Anyone got recommendations for smoking neighbour?

[LondonStone]

We have moved from our house to a flat temporarily and the man below us is a chainsmoker. Everything smells of smoke. When he’s home in the evening I actually wear a face mask to watch TV/fall asleep. Our clothes and linens and towels are starting to smell like smoke.

We are blocking up the extractor fans and try to close the plugs in sinks as it smells A LOT around the sink in the bathroom. We have an air purifier, horrible plug in air fresheners in every socket, we burn candles and spray room sprays, we open the windows as much as possible but it’s 3° here now. We use two diffusers with essential oils in the living room and bedroom and close internal doors to try to contain it somewhat but it absolutely reeks.

Agency have said tough luck, he is a longtime tenant and never signed the new version of the rental contracts which state no smoking so he’s free to do whatever he wants.

They told us he would be “mortified” if he knew we had a problem, they said we could try to speak to him but he “probably won’t answer the door”. DH has knocked to see if we can compromise (maybe he smokes in the living room rather than every single room in the flat?) but they’re right, he doesn’t answer even when we know he’s home.

Aside from the fact he’s ‘free’ to do whatever he wants... is there anything else we can do?!

You could try charcoal...activated charcoal I believe is the one to use. Something like this www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SHCEVG/ref=as_li_tl?linkCode=w61&slotNum=0&linkId=e6d53afc34b481f18836eacaef3d75c8&imprToken=HEX809X-sjnRTyejgXMtTg&creativeASIN=B002SHCEVG&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8&creative=9325&camp=1789

It's what people who grow marijuana use...

Can you get a can of expanding foam and spray where pipes come in from downstairs? Kitchen, bathroom and maybe electric meterbox? We had a similar problem with smoke and garlic and this worked.

Bucket of water?

my sympathies as it is so disgusting. There really isn't anything that can be done to stop him - even if there was a clause in his tenancy it is unenforceable, the only remedy landlords have for tenant behaviour is eviction. Even if that were started today it is 18 months away and I sincerely hope you'll be long gone before that.

lose the plug ins (fire hazard anyway) and all the additional stinks, only making it worse. Stink absorber such as the charcoal recommended above may help. Bag up everything you don't actually need and get anything that can't be washed into safe storage.

you could try a letter through the door. If he doesn't answer to anyone that is his right. Regrettably a chainsmoker is a fire hazard (they fall asleep with lit cigarettes) so make sure you have insurance and working smoke alarms.

and look into moving on ASAP. I am sorry.

I second what everyone else has said and failing that, you need to build a very large smoker, because smoking a whole human being is quite a job. Also a tad illegal, but I think you'd be justified and it makes a nice change from a patio.

Buy him an ecig starter kit and hope for the best!

You'll need to move unfortunately. He's not doing anything illegal and as a long-term tenant he's entitled to. Can the letting agency transfer you to another property if you say your health is affected - sudden asthma attacks? I'm sorry, it does sound grim.

Thanks for all the advice and sympathies. We’re moving to Portugal in about 6 months and we are locked into a contract until end of March so unfortunately there won’t be much point moving at that point. 90% of our belongings are already in Portugal so we only have with us absolute essentials; a handful of clothes each and two sets of bedding and towels but it’s all stinking now.

As a non-smoker, the smell is honestly disgusting. I hate picking something out my wardrobe or grabbing my scarf or new towel and everything just STINKS. We didn’t smell it on viewing as we had masks on and he’s not home during the day but I was confused when the agency left us a multipack of air fresheners on moving on.

Oak and Hickory chips, plus a garden shed sealed with gaffer tape.

That should smoke your neighbour nicely in time for New Year.

You can buy special candals but i would be really pissed off as the agents knew it was an issue and should have warned you so that you could make an informed choice. I would speak to citizens advice and environmental health for advice. Tell them it is affecting your mental and physical health and enjoyment of your home.

I agree about seeking advice as effectively the agent has rented you a property under false pretences. Consider withholding the rent whilst you get the advice.

Ring door bell + fire extinguisher.

It’s doubly annoying as the agents had two flats available (they’re all exactly the same) and we took this one purely as it has a nice view and the other was ground floor.

They also didn’t tell us the flat above was still to be renovated even though we spoke about the fact we work from home during the viewing. So in the three months we’ve been here, we live below a building site 8am-8pm (sometimes seven days a week) and above the smoker 6pm-midnight. It’s literally noise or smoke 16 hours a day. We really wish we have taken the other one. Oh well.

I appreciate the kind words, I know it’s a small problem in the grand scheme of things but we’ve been in tier 3 for months so everything feels very cabin fever-y right now.

Definitely use the expanding foam around all pipes. We had the same issue and it was coming up around the pipes in cupboards, bathroom, kitchen. It was awful, you could actually see the smoke sitting in the air. I was really distressed about it as I had a baby. Luckily the landlord was good and organised tradesmen to come and sort it out. I would speak to environmental health if you get nowhere with the agents.

Put a note through his door. Dont hold back on the bad affects its having on you. Make suggestions such as smoking elsewhere. I feel for you.
I would also consider lots of other options in my head such as creating a MASSIVE water leak that flushed him out, installing smoke detectors that somehow faced directly into his apartment, and putting extremely loud bass music on and then going out. He's antisocial, so can you be.

Someone in my block was smoking weed to the point that neighbour’s flat and wardrobe stank of it.

He was mortified when she explained. If you pop a note through you might find it helps.

But is the flat kind of reeking of smoke when’ he’s not smoking? Did it stink when you saw it?