neighbour cooking outdoor

kellye14

hello,
my neighbour cooks in their garden every other day and they have a permentent gas hob sitting in their garden. The gas hob is right next to the wall of our extension. We do not have a problem with them cooking frequently even though their cooking smell is quite strong and we can smell it from our side whenever they cook. (they deep fry food) but we have problem with their airborne grease that are sticking to our wall and the plastic part that is just undernethe our extension roof and it is very greasy and hard to clean. We had spoken to them twice and they have refused to do anything. We are convinced the grease is from their cooking as our house are semidetached and their cooker are next to the fence between us. if we touch further down or higher up of the wall there is no grease but the area closed to their gas hob is very greasy.

does anyone have any advice what I can do about this? can I report it to council?

thank you very much in advance.

BoxerfanUK

I would ask them (in writing) very nicely one more time to move the the cooker to somewhere where it won't affect your property, or you will have no option but to get it professionally cleaned on a regular basis and will be sending them the bill with the threat that a small claims action will be taken if they refuse to pay it.

Norman_Castle

Ask your council. They may consider it anti-social behaviour due to the damage caused and the refusal to stop.

MisterBaxter

Unless they are cooking on a commercial basis I'm not sure that the Council would be willing or able to do much. I suppose it could be considered a nuisance and the Council does have powers to deal with nuisance but unless their cooking has wider reaching effects you may find it difficult to go down the nuisance route.

It is probably worth a brief discussion with environmental health at the Council as you never know they may treat it as nuisance. If not then it would be a civil matter which at the extreme end would be seeking some sort of injunction to prevent them from cooking outdoors. A written request to them asking them to cease followed by a letter from a solicitor indicating your willingness to seek legal remedy may be enough to stop them; if it doesn't then you would really have to follow it through or your threats are idle.

Just be prepared for the fall out from any formal action you take though, whether that is involving the local authority or a solicitor.

kellye14

thank you very much for the respond. they are very helpful.

bridgedino

Go wash and scrub your property whilst they are cooking. Soapy splashes on the food might put them off

Infidel

Do they cook outside throughout winter too?

kellye14

yes they do - but not as often - might be a couple of times a week. the reason they are cooking outside is because they don't like the smell staying in their house.

kellye14

bridgedino wrote: »

Go wash and scrub your property whilst they are cooking. Soapy splashes on the food might put them off

that is a good idea!

zaax

If they are eat that much greasy food they won't around for long. Why not have your own smelly bonfire?
Use a degreaser to remove the grease
http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-heavy-duty-degreaser-5ltr/88668?

Infidel

kellye14 wrote: »

yes they do - but not as often - might be a couple of times a week. the reason they are cooking outside is because they don't like the smell staying in their house.

I can understand that though it still seems a bit bizarre to me, especially in a country where it's freezing cold outside for several months of the year.

I've got a picture in my head of them all sat eating outside in bearskin coats and hats :cool:.

Next step..a giant Igloo in the garden.