We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
Smoking on balcony - rented

Jazzyjeff_2
Posts: 267 Forumite
We rent quite a good flat and recently we have had neighbours move in below us who are chainsmokers. This isn't a problem in the bad weather but the recent lovely weather means they are out all the time on the balcony smoking - the smoke then rises and comes into our flat quite badly (shutting the windows would mean an even hotter flat). Is it worth contacting the letting/management agent about this or not? Surely we should be able to use our balcony and have our windows open without stinking of smoke?
0
Comments
-
I think you'll find that your letting agent or property managers won't be interested in problems or disputes between tenants as they often view these as issues to be resolved between the tenants themselves. Have you tried discussing this with your downstairs neighbours?0
-
Have you spoken to the neighbours?0
-
Landlords and their agents are generally very averse to intervening in neighbour relationship/environmental disputes or inter tenant disputes. There is no requirement in law for them to do so in England and Wales anyhow.
Quick polite chat with the neighbours could do the trick. Go and introduce yourself.0 -
What could I say though as I doubt they are going to want to go all the way downstairs and outside every time they smoke... (which is very often)?0
-
it's a tricky one but perhaps they're not aware that they're causing you discomfort. They may not care any way once you've introduced yourself and told them but if you don't do it you're stuck where you are now. just cross your fingers and pray they don't think the balcony is a good place to get a smoky BBQ going every evening like my downstairs neighbours. One partial solution might be to get a fan positioned in the window/balcony door and have it blow the smoke away from the room.0
-
BitterAndTwisted wrote: »it's a tricky one but perhaps they're not aware that they're causing you discomfort. They may not care any way once you've introduced yourself and told them but if you don't do it you're stuck where you are now. just cross your fingers and pray they don't think the balcony is a good place to get a smoky BBQ going every evening like my downstairs neighbours. One partial solution might be to get a fan positioned in the window/balcony door and have it blow the smoke away from the room.
or just dangle a hosepipe over the edge of the balcony and turn the tap on....."You were only supposed to blow the bl**dy doors off!!"0 -
Are you allowed to smoke in the flat tho? Most rentals, especially decent flats, won't allow smoking.
We had a similar issue in ours a few years ago. New tenants moved into the ground floor and within a week, the car park was littered with fag ends, as they smoked leaning out of the window.. LL sent out a blanket letter to all tenants and they soon stopped.0 -
it seems to me that the OP's downstairs neighbours are not allowed to smoke in the property which is why they're smoking out on the balcony. Ergo, they are not breaking any of the conditions in their tenancy agreement even if they are causing a nuisance to their upstairs neighbours and this is why the agents or management company won't be interested in intervening. Goodness knows, they often won't intervene when neighbours are being actively anti-social as we have seen from many previous threads on this board before0
-
Even if your hanging out of the window by your feet, your still smoking in the property0
-
True: in your case the tenants were smoking in the property but the OP's neighbours are not0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 350.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 252.8K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.2K Spending & Discounts
- 243.1K Work, Benefits & Business
- 597.5K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.5K Life & Family
- 256.1K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards