Neighbour asking me to turn off outside security lights

[DLL1]

New neighbours have moved in next door to me and asked that I turn my security lights off at the night time. This is because they are (supposedly) shining into their landing and they sleep with the bedroom doors open and don't have a blind so it is going through into the bedroom.

They haven't said they will get a blind or curtain or shut their bedroom doors but want me to turn my lights off instead.

We have nothing but trees behind us so it's very dark without them on.

We have had the lights for 1 year and the family who have just moved out of that house never complained about the lights.

I turned them off last night when they asked but don't want to keep doing so as I paid a lot of money for them and like the garden to be lit up at night.

Am I being unreasonable if I refuse to turn them off during the night?

I like to have music in the garden at night so I have a stereo on outside all night, loud enough that my neighbours can hear it in bed.
They say that it disturbs them and have asked me to turn it off, but the previous neighbours never complained.
^
If this is unreasonable then so are your lights. Get a PIR switch on them or turn them off at night.

YABU, purely based on the environmental damage of electricity use and light pollution FOR A SPACE TO BE LIT UP WHILST YOU'RE ASLEEP alone.

That's before you get to the VVVU aspect of light pollution in your neighbour's house...

I'm going to buy lower wattage bulbs see if that helps

No, put them on motion sensor only. I'd have to move if my neighbour was doing this. I'd get no sleep even with black out curtains / blinds the light would come round the sides (and they're also expensive for large bay windows).

Yabu.

If they were motion sensor ones I'd understand but jut wanting your garden lit up, well I don't get why tbh.
I dont blame them for.complaining.

Why do you need them on all the time? Surely the ones that come on with motion are fine?

They only light up the area where our side gate is into our back garden. They can't see any of the lights from their bedroom windows but I will turn them off at the night going forward as I did last night when they asked I just wanted other peoples opinions thank you!

You need to alter them.

We were told by the police that all security lights do is give intruders enough light so that they can see what they are doing and are so less likely to make noise.

If they’re up/down lights on the side of your house, they’re not “security lights”. They’re regular lights that you keep on all night because they give you a feeling of security that your house isn’t sitting in darkness. Totally unnecessary to have these on all night, and also entirely useless to protect against actual threat, unless you also have CCTV and alarms!

Fuck me, what a massive waste of electricity.

You like your garden to be lit up so everyone else has to suffer?

Blimey, YABVU!

Why on earth do you need these lights on all night? Light pollution is a pain in the arse.

My sympathies are with the neighbour.

Its good to read you will be turning the off at night from now on. There really is little point in having them on, if someone wanted to break in they wouldn't be hindered by some outdoor lights which remained on all evening.

Additionally it will probably reduce your energy bill quite substantially.

Your old neighbours probably didn't sleep with the bedroom door open, or they had blinds.

They must not disturb your sleep otherwise you wouldn't have them on, so think about how the neighbours feel when they're not even their lights.

Hopefully the lower wattage bulbs work but otherwise you need to adjust them or turn them off. They don't need to be on but people do need to sleep and putting up a blind just to shut out your lights is an expense they shouldn't have to meet.

You're turning them off going forward so my post is redundant!

I had this issue with a neighbours security light shining straight into my bedroom, even with the curtains it’s was really bright. I just asked nicely if he could re aim it which he did straight away and we were both happy. It’s really not that hard to compromise

YABVU.
I literally couldn’t stand living next door to someone who insisted having their house lit up constantly, there’s just no reason to disturb other people like that.

Its not great for wildlife either.

www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=513

YABU. Light pollution, waste of electricity, bad for wildlife, annoys the neighbours. Switch them off.

As they are on all night I think YABU. It’s bad for wildlife and the environment and disruptive to your neighbours. Can you get them changed to motion activated?

Motion activated are also more effective at scaring away intruders, btw!

You are being very unreasonable, why would anyone need their garden to be lit up all night long? Anyone who has had someone else's lights pouring in to their house all night long will feel for your neighbours. Yes they need to get a blind/curtains too but they won't stop your lights affecting their sleep. Light pollution is something for which you can be prosecuted.

Fuck me, what a massive waste of electricity.

And what a great contribution to light pollution.

I love it when it's proper dark (our streetlights go off at midnight or thereabouts) and you can see shedloads more stars. Living next door to OP would drive me absolutely demented. Even with thick curtains or blackout blinds, we get a bit of light leaking round the edges when the streetlamps are on.

x post - good call OP!

fair enough to light up the garden whilst you're using it but not all night. Very wasteful and adds to light pollution.

YABU and ImallrightJack. The giveaway in your OP is the word 'supposedly' in brackets, thing is you don't have a problem with the lights (because they're not shine into your bedroom duh) so you're finding it hard to believe they do. Ask yourself why they would make it up? It doesn't make sense. Clearly, the lights are a problem for them and you need to do something about it. Either change them to lights that are motion activated so they're not on all the time or position and angle them differently.

What are the lights for? If they stay on all the time then surely they aren't actually security lights, are they? Why does your garden need to be lit up all night? You are creating light pollution and it is a nuisance.