Annoying Smoking Neighbour

joanna72

Ok, so I have a neighbor who lives in the flat above me and he goes outside for a cigarette quite often, like maybe every 15–30 minutes when he is at home, which is quite often as he doesn’t really have a full time job.

I don’t mind the fact that he goes outside for a smoke but what makes it annoying for me is he’s unusual behavior, which is to walk past my front door and around the back of my flat where he walks backwards and forwards 3-4 times passing my bathroom window until he’s finished he’s cigarette.

He is walking along a footpath that goes around the block of flats that the tenants can use, so it's not like he's walking across my lawn or in a space that is forbidden but it's the frequency of his actions that make it annoying especially when I can hear his footsteps going up and down, up and down past the back of flat all the time. He smoke does drift into my flat also when I have the windows open, which during the summer can be annoying also but not so much in the winter time.

I’ve never approached him yet about this so he’s perhaps unaware he is doing anything wrong but I wish he would go out onto the main road, which is only feet away and walk along the pathway on the street to smoke rather than past my bathroom window several times which I find to be an invasion of my privacy, especially if I’m in the bathroom naked having gotten out of the shower.

What can I do about this or say as I really don’t want to create a feud or speak to him face to face about it.

MorningcoffeeIV

If you don't want to talk to him then you're left with the awful prospect of putting little notes under his door. A guaranteed way of starting a feud.

Speak to him. Just a cheery, 'hi mate, sorry to bother you but your smoke keeps coming into my flat. Could you smoke a bit over there?'

elsien

joanna72 said:

Ok, so I have a neighbor who lives in the flat above me and he goes outside for a cigarette quite often, like maybe every 15–30 minutes when he is at home, which is quite often as he doesn’t really have a full time job.

I don’t mind the fact that he goes outside for a smoke but what makes it annoying for me is he’s unusual behavior, which is to walk past my front door and around the back of my flat where he walks backwards and forwards 3-4 times passing my bathroom window until he’s finished he’s cigarette.

He is walking along a footpath that goes around the block of flats that the tenants can use, so it's not like he's walking across my lawn or in a space that is forbidden but it's the frequency of his actions that make it annoying especially when I can hear his footsteps going up and down, up and down past the back of flat all the time. He smoke does drift into my flat also when I have the windows open, which during the summer can be annoying also but not so much in the winter time.

I’ve never approached him yet about this so he’s perhaps unaware he is doing anything wrong but I wish he would go out onto the main road, which is only feet away and walk along the pathway on the street to smoke rather than past my bathroom window several times which I find to be an invasion of my privacy, especially if I’m in the bathroom naked having gotten out of the shower.

What can I do about this or say as I really don’t want to create a feud or speak to him face to face about it.

Have you considered the use of a blind?
If he can see through the glass because the etching is not dense enough then  other people using that route can as well. 

To be fair, he’s not doing anything wrong it’s a public path he can trundle back-and-fore as much as he likes, unless he is deliberately harassing you, which appears not to be the case. If he knew it was bothering you, then he could out of courtesy go and walk somewhere else, but if you’re going to talk to him, don’t approach it as if he’s in the wrong.

comeandgo

Could you put a blind up in your bathroom to give you more privacy?  Why have you not talked to him?  He is your neighbour, go and say hello.

born_again

The bonus is at least he is not just standing in the doorway smoking.

HillStreetBlues

You might want to politely that keep walking past someone's bathroom window isn't a great look.

Vectis

Two things. It's a public pathway, so you can't stop him walking there. Or anybody else for that matter.

Secondly, you need a blind of some description. No offence, but I wouldn't be all that pleased if a neighbour kept showing themselves 'naked having gotten out of the shower'. It's common practice to have some form of blind on a bathroom window.

What sort of person is he? Is he approachable, i.e. could you talk to him about it? If not, just keep the window shut.

onomatopoeia99

Do you not have obscure glazing in your bathroom window? You would have the only house I've ever encountered that doesn't.