to think my grandma is entitled to some window light!

[samithesausage]

My grandma lives in a ground floor flat/maisonette. The way the flats are designed, everyone has a backdoor and a front door, including the upstairs.
My Grandmother's hallway is very dark, but it has a window quite high up to let light in.
The window (and ledge) is also on the wall where the upstairs flat access their back door.
Upstairs have piled up a load of cardboard boxes, bits of wood and general junk on this ledge blocking her light.
She wants them to move it, because her view when she looks at this window is junk.
Neighbours upstairs say it's on their stairs, so she doesn't really have a say in it, they can put what they want on their stairs..
Just thought I would get aibu for a second opinion!

Dont believe there is a right to light however it seems to be anti social behaviour and possibly a fire hazard. Who owns the buildings?

i would say it's a health and safety/fire hazard and have the building management order them to remove it

Rented or freehold?

If appealing to the neighbours goodwill has failed, you could approach the fire service to do an appraisal about the fire hazard aspect?

Or, given the nature of the clutter, perhaps the local council as it could be an environmental hazard (rats)?

She rents, they rent , but it's a private landlord. My grandma knows the landlady personally, but she's a little bit reluctant to say anything because she doesn't want to cause any trouble.
I want to take a photo of it and text it to her landlady, not in an official complaint sort of way, but a "could you have a quiet word".
My cousin wants to clear it away and dump it on their front door step!

Erm, surely they've already started the trouble by dumping rubbish all over the communal area?

She needs to complain to whoever owns the stair - freeholder, managing agent or council. Piled up rubbish in communal areas is almost certainly against the terms of upstair's lease of their flat and a fire hazard. You can also complain to the firebrigade as they will have done a fire risk assessment at some stage.

If it's just a hallway, it might not be worth the hassle. Presumably your aunt doesn't spend much time in her hallway needing to look out the window.

There is a right to light.

Not my area at all, but I think it is usually enforced when building (particularly office blocks and flats) are being built so they don't block the light of existing buildings. Unsure how it works with private renting but surely the landlord doesn't want the tenants leaving rubbish all over the place.

I would try to persuade her to speak to the landlord on this issue.

OP, what about if your Grandma trips in her hall because she can't see where she's going? Why should she be using electric light during the day to light up her hall if there's a window that she can't get light from ?

If you have a window/door/opening onto someone elses property they always have a right of way/access to be able to carry out maintenance and cleaning. So the property it backs onto is obliged to keep access to it clear at all times.