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?

YABU. Are they pointing at their home? If so, you are breaking the law.

It's nice to know you're going to turn them off going forward, that's very considerate.

I am wondering, though, why do you want them on all night? What spurred you to go from having a dark garden at night to lighting it up?

I think my poor frugal Nan would live an anxiety-ridden existence if I did something like that. She gets twitchy when I forget to turn off the bathroom light.

Well done OP you're turning them off.

I'm sorry but even motion sensitive lights are an utter pain. They trigger with foxes, cats, owls and even moths flying close (as they will do). And as PPs have said, constant lights aren't a deterrent to burglars. Motion sensitive ones likewise because they trigger for most things.

You have nothing but trees behind you "so it's dark when they're not on". Why is this a problem? if you need to let a dog/cat out you could presumably just have an ordinary outside light and they'd be fine without it anyway. Ditto taking bins out in winter.

Sorry - we had neighbours like you with back and front garden motion sensitive lights. It drove his four neighbours mad - you could see them three houses away and woke us all up even with black out curtains or shutters. It would have been worse with them on all the time.

I think it's somewhat unreasonable to keep your garden lit all night unless you are up all night. But I also think the neighbour has a responsibility to get a blind if they don't like light coming in.

It would be different if they had blinds and it was shining through but as they don't they can fuck off.

It would be different if they had blinds and it was shining through but as they don't they can fuck off.

What a pleasant thing to say about someone. I bet you're a fucking delight to live next door to.

Hate all the lit up trees and colour changing lights shining out over the river where I live.
Never mind intense so called security lights.

It’s night.
You’re causing light pollution, and affecting nighttime creatures like bats and moths.
You’re contributing to global warming, for something that doesn’t even benefit you as you sleep.
Your light pollutes my house and garden.
Does it stop burglary? Hell no, everyone I know who’s been broken into at night lives in a well lit urban area. There’s literally no darkness in parts of London. Where houses still get broken into.

If you seriously fear burglars, get a dog and a decent alarm.
Don’t kid yourself your bloody annoying lights are going to make any difference.

It would be different if they had blinds and it was shining through but as they don't they can fuck off

Bollocks to that. People shouldn't have to go and buy and fit black out blinds because some other twat wants to flood their house with their stupid lights!

What a nasty attitude turtle. I am so thankful I don’t live next door to such a selfish, aggressive person. Just tell them they can fuck off. Really?

They need to be on movement sensors really, you don't need them on all the time.
Nocturnal light pollution is bad for the local wildlife and it doesn't do humans any good either.
Your electricity bill will be lower too.

Gardens are meant to be dark at night - security lights that come on and off with movement are ok (ish). Your neighbours will have to get a blind to stop that bothering them - they are being slightly unreasonable too.

But seriously, who wants their garden lit up? Maybe it is just us as we live rurally and don't even have street lights - but I want my garden to be dark at night! Our next door neighbour has a movement based security light that does my head in - but at least it isn't on all the time.

I like the dark.

YABU - new neighbours at the back of our old house put these up and even though not directed at our house - suddenly our bedroom was lit up every night. They took no notice of polite requests to adjust them. Many people are afraid to mention problems to neighbours - afraid of aggressive response, tit for tat complaints, having to declare officially when moving - so just because your old neighbours didn't complain doesn't mean they weren't upset by the lights. It's reasonable to expect quiet and darkness at night. Why should they shell out for blackout blinds (which aren't a perfect solution anyway) through the house because you like your garden lit up all night every night?

Appreciate they're new so you don't want to set a precedent but sounds like they've got a point! Those and wind chimes really affected us in our old house - it's not fair to cause incessant noise and light pollution for neighbours.

Thank you for turning them off. The bane of my life. Unfortunately the lights directly shining into my bedrooms are those new LED street lights. So awful and nothing I can do.

We have movement only and they have never caused a problem but even l would not want the back garden lit up all night, what a waste of electricity

Bollocks to that. People shouldn't have to go and buy and fit black out blinds because some other twat wants to flood their house with their stupid lights!

This.

Neighbours out the back of us (well it was the previous one who installed the fucking thing) have lights on the back of their house (which is raised slightly from ours as the streets are on a hill so they're almost level exactly with our upstairs windows) which shine straight outward directly into all the rooms at the rear of our house. Mahoosive stupid watt lightbulbs as well. Then their stepped decking also has little spotlights in all the step edges which again - shine straight into the rear windows in our house.

Even with blinds and curtains they go right into our bedroom, and going to the loo in the night when they've got them on feels like you're taking a shit in the centre circle of Wembley with the floodlights on.

The guy who installed them was a thug with a history of trespass into our garden who was likely to just physically assault me if I asked him to consider adjusting them, so I just sobbed when he installed them and put them on every single night all night... the current residents don't often put them on thank goodness - but have a habit of putting them on and then going away for work for weeks on end.

It's hell. We've had to move the kids out of the back bedroom because of this plus garden noise from another neighbour - so we're basically in the box room with only room for a bed in there - just to avoid some cockwomble with 9000000 watt lightbulb fetish.

I'm not exaggerating (apart from the lightbulb wattage) - there must be 10 spotlights and then these two huge flat to the vertical wall of the house lights out there - it's like someone's plonked the Outdoor Lighting aisle from B+Q aimed directly at my back windows!

we had neighbours who had that, directly shining into our bedroom.
awful

My motion sensors come on so we can see the lock to open the door at night - that is literally their only function.

it is light pollution op. no one can see the stars with all the bloody security lights

Why on earth do you need to have your garden lit up all night? Do Iggle Piggle and Upsy Daisy live and play there after the sun goes down?

We have a neighbour who installed lights at the beginning of this year, not PIR, they just light up the whole area all night and penetrate through thick curtains. We thought they would get changed to PIR after they saw how much their electricity bill went up but no! Must have more money than sense.
I now can't lie in bed watching the stars or leave my curtains open to wake naturally with the dawn. The wildlife has been affected especially the birds - None of my bird boxes were used this year. So to answer your question you are being very unreasonable and environmentally irresponsible.

We have blackout blinds and the LED streetlight still shines into our bedroom window around the edges. It wakes me up and I hate it. Light pollution is very disturbing to people and wildlife.

YABU. It's well established now that night lighting disturbs wildlife (as well as neighbours!). It messes up their body clocks. If you are worried about security then get the sort of lights that switch on when someone actually walks into your garden--though you have to ensure that they are not set so that they come on each time a cat for instance crosses their path.

We have a street light which (despite black out blinds) disturbs sleep. I agree with the other posters and am glad you are switching it off - light pollution is not good

I've had the same problem from the house opposite. They had installed a huge floodlight style light which shone straight into my bedroom. I did ask if it could be angled differently, but they said it was in a fixed position.
I changed to much heavier curtains with a thermal rubberised lining, blackout almost, which helped a lot.