Weed smell from neighbour

sweetpotato

Hi Guys,

In October we moved into a terraced council house and all has been well, it's a terrible area but we moved to save some money. We are saving over £400 compared with what we paid privately so we have to stay here in the medium term (around 4/5 years) to allow us to be more financially stable.

Anyway getting to the point my elderly neighbour (90) recently had a serious stroke, she has family come and visit her and stay twice a week for a few days at a time. I would say 4-5/7.

When they are here there is an overpowering smell of weed in my bedroom which shares a wall with her front bedroom. I can't smell it anywhere else at all in the house. I open the window it gets worse, I open the vent on the window it gets worse. When the family aren't here, there's no smell. I seriously went into my loft to make sure the precious people weren't growing anything!

I honestly really do not mind what anyone does in their own home but the smell is really getting to me now.

I did call my tenancy estates team and they said it's a matter for the police. When I've been looking online I've basically been reading the police won't care, bigger issues to deal with and I'm inclined to agree to the latter point.

Is there anything I can do? I cannot approach this with the neighbours, it is not a good area and I am nervous. Again, even if the police did care I would be nervous to make a police matter out of it for fear it would come back to me.

Please tell me there's something I can buy to stop the smell? Please give me hints on things I can do to stop the smell.

There are no vents on the wall where I believe the smell to be coming from. I am assuming it's the floorboards etc.

Primrose

It sounds as if it's one of the visitors smoking it then, rather than your neighbour if the smell is absent when they're not visiting. How ill is she? Do you have a chance to talk to her and tell her the problem so that she can ask her visitors not to smoke in the house.
Say you've got asthma or something, it's affecting your chest and you're worried about having an asthma attack.


Alternatively, pretend you think it's a gas leak as you don't recognise the small and call them out to check. Maybe they'll call the police on your behalf ?

annandale

The police wouldn't attend someone's house for a smell of cannabis. As the op said above they've got bigger things to be dealing with. I sympathise op as some neighbours of mine do the same.

I personally would not be asking someone who is 90 and has had a serious stroke to tell family to stop smoking weed.

Id refer it back to the housing. Nothing to stop them visiting the neighbour to see how she is.

tensandunits_2

Sadly you are paying the price for moving to a bad area. Try the non-emergency Police. They may be able to advise you. Or failing that, the council (or Housing Association) should in theory have a housing officer who can look into the problem.

annandale

These people don't live in the area. It's not her neighbour smoking the weed.

tensandunits_2

annandale wrote: »

These people don't live in the area. It's not her neighbour smoking the weed.

We don't know where they live, but we do know from the OP it's a terrible area and she's having trouble with the neighbours relatives smoking dope.

sweetpotato

Thanks guys. Sorry for the late reply in coming back.

The neighbour, I assume, is very very ill. She used to come out every time we pulled up in the car to say hello but we haven't seen her for a while now and found out through her neighbour on the other side about the stroke.

Yes, I am making the guess that it is her visitors smoking and I honestly really don't mind what people do in their own home it's just the smell that's bugging me.

I know it's minor compared to what some people have to deal with.

It's causing friction between me and my husband because it was my marvellous idea to move here to save the £400 per month, pay off some short term debt and we are doing this so financially we are looking better but he absolutely hates living here and the smell is not going down well with him whatsoever.

I think I might try one of those automatic air freshener sprays right in the corner of the room where the smell seems to be worse and see if that would help

Kim_kim

sweetpotato wrote: »

Thanks guys. Sorry for the late reply in coming back.

The neighbour, I assume, is very very ill. She used to come out every time we pulled up in the car to say hello but we haven't seen her for a while now and found out through her neighbour on the other side about the stroke.

Yes, I am making the guess that it is her visitors smoking and I honestly really don't mind what people do in their own home it's just the smell that's bugging me.

I know it's minor compared to what some people have to deal with.

It's causing friction between me and my husband because it was my marvellous idea to move here to save the £400 per month, pay off some short term debt and we are doing this so financially we are looking better but he absolutely hates living here and the smell is not going down well with him whatsoever.

I think I might try one of those automatic air freshener sprays right in the corner of the room where the smell seems to be worse and see if that would help

Have a word with them, say you're worried it will set off an asthma/panic attack! Ask if they can do it down the garden or block up wherever it's escaping from.

Ames

In the 70s people burned Patchouli oil because it was supposed to mask the smell of weed, I've no idea if it works though!

You do have my sympathies, I think I'm the only person in my area who doesn't partake. A few weeks after I moved in my next door neighbour took in a parcel for me, I was nearly knocked out by the smell when I collected it. And it's annoying when I put washing out and it comes in smelling. I don't actually mind the smell, but if it's clothes I'll be wearing to the hospital or GP I worry it'll give the wrong impression of me.

Thinking about it, where I used to live I briefly had neighbours who used and the smell came through, burning incense or essential oils helped. I can't remember exactly what scents I was using then, probably lemon or citrus type oils, and sandal or cedarwood incense.

OldMotherTucker

sweetpotato wrote: »

Hi Guys,





Please tell me there's something I can buy to stop the smell? Please give me hints on things I can do to stop the smell.

There are no vents on the wall where I believe the smell to be coming from. I am assuming it's the floorboards etc.

There is nothing you can buy to stop the smell and, to be frank, why the heck should you!

You will have to bite the bullet and appraoch the smokers - obviously you don't want it to all kick of and create a situation for your neighbour but why should you have to put up with that smell in your home, penetrating your carpets and furnishings.

I admit to being an occasional smoker myself but I like to think that I'm a considerate smoker! I have a 'man cave' at the bottom of the garden and the smell from the odd spliff just dissapates and is lost in the general country/traffic pollution not into anyone else's house. I sometimes catch the whiff of some else's smoke when I'm outside but, that alone, is not offensive or intrusive.

I think I would start by leaving a reasonable but firmly worded letter on one of their vehicles asking if they were aware how bad the smell was and could they adjust their smoking habits . . If that fails, warn them you will take action but don't specify what action and, if they turn nasty, report them to the Police for driving under the influence of drugs! If you have good reason to believe they have been smoking while on those premises, ring the non-emergency number every time they leave the house giving the car reg no and details. It's an easy collar in a quiet period which will produce a result for the copper that pulls the car!

I like to say I hope it doesn't come to that BUT we have Drink/Drug laws for a reason.

coffeehound

Something practical you can do is fit a fan to pull fresh air into your house from, say, a window where the air is fresh. This will push weedy smells back the way they came. Possibly a window extract fan turned the wrong way around or a purpose made intake fan like a PIV system.

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