AIBU to ask if I can report my neighbour's bright blue house?

[Katey83]

I live in a terraced house. My neighbours have painted the back of their house bright blue (think swimming pool blue / like the Mikanos blue). It is horrible and looms over my garden. It’s really going to spoil my enjoyment of my space to have to look at this every day. I spoke to the wife earlier this morning and said it was not to my taste and would they consider changing and she said ‘the beige of your house isn’t to my taste but it’s your house. This is my house.’ And shut the door in my face. WIBU to report them to the council? Can I even do so? Surely you can’t just paint any offensive colour and expect neighbours to live alongside it?

Perhaps grow some lovely shrubs with white and pink flowers and some flowers that would remind you of a Mediterranean garden
Against the blue they would look lovely. The more beautiful plants you can grow the less the blue colour will worry you. Best not to get into legal issues with a neighbour especially over something like this where you have little chance of suceeding and a big chance of ruining any relationship you have.

This is not Bristol

now I know this isn't real 😂

Pretty sure I saw on the news about a lady painting her house brought blue and the council gave her so long to paint over it, from memory it wasn’t in a conservation area although it might have been.
She had been told it wasn’t in keeping with the other houses in the area, which seemed abit bonkers because there was a pub down the road a shade of blue as well…
Ive linked the article
www.itv.com/news/meridian/2026-05-06/82-year-old-woman-criticises-stressful-order-to-repaint-bright-blue-house

Unbelievable. People paint their houses battleship grey, have brown pebble dashing and black window frames, yet the people introducing colour get penalised?
The world has gone mad.

Every day I think I’ve heard it all when it comes to entitlement and ‘the world revolves around me’ batshittery and here comes Mumsnet to show me a whole new level.

Imagine oiks being able to afford a £500k house on your tasteful street in south London! Write to the mayor! The UN! Someone must protect the middle classes from people like this!

If I was your neighbour I’d add bunting, lanterns and windchimes. And ask my loutish manual labour husband with his dirty clothes to loan you a tool that would help you release your head from your arse. I imagine you might need a digger though.

This is batshit crazy 😝 our neighbours house is a hideous pink but they love it. None of our business what colour they paint their house.

😆

Maybe the autonomy police?
The fun police?

It's their house OP. They can paint it any colour they want. I am baffled that you think you have a say in it, under what law, bylaw or rule could you possibly?

Good afternoon, Hyacinth. I would not choose to paint my house bright blue but your neighbours obviously like it and it is not harming anyone else. I can understand that you don’t like it but there is nothing you can do about it. It will probably fade over time and you will get used to it. My parents once lived next door to neighbours who painted the outside of their house a yellow that was so bright it was almost luminous. It was visible from a very long way away and would have been hopeless if there had ever been an air raid. I think your neighbour’s response was perfect.

Me too! Having not yet RTFT i'm trying to bet in my head what scenarios will play out over the upcoming 13 pages!

Yeah it was really sad, especially because there were definitely other shades of blue around.
it hit the news because she had refused but then they had threatened to take her to court….

@XenoBitch I quite like that. 😆

I wouldn't do it to my own home, but wouldn't care if someone else did who lived opposite me or next door!

Forgot to add the pic from @XenoBitch post.

I love the neighbour's response.

I can't believe you really don't understand how unreasonable you are.

Me too
There should be some good ones 😂

I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.

😆 Love that!

£500k gets you more or less nothing in London. It’s a very very very very cheap house for its locality.

Not a lot you can do about it OP. It is was it is. Only solution is accepting you can do nothing and move on with a bright blue house as part of your home life

I have to say, I really dont get the replies that are "don't look". Get that sort of response for how to deal naked neighbours to coping with work colleague on the desk opposite regulaly extracting and feasting on the contents of their nose.

It's not very practical advice. Well not until AI advances enough for people to select and delete items from their field of vision.

I’ve just seen this. The husband has the audacity to be a “manual worker”” - aka workman - and live next door to you. I’ve realised that you can only be related to Margo Ledbetter.

I wonder what actually happened. Did she have to repaint, in the end, I wonder.

You are being bullying.

Aw, she died today. Lovely Penelope Keith RIP.

OP, within 6 months you'll have stopped noticing. I understand that you hate it but it's completely outrageous to knock on someone's door and tell them you hate their colour choice. You are extremely lucky she wasn't more rude.

I would suggest apologising, but seeing as you want them to pay half for a taller fence to satisfy your demands, that's never going to happen.

Articulacy is laughable to you. Being visually aware is sneered at here. Put on your thick skin and don’t look is all you have to offer. Very low grade response. I’m sorry you missed out on an arts education and have much in common with a lizard.

OP imagine if a random chapped your door to say they don’t like the colour of your car and that they find it offensive? That’s how daft your actions are if you don’t live in a conservation area imho.

Thought the wife’s response was quite witty all things considered and not sure what the conversation was needed for? Any compromise as you put it would have cost them time and money yet it appears their house so their business.

Can you not just turn your back to it? If you’re calling the husband the lout chances are they might have a cracking nickname for you too.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I love lizards - especially chameleons!
Lighten up! It's only a thread about colour on a wall!
😂😂