Neighbours biomass smoke is ruining our house (and health of unborn child?)

Our neighbour (a real farmer unlike yours) has a biomass boiler which sometimes smokes us. We call them up and they adjust the chimney somehow. It only happens if they’ve not noticed when they first start it up .
You have my sympathy as it’s awful when you get the smoke and it seeps everywhere.

I’ve never actually seen it so don’t know how it works.

Have you had chance to speak to her at all? It sounds like it was just him before? I'd maybe see if you can get her on side a bit.

I totally sympathise! I have the same problem, I also have neighbours who have a biomass boiler. Rural area - Move to the country for some fresh air they said! Mmm.

I can't hang my washing out, open our bathroom window after showering or kitchen windows when cooking. I can't open my child’s bedroom window to let cool air in in the summer. The environmental health dept at the council has been useless.

I bought a small PM2.5 monitor to measure the levels of pollution in the garden. Even when I informed the council of the really high readings I was picking up of around 180 they did nothing.

I also checked the PM2.5 readings in the house, as I could smell the smoke even with the windows closed, it gets in the flipping vents and everywhere doesn't it! The monitor showed me what my nose was telling me, that the PM2.5 levels were also raised within the house.

I now run a HEPA filter in the house, which is very effective at removing traces of the smoke and I can see the PM2.5 level on the monitor dropping after I’ve switched it on. This is, of course, not a long-term solution to the problem, but does mean I can at least keep the air clean in the house, and protect our health by not continuously breathing in the smoke fumes that seep in.

I say it's not a long-term solution, but it’s feeling like this is the best it’s going to get at this rate. I feel at a total loss to solve the issue, and it really gets me down at times. We have a lovely little garden and I’d love for my child to be able to play out there more, but our time in our garden is dictated by what’s coming out of the biomass boiler chimney.

Has your seller failed to notify you of this hazard? Did they report it to the council ?

Do not talk to them again, deal with them from the legal stand point only. Talking would clearly not change anything.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nuisance-smoke-how-councils-deal-with-complaints

You need to report them to the Environment Agency for pollution. Or at least call them/ council for advice. This is not acceptable and would damage your health.

True. But it’s also best to make buyers aware anyway even if the council are not involved - if buyers have the same issue and find out you also had that issue they can take you to court, I think they have 7 years but could be wrong.
edited to add: I would go through any legal channel possible - it could actually solve things and you can live a lovely life then.

@SingWithMeJustForToday My reply was to the poster who posted categorically that once you get the council involved, you won't be able to sell - which is just a complete untruth

Black smoke, not running it hot enough, wet wood, should be pellets and also burning rubbish. You see it all the time, people collecting crap to burn.

It's so bad for you. We moved as our neighbours smoked us out and now where we've moved to, everyone has installed woodburners.

We complained to the council last house and they really can't do much, they're not interested.

I’d check it has building regs first up, if it doesn’t (it will be listed in the local councils building regs digital archives), you could ask for a building regulations inspection. I’d stop playing nicey nicey too, I’m amazed you didn’t spot this on any of your viewings? Honestly, maybe the best thing is sell up quietly and ask the farmer to keep it off during viewings. Obviously any legal disputes would have to be declared to a future buyer, so for that reason it’s better not to have a dispute.

If he's only got a few sheep where are all these dead lambs coming from? Even taking multiple births into account, surely not all his new lambs are dying.

YANBU - What an absolute nightmare! Burning dead animals and you get the smoke? Yuck! I would have zero qualms in reporting to Environmental Health. I wonder if you can get a big industrial fan so you can blow it back over their property - probably costly but I like the thought. 🤔

I'm pleased that was the case for you, but it's very buyer-dependant.

I don't know what your dispute was, but I'd be very cautious about buying a home where a dispute about a biomass boiler that kicked smoke all over my property had been raised. Infact, I'd write it off - it's not worth the risk to my kids health; and unless the biomass boiler had been removed, I'd never be confident that it wouldn't start back up. And even if the boiler was gone; if next door are burners... I'd rather avoid that.

Nobody can say that it'll mean the house won't sell, of course; but it'd make it considerably harder to sell, because you'll have to wait for someone who doesn't mind, or who plans to burn their own stuff, I guess!

Not true

As long as there are no ongoing disputes there's no problem

We were in dispute with our last neighbour , we went through the correct channels and we went to mediation and resolved the issues

Sold our house first day it went on the market with full disclosure of previous dispute

Not clear from your posts, but would planting trees and/or a solid fence do anything to redirect the smoke?
our neighbours massive conifers fortunately do a good job of funnelling their constant bonfire smoke upwards and away rather than into our garden.

I’d be wary of opening any official complaints channel as you’ll have to declare it if you want to sell.

We once had a similar situation. Contacted planning and environmental health as the situation was unbearable and we are in our 'forever' home. They did not have planning permission and environmental health said it was not suitable equipment so close to another property. It had to be removed. So eventually when we want to sell our house our solicitor said we can say to a possible purchaser; there was an issue but this was dealt with by environmental health and we have not had an issue since. This was five years ago and although we are not on speaking terms with the neighbours we have not had any further issues and love our home.

Was the boiler not on when you viewed?

I'm sorry but I think you are going to struggle to sell unless this stops altogether

Farmers around here are very defensive about the 'right to burn' and will burn any old shit - especially when it's sunny and they go for hours. I just keep reporting it to the council - they will deal with it. Take videos of the black smoke and keep a log.
I am so sorry that you're having this experience - you're right to worry about the effects it's having on you and your family.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/fallen-stock

Hi op, I work for APHA, Animal and Plant Health Agency. By the sounds of it, your neighbour is contravening many regulations. He should not be burning livestock carcasses unless he has an Approved Animal By Product (ABP) facility, which is unlikely given the proximity to your home. He should also have a County Parish Holding number (CPH) registered with the Rural Payments Agency, so that his sheep are registered and can be tested for disease and their location known in the event of an Outbreak (like Foot and Mouth). By his actions it would appear doubtful he is doing anything within regulations. Email APHA by Googling your relevant body, could be APHA Wales or APHA England and Scotland. Give them the location (what 3 words is great for this) or post code, although rural post codes can cover a large area. Attach any photos and videos you have of the smoke billowing out. They will have people who advise on ABPs, they should check their systems to see if any sheep are registered. They won't ignore you. Don't worry if they advise you to contact your Local Authority, this is normal. Any contravening of Regulations are normally jointly handled by the LA and APHA. Use the main contact email you find, it will be forwarded to the relevant department. I would advise emailing rather than calling, it helps you to keep track of what has been said you can refer back to it if needs be.

Good luck, hopefully this will be sorted in the end and you won't have to move.

Just trying to be pope ular sorry. At least OP will be the first to know!

Might be breaching Building Regs. My memories are very, very rusty but there are rules about combi-boilers not venting on to neighbouring properties. Something like this may have been overlooked by law makers but it has to be worth checking out, probably with your Council's planning enforcement or, if you prefer, you can pay for advice from a property lawyer.

Black smoke wouldn't come from untreated wood. I dread to think what they're burning.

People think all these wonderful new 'green' renewable things are so lovely and clean, they bloody aren't.

Luckily we don't live near any but friends have lives blighted by biomass installations and anerobic digesters on farms. People regularly take the piss, they say it's only for on farm waste but then have huge lorries delivering extra stuff to burn and it's very difficult to get anyone to do anything about it.

I would second the log, take videos of the smoke, perhaps have a word with other neighbours. If you have a good branch of CPRE in your county they might be able to help.

What a weird and totally inappropriate thing to say