Vent through Air brick by neighbour stinks out my house

PotentialEnergy

Hi

A pair of semi detached properties have adjacent kitchens and there are almost adjacent air bricks between the properties at the top of the kitchens' windows. The properties are East/West oriented but with various aerodynamics due to other buildings such as townhouses the wind largely prevails from a Southern direction. That means the output from the extractor comes out of their air brick and immediately blows into my air brick. Also, I have single-glazing and plastic ship-lap so there are other routes for their emissions to get into the house but an adjacent air brick is the primary route IMHO.

I've raised objections about them having roast meat or meat burgers as it stinks out my kitchen for several hours and if I don't leave my kitchen door fully shut I can find my whole downstairs and landing smelling like it has been used for Burger King or MacDonald's or a restaurant, which I don't like.

I'm after any thoughts in terms of

1/ What are my rights in this situation. I've read of approaching the council being a waste of space but maybe legislation has been tightened?

2/ Constructive solutions to the issue.


One can point out to the neighbour that were I to put bags of horse manure on the patio, meaning the smell would rise and go into their conservatory extension - unless they kept their windows shut - is analogous. When the temperature goes over 20 it gets rather hot in their room as they always have the windows open. [I expect they'd come down on me like a ton of bricks about the matter! :mad: ]]

Thanks in anticipation:T.

silverwhistle

PotentialEnergy wrote: »

I've raised objections about them having roast meat or meat burgers as it stinks out my kitchen for several hours and if I don't leave my kitchen door fully shut I can find my whole downstairs and landing smelling like it has been used for Burger King or MacDonald's or a restaurant, which I don't like.
.

Would the smell of boiled cabbage and tripe be any better?



I think you need to concentrate on the technical resolution, not the type of food they cook.

Mr.Generous

Fit a fan with flaps that close when its not blowing out. You cannot reasonably expect to be able to dictate what food your neighbour cooks. Get a detached house with a decent gap between anyone else's property if you feel that strongly about it.

Fire_Fox

It is not analogous. You would be being deliberately unpleasant, whereas your neighbours are simply cooking and eating.

The construction of your property and your preferences are out of the control of your neighbours.

PotentialEnergy

Just to clarify - they have an overhood extractor that they have had ducting fitted to use the air brick as the outlet.

Not many constructive ideas so far -:

What about ducting from the air brick taking the emissions to the roof level? This is now required for Gas Boiler outputs with its CO risks of course. There are now suggestions that cooking can cause Carcinogens so why not mandate ducts to go to roof level?

All About Cooking & Carcinogens. Higher cooking temperatures can create chemical reactions among amino acids, creatines, and sugars — reactions that may produce dangerous compounds that can damage our DNA. We know that cooking food has some benefits: It can make food safer.

If the sarcastic readers would be happy living next to a kebab shop then fine. But, it is looking to be tantamount to passive smoking going by more recent thinking.

PotentialEnergy

If you follow this link, it is not an unprecedented issue. I'm sure that there will be more.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2253031/stopping-cooking-smell-and-air-being-pumped-into-my-house-from-my-neighbour-kitchen

Fire_Fox

PotentialEnergy wrote: »

I'm after any thoughts in terms of .... 2/ Constructive solutions to the issue.


One can point out to the neighbour that were I to put bags of horse manure on the patio, meaning the smell would rise and go into their conservatory extension - unless they kept their windows shut - is analogous. When the temperature goes over 20 it gets rather hot in their room as they always have the windows open. [I expect they'd come down on me like a ton of bricks about the matter! :mad: ].

PotentialEnergy wrote: »

Not many constructive ideas so far -:

If the sarcastic readers would be happy living next to a kebab shop then fine. But, it is looking to be tantamount to passive smoking going by more recent thinking.

Current and past Building Regulations are on the Planning Portal.

You made a deeply unpleasant 'joke' and received unwelcome 'sarcasm' in response.

Aylesbury_Duck

It’s your problem so you must make adaptations to your own house if you wish to reduce the effects of your neighbour cooking food. They are doing nothing wrong.

I suggest either fitting your own extractor to combat the airflow when you need to, or create replacement ventilation somewhere else and fit a flap grille to your airbrick such that it only opens on positive pressure from the inside.

Judging by the tone of your responses to perfectly reasonable advice on here, I’d be willing to bet you’re more a source of grievance to your neighbours than they are to you.

-taff

That link is from 9 years ago. And it is not the same as your problem because you know where the smells are coming from.
Constructive advice, it's your problem, so get your air intake moved.

GDB2222

If you want your neighbour to make changes to his house to suit you, are you offering to pay the cost?

If not, I suggest you simply close up your air brick to keep the smell out. Some rolled up newspaper should do it, and it's easy to reverse. I am doubtful it's coming through the ship lap unless there are serious problems underneath that.

You clearly are getting nowhere with telling your neighbour not to cook in his own kitchen, and you definitely don't want a dispute you'll have to declare when you sell your house.

robatwork

It is indeed a horrid situation to have such unpleasant and unreasonable neighbours.

Is what your neighbour thinks.