Stale smell of smoke coming from our neighbours house

Nuninge

Hello there,

I'm hoping someone on here can help / give advice before we go to Citizens Advice or something like that.

We live in an end-terraced house next to a rented property. Our neighbours are absolutely lovely but they are incredibly heavy smokers (as have each of the tenants before them been.....is it really hard to find smoking accommodation for rent or have we just been unlucky?).

Anyway, we have owned and been doing our house up slowly for the past 6 years (when I say it like that I can't believe how long it's been). One of the first things we did was to replace the kitchen. There had always been an issue that we could smell the cigarettes and cooking smells from next door. When we removed some cupboards we found a huge crack in the wall. We had this filled with serious amounts of stuff by my Dad before the room was re-plastered. The crack has never returned but the smell of stale smoke has started to return again. We have spotlights in the ceiling and sometimes I think the smell comes through there too.

We also had a huge issue with the smell in our spare bedroom where again after removing wallpaper we found a big crack. Once again we had it filled, and changed all the carpet and underlay thinking that the smell might just be from before the room was done but the smell has started to return there too and when I put my son to bed at night I can often smell stale smoke around and under his bed which is right against the wall that joins the neighbours.

I think we have done all we can do on our side but am now wondering if the problem is cracks in the neighbours house and if that is the case whether we have any right to ask the landlord to do anything about it?

As I said, any help or advice would be much appreciated,

Thanks,

Nuninge

DVardysShadow

Age of the property? Does it have cavity walls?

Sometimes there are routes from the house into the cavity and back out again, under the floors. You will need to block all penetrations into the cavity on all 4 walls.

Yes you have the right to ask the Landlord to do something about it, pretty much the same as you have the right to ask him to stand on his head. You also have the right to insist. But you may not have the right to force him to do anything. Your best hope is to look at whether the smoke is in legal terms a "nuisance"

WhiteHorse

Joists from each house not tightly inset into the brickwork plus cavities in the walls. Thus, smells can move from one house to another.

I had this problem. When I removed the kitchen ceiling (and later, for another reason, the floorboards above), I took the opportunity to cement around the joists to make a good seal. So far, problem solved.

The biggest problem is identifying where the gaps are, as smells can travel everywhere under the floorboards.

panchenlama

you could buy a air ionizer and leave them in the affected rooms. These kills the smell and have other reported health benefits too...

CaptainKidd

I have this problem also with a neigbour below, he smokes around 40 - 60 a day i would guess, and always smokes in his room where he rarely opens his window, for this reason i have to leave my room door and window open when going to work because if i dont my room smells of it badley when i get home. Other than that hes a good neigbour so for me personaly i have not bothered saying anything.

Would it not be an idea to leave the window open if possible and also not shut the room door during the day if you can to help the air circulate?

Jaynne

Just buy them some more packs then they won't be neighbours for long

iamcornholio

In joined properties, the most common route for odour is via gaps around the floor/ceiling joists where they are built into the walls

You need to take the floor boards up to check and seal - with a flexible mastic

As for the landlord, odour is not classed as a nuisance (which would be actionable), but smoke is. However, it will be difficult for you to prove that it is smoke coming through, rather than not just the smell of smoke. Not impossible, just difficult

Jaynne

iamcornholio wrote: »

However, it will be difficult for you to prove that it is smoke coming through, rather than not just the smell of smoke. Not impossible, just difficult

What's the difference between the smell of smoke and smoke? What are the acceptable levels of smoke?

iamcornholio

The crucial thing is visible smoke or flue particles (ie soot, ash, boiler pluming etc), rather than just smoke odour - which does not settle is not visible and is just "there"

Jaynne

iamcornholio wrote: »

The crucial thing is visible smoke or flue particles (ie soot, ash, boiler pluming etc), rather than just smoke odour - which does not settle is not visible and is just "there"

Surely everything is a particle its just that some such as soot are visible to the eye but odours are particles not visible to the eye. Do you know what part of the tobaco smoke is carcinogenic, the visible smoke or is the odour also carcinogenic?

iamcornholio

What I was referring to (smoke being actionable and odour not) is in context of Statutory Nuisance and the Environmental Protection Act 1990 - which is what the local councils enforce and use take action against owners and landlords

The precedents were set many years ago when we all used coal and wood and smog was prevalent

It would be a nonsense to legislate against smells, because then everyone would be objecting to every single smell they did not like. But the impact of smoke, fumes and flue gases etc has wider concerns and impact for public heath

Any smoke effectively gets weaker the further it travels and dense particles fall away and air dilutes it - so then you are effectively left with the smell of smoke and not smoke. And that is why it will be difficult for the OP to get any redress