Noisy neighbors can be the worst. But light can be just as bad. Let’s dive into how to deal with light pollution from your neighbor.
When you think of loud neighbors, a few thoughts come to mind, including teenage late-night parties with blasting loud music or even that creaky and creepy garage door that opens in the middle of the night.
Light pollution from your neighbor
Regardless of what kind, pollution is a nuisance and is recognized as a disturbance by the courts. Thus, you can consider a nuisance anything that bothers or annoys the ones around your home and hurts the enjoyment of your neighbors.
Examples include neighbors throwing big parties, playing loud music, or having lights pointed at your windows. Furthermore, local rules in various cities limit the decibel level that residents are allowed to produce in terms of noise.
Though light pollution from your neighbor is not regulated in all cities, that does not mean that you are left with no legal options. You still have the ability to sue them for nuisance.
Outdoor lights, like the floodlights on a camera, or the ones fixated on a porch or backyard, should be parallel to the ground and should not be pointed at your home. You might be able to get your neighbor to reduce the brightness of their floodlights. Find out how to adjust Hikvision LED floodlight settings in the article.
Only the area should be lit, and you should not be able to see a shining bulb from a distance. Now let’s look at ways to minimize light pollution from your neighbor.
Communication is key
You should first alert your neighbor about the issue and explain the situation in the nicest possible way. Your neighbor is unlikely to point lights at your window on purpose.
Keep in mind that they have never seen it from your side, so they might not understand. Thus, they might not know that it is affecting your household, and they can agree to change their lights in any way to fix the problem.
Explain how it affects you; you might even benefit from inviting them over to see if from your home. They might agree to turn off the lights earlier or just leave them off as much as possible.
They may reach out to a contractor to re-point their lights or install some shades that do not allow light to leak out.
That was easy, right? Not so fast, not every neighbor is going to act the same way, and some are more difficult than others.
But if your neighbor is resistant, they might refuse to do anything about it. If it bothers you enough, you might want to offer to split the cost for shades or a contractor.
Demand Letter
Light pollution from your neighbor can cause you a big issue in the long run. And if your neighbor refuses to do anything about it, you can move on to an attorney and send your neighbor a demand letter.
A demand letter will outline the violation of the light pollution from your neighbor. And will get more attention from your neighbor than just a request.
Your neighbor might think twice if presented with a letter rather than you on their front steps. This will show you mean business, and it should get the light pollution from your neighbor to vanish.
Mediation
Though I hope it does not start to get this serious, you might find yourself in mediation. Mediation happens when a third party sits down with both you and your neighbor to reach a middle ground and find a solution.
Using a mediator can help both parties to generate ideas on how to solve the issue and can put an end to the light pollution from your neighbor. But what if it doesn’t?
Lawsuit
If this problem drags out, you might have to find other ways to solve this issue with more severe consequences. Thus, if all the requests you have tried have not changed your neighbor’s mind, you can file a lawsuit.
It is recommended to leave this as a last resort as it will take time, money, and even the annoyance of litigation.
Final Thoughts
Light pollution from your neighbor might be a simple solution, or it might just drag out like crazy. It is up to both parties to have a civil talk. And you might take more serious measures throughout the dispute if it drags out.