Can neighbour complaints get us thrown out?

lookstraightahead

Seriously there are worse smells than feint smoke from a distance. People having BBQs, people mowing their gardens when pollen count is high, fence and decking varnish, car exhausts, stench of bins, dog poo that has been left in the sun, smell of cabbage via the back door, fertiliser, chickens, smell of chlorine from jacuzzis, chimney smoke, diesel, list is endless. Does no one have any of their own smells that their neighbours might not like?

jjj1980

I am a non-smoker and have to say I am fed up of having to close my windows and doors and stay inside in nice weather because my neighbours smoke in the gardens and it constantly drifts towards my house/garden. I have had to wash my bedroom curtains so many times recently as I can smell the cigarette smoke on them. The woman!!!8217;s son vapes and it!!!8217;s iust as bad.

Our tenancy agreements actually state smoking is prohibited within our house, gardens and frontage/parking areas so they are fully breaking the terms of their tenancy. The blanket ban on smoking in and around the houses is one of the main reasons I wanted to move here. So I can fully understand the position of the OP!!!8217;s neighbour.

Red-Squirrel_2

lookstraightahead wrote: »

Seriously there are worse smells than feint smoke from a distance. People having BBQs, people mowing their gardens when pollen count is high, fence and decking varnish, car exhausts, stench of bins, dog poo that has been left in the sun, smell of cabbage via the back door, fertiliser, chickens, smell of chlorine from jacuzzis, chimney smoke, diesel, list is endless. Does no one have any of their own smells that their neighbours might not like?

I'd say only diesel and possibly chickens depending on the numbers, but you'd need a lot, are worse than cigarette smoke.

Diesel is the only other one as well as cigarette smoke that is potentially harmful to other people too.

TBagpuss

OP, GM is correct that your landlord can't evict you for smoking if the lease permits it, however they could decide not to renew your tenancy of they decide that it is too much hassle.

On a practical level, I think it would be reasonable for you to do what you can to reduce the amount of smoke affecting your neighbour. You sound as though you've already done a lot but changing where in your garden you smoke, and by switching to vaping. If you haven't already done so, I would suggest that you move the ashtray and empty it regularly.

I do have some sympathy for your neighbour - cigarette smoke is a very distinctive, pervasive and unpleasant smell, and you smoking in your garden may very well significantly affect her ability to use her garden, to have the windows of her home open etc. And unlike most other unpleasant smells, second hand smoke also affects others health.

Perhaps you could consider offering to limit your outdoor smoking, perhaps to every other day, so that you and she could both get to enjoy your respective gardens?

TBagpuss

lookstraightahead wrote: »

Seriously there are worse smells than feint smoke from a distance. People having BBQs, people mowing their gardens when pollen count is high, fence and decking varnish, car exhausts, stench of bins, dog poo that has been left in the sun, smell of cabbage via the back door, fertiliser, chickens, smell of chlorine from jacuzzis, chimney smoke, diesel, list is endless. Does no one have any of their own smells that their neighbours might not like?

Well, an immediate next door neighbour isn't normally just 'faint smoke from a distance'.
Most of the other things you mention are things which are not harmful to the health of the person inadvertently exposed to them.

Leaving dog poo to the extent that it causes a problem is an environmental health issue and most councils have specific rules about it and will force people to clear it up. It is likely that chicken !!!!, if there was enough of it to cause a significant issue would fall int the same category.

And I think that if your neighbour was regularly using so much chlorine in their pool or Jacuzzi that you had to keep all your windows closed and could not go out into the garden it would be reasonable for you to ask them to deal with the issue.

Chimney smoke is regulated, with many areas having clean air provisions to avoid excessive smoke.

It's like noise pollution. No one expects you to live in silence, but if you are causing a nuisance, you can reasonably expect be asked to desist. Similarly, if you indulge in a habit which is unpleasant and potentially harmful to people around you, it is reasonable for people to ask that you limit or reduce, as far as is possible, the extent to which your habit impinges on others.

financegeek

I can see this from both points of view. the first your neighbour sounds like someone you'll never be able to please, so you'll probably find that if you stop smoking she'll find something else to whinge about.

i also however hate the smell of cigarette smoke and if on a sunny day someone was smoking pretty much constantly in the garden next door to me (assuming your garden isn't huge) it would really affect my home life.

i think you said you smoke 15 cigarettes a day each? assuming you're at home all day on occasion and sleep for 8 hours, that's pretty much a cigarette every 30 minutes the neighbour has to put up with.

could you try smoking out the front of the property? or going for a walk around the block every time you want a cigarette? if nothing else it may make you realise just how much you smoke? and encourage you to quit!

need_an_answer

Dare the OP come back with any response,its been a few days and still the thread rumbles on.