose as anoher PP has said, to catch flying glass) and very dirty. I wouldn't be surprised if they have never been taken down and washed from new, which I suppose might make them rather good value for the taxpayers' money!

Oh,and yes, they were very heavy net, specifically to stop flying glass.

We get that through our living room window sometimes, with sunlight reflecting off a neighbour's house across the way. I draw the curtains for 20 minutes.

She'd love me. I have absolutely no window dressings on any of my windows!

she'd be told very firmly if it bothers her, to stop looking.

How can she see through her nets though? Does she open them to have a look?🫤

Doesn’t it feel uncosy? I don’t have nets because I’m not overlooked, but I like closing my curtains in the evening and feeling cocooned.

Whether I agreed with her or not I hate the idea of anyone seeing me inside my house (accidentally or otherwise). I like the fact my house is not easily overlooked and even my front door is away from passers by. So for me I would have to have blinds or something, not to appease the neighbour but for my own need for privacy.

I don't have curtains at my downstairs windows either, because the windows (and the rooms) are very small. No curtains makes the room feel much bigger and lighter, but it's cosy by default (little country cottage, no houses overlooking).

I have curtains in the bedroom but frequently don't bother to close them either.

Thanks for this. This has made my morning. 🤣🤣

She sounds batshit, I would tell there’s a law against being a nosy neighbour.

We have net curtains on our front living room window because it is truly massive and only about 4 metres from the street. We also have them in our bedroom because I can't stand having to close the curtains and put the light on in order to get dressed. There's no net curtains at the back at all.

I think I’d be deep throating a banana every day just for the shits and giggles 😂

The complainer has nets. She chooses them.

The recipient of the complaint doesn't have them and doesn't like them. She doesn't have to have them just because neighbour wants her to. That's the issue being addressed here.

And The Range, also Amazon.

I'm sure I didn't imagine this but have Googled and can't find anything: seem to remember reading many years ago that in the lease regulations of properties in Harley Street net curtains were compulsory.

At no point did I say or imply the poster “had” to have them!

I was replying to a comment saying something like “who has nets nowadays, anyway?”

People can do what they like, I’m not bothered! Just answering a poster. 🤷‍♀️

That poster was correct though. Hardly anyone does have them nowadays as they aren't "on trend" and are seen as dated not like they were in say the 80s when nearly every house had them. So her conversational comment was justified in the context of this thread.