Help - unexpectedly illuminated !

You ought to write a novel. This description was very funny. (But, I'm sure the lights are not!)

Daisydaisydaisy - a woman after my own heart !
Must confess my first thought after the shock of it, was to wonder where on earth I could get a catapult from ! The curse of modern life is that there are no decent shops any more. It’s not like the good old days where you could buy an air pistol from the same shop that sold your polo mints and a Corgi Hillman Minx.

Even if I’d managed to get the weapon I’d be exposed to retaliatory sniper fire if they were hiding behind Bugs Bunny. And I’m short so height wise the only way I’d get a clear shot would be to stand on top of Buddha’s head by the hebe which I’m physically incapable of nowadays. Not that I did it a lot when I could actually walk properly.
I’m going to take the responsible methods as recommended. Alas my younger self was quite quite different but that’s another story.

Our neighbours installed security lights which flooded over into our garden they did move the angle of the beams though

I told my neighbours in a note to the back of us that once I cut down the shrubbery that their light kept me up all night. They turned if off. Lucky I suppose that they were considerate.

They probably have no idea that it is shining into your kitchen, just inform them, tell them the truth that you were surprised and a bit frightened, that you don' t want to put blinds up ( or you would have already done so). Ask if he can put it to rights this weekend.

I knew someone who had exactly the same problem.
Ask them to adjust the angle.

Esspee

Get a hitman to shoot them out.

Do you mean the lights, or the neighbours?

Quick & effective either way.

A guy local to me actually did shoot a shop burglar alarm that was going off at all hours, and had been for several days.
He landed in court.

My neighbour opposite installed a a very bright security light but it was circular and fixed in position. I looked on it as a saving, I rarely had to turn on lights in my front rooms and pulled the curtains if needed but unfortunately I had not realised that because the whole front of my house is painted white, it reflected the light across to the house opposite. They thought my house was floodlit till I explained it wasn't me it was the house next to them!

I was fortunate. The neighbor behind us had a light installed shining into my kitchen windows. He was very reasonable when I explained the problem and remounted the light to cover the area from a different angle. I guess it's luck what neighbors you have. In the event yours don't care about you, then it's quite in order to plant a tall row of leylandii trees to block the light - hopefully his sunlight too ;)

@Infinity2 I had the same problem with my neighbours for years. If only I had researched it on t'internet sooner...

It turns out that there are many laws governing the height, angle and wattage of security lights on private housing. For example: folk are not allowed to have lights on all the time; they must be sensor ones, they cannot be set to illuminate above an angle of 70 degrees; there are rules governing the height at which they can be mounted; and they need to be environmentally compliant. Use gov.uk to research nuisance lights; ultimately, you can complain to the council.

I emailed my neighbours (after years of mentioning it and being told that they weren't that bright...), attaching a photo and pointing out the laws they were breaking. They were turned off that night! I've had 6 months of darkness - yippee!! And they must be saving a fortune in electricity bills!

BlueBelle

Can’t you get curtains black out curtains even if they didn’t stop it completely it would be dimmed
There is an answer to every question

It's AN answer but not necessarily a good one. Why should she have to get curtains at all? (And who'd want them in a kitchen anyway? I'd hate them!)

There is some environmental law that says glare from security lights should not been seen through curtains neither lined nor blackout. Ask the neighbour to tilt the lights on to their own property. Why do they need 3 motion sensor lights? Usually only one is necessary. There is also a fashion of having lights installed in the eaves of houses, supposedly for security purposes. These usually come on in the evening and are on a night. People don't seem to realise that kind of lighting actually aids thieves by giving them constant light to survey a property then do a bit of thieving. Complete waste of money. At least a motion sensor light startles thieves and makes you aware of movement to check it out.

Yes I agree that you should politely ask them to angle the lights to just cover their property. Our neighbours also had a bright light shining into our lounge, they had no idea it affected us and immediately changed the bulb to a lower watt and angled them down

Its a common problem that I have been on both ends of. Its honestly sometimes not easy to know if you are illuminating a neighbour. When I was asked to adjust ours I was apologetic and did so immediately and the same when I was on the receiving end. Honestly its probabaly not a big deal, go and have a chat.

Well you certainly made me laugh!
I would suggest going round & very politely explain the problem & ask them to come round & see for themselves. I am sure they can be easily moved a bit to solve the problem.
We have a security light in our drive & our cats are always setting it off. Luckily it only affects us not our neighbours & the cats seem to love being in the spotlight!

Oh for goodness sake security lights are one of the best form of deterrents to deter intruders we have them in our back and front garden and 4 cctv cameras around our house. Having seen the upset my sister had after she was burgled and her children frightened to go to bed at night we take our security very seriously. In the 50 years we have been married we have never been burgled.
Just fit a more reliable kitchen blind that comes down enough to obscure the glare from next door.

It probably won't take long for the local teenagers/kids to spot a wonderful new target and they will be out of action fairly soon. Failing that offer the local kids/teenagers a financial incentive/food incentive to do exactly as described.

coastalgran - remind me never to upset you ?

We had this problem too. The lights would come on and off through the night lighting up our bedroom! In the end I wrote them a nice note explaining that I suffer from migraine and could they please see that it was altered. Problem solved. They probably don't realise. Good luck

Maybe have a quiet word so that they can angle them down. I doubt they realise that they are bothering you. We are very rural and have security lights, one of my neighbours (about 4 fields away!) mentioned to me that they were very bright. We angled them down and no more issues. We honestly hadn’t realised.

Ha ha ...have to laugh ! same thing happened to me but the other way round .....the neighbour from the bottom of the close knocked on my door one evening to say my security lights were shining in his lounge and could I move them a bit ? I said sorry, no, I don't climb ladders, but please feel free to bring your ladder and adjust them .............think he was so surprised but he did so any way ! It was my cat that set them off all the time even though they were adjusted quite high ....do the same !

ESPEE. Love your humour ?

I'm sure they could adjust them if you asked, well hopefully. If not you need to speak to your local council. Good luck

If all these fairy lights, solar lights, security lights fill more gardens, aeroplanes ✈ won't know where to land!

I love your description and creative mind! I had the exact same issue with the house opposite me. Light illuminates on a motion sensor, it’s a fecking main road! But bright white glare into my dining room which is now my downstairs bedroom. I knocked and knocked but no reply day in and day out, I even contemplated getting an air rifle. But someone else must of complained and managed to get the occupiers because it’s now gone.