Neighbour problem with smoking

gay_guy · 2 December 2013 at 9:55PM

Hello, Just looking for some advice

I live in a housing association flat called (Calico Housing) and my building has 4 flats in 1 building and I am the ground floor flat and my neighbour is above me.

Now what it is, is that I am sick of him smoking in the communal area outside he's door and its making the building smell of he's fags and its coming into my flat and I always have to spray air freshner all the time and right now my flat stinks of he's smoke, I don't smoke, never have and never will as I just find smoking sick and disgusting and I have no idea why people smoke is beyond me.

Anyway can I complain to my landlord about this situation? its been going on for months now and I thought if I leave it then he will go outside but he always seems to smoke inside the building and it's getting annoying now :mad:

He doesn't have any health problems which doesn't makes it harder for him to go downstairs and outside, I think he's not showing some respect for other people in building.

Hope you can answer this for me, thank you.

simpywimpy · 2 December 2013 at 9:58PM

I would maybe ask him directly if you feel thats possible and just ask him not to smoke in the communal areas. If that doesnt work, I would approach the housing assoc/landlord as you are entitled to live in a smoke free zone

Amatheya81 · 2 December 2013 at 9:59PM

Yes you can report him. Most HAs have a policy against smoking in communal areas. Whether anything is done about it will be another matter though. The HA will probably just send around a letter reminding people of the restrictions.

gay_guy · 2 December 2013 at 10:05PM

simpywimpy wrote: »

I would maybe ask him directly if you feel thats possible and just ask him not to smoke in the communal areas. If that doesnt work, I would approach the housing assoc/landlord as you are entitled to live in a smoke free zone

I am not to confident in asking him as he is nasty and if I ask him he might give me abuse.

RobertoMoir · 2 December 2013 at 10:24PM

gay_guy wrote: »

I am not to confident in asking him as he is nasty and if I ask him he might give me abuse.

I understand that you might be reluctant, but equally its a little unreasonable to complain that he hasn't stopped smoking when you've not even asked him to.

phill99 · 2 December 2013 at 10:31PM

The words is "his" not "he's"

gay_guy · 2 December 2013 at 10:42PM

phill99 wrote: »

The words is "his" not "he's"

So what? this is not a teaching college you know. :mad:

[Deleted User] · 2 December 2013 at 10:45PM

Put a note through his door if you don't want to confront him, then you'll have at least made an effort to resolve the issue and can talk to the housing association and demonstrate you tried to resolve the situation.

gay_guy wrote: »

So what? this is not a teaching college you know. :mad:

If you're doing or saying something incorrectly wouldn't you like to know so that in future you can be correct? The person was helping you, now you know that it's his and not he's, which is good because now you won't make that mistake in things that matter (job applications, formal complaints etc.)

duchy · 2 December 2013 at 10:49PM

If this communal area is inside (rather than flats leading to an outside walkway ) then it's down to the housing association but as he lives above you .....and as smoke rises they may feel you aren't as affected as you believe.

moneyistooshorttomention · 3 December 2013 at 7:09AM

There is very recent research about passive smoking that says that people can be affected by it by a rather larger distance than has been thought.

It was something along the lines of people up to some tens of feet away from the smoker can have their health affected by the smoker. I think? it was some rather large distance in fact..might have been around 100'. I was surprised by just how far away smokers have to be from other people not to be putting their health at risk.

Maybe you could try googling for that and present that research to your HA and let them know you will be holding them liable if he smokes within that distance from you. I would....

EDIT: I'd look that research pdq if I were you....before it's realised that that fact is a pretty "inconvenient truth" in more ways than one and it gets "buried".

pinkteapot · 3 December 2013 at 8:52AM

I used to live in a flat and when the smoking ban came in, communal areas were made no smoking as it's a workplace for the cleaners. Does anyone come in to hoover your communal area? If so, you could try asking the HA about it on that basis....