To complian about neighbours smoking cigarettes and smoke going into my house!

[LumpishAndIllogical]

So my neighbours smoke cigarettes ALOT. Me, DP and DS live in a terraced house on the end of a row. My neighbours are right next door and we all have a little terrace out the back. Big enough to sit/have a BBQ.

However my neighbour's smoke on their terrace and with the back door open. The smoke drifts into my living room, even with my patio doors closed. I am also 38 weeks pregnant and my 5 year old DS also said it's hurting his throat. The smell is horrible and I worry if there is a passive smoking risk?

So I don't know what to do?

I am not on good terms with my neighbours as a few weeks ago they decided to have a lot of people at their house with music from 2am to 8am (not the first time but haven't done it in a while), I politely asked them to turn it down (honestly very polite) where they told me to 'go fuck myself'. I felt very upset by it (probably not helped by pregnant state). So I told the council who had a an informal meeting with them regarding anti social behaviour. Note: They rent the property privately but it's an estate managed by council as it's a mix of council tenancies, privately owned and rented.

So AIBU to complain to council? Is there a genuine health risk?

I'm torn really - because the smokers can't smoke in pubs outside offices in buses or shops in cars - and yet here are the smokers in their own garden and it's still lot OK -

They may well be sitting closer to annoy you!

What's the possibility of you moving?

Can you plant some bushes or similar to trap the smoke?

Is it standard to get smoking readings done now at booking in appointments?

I didn't know that!

If it's not standard then why were you getting one OP?

If you live in a traffic heavy, polluted area then your CO levels will be higher.
Get yourself a CO detector too.

I have never heard of a midwife doing a carbon monoxide test - why did she do one?

If that much smoke is getting in when the doors are closed there must be a serious issue with your doors?

I do feel for you. I am a smoker myself occasionally but I go to the very end of the garden, and on a hot day where neighbours have doors and windows open I don't smoke. To be honest though they sound like speaking to them might actually make things worse.

Stuff like this does make worry tho www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11969074

I know we aren't in a flat but when my neighbours smoke in their living room it drifts in through windows anyway.

Can we ever escape passive smoking

If the carbon monoxide reading is high, it could be from being around a very polluted road (but very hard to get a reading like that) or check the levels in your own home with a carbon monoxide monitor, this is actually very important to do.

I would be surprised if their smoking is causing your readings to go to that of a light smoker, not impossible, but I've done 100s of these readings and in general, they are very rarely considerably elevated in non-smokers/those around smoke/even those working in bars/cyclists- so unless the concentration of smoke is incredibly high, and it's hard to see how it would be if the smoke was drifting over to your terrace in the outside air, or a tiny bit coming inside, I would assume that you had another source of carbon monoxide.

I'm not saying this to defend them, I am not a smoker and have no axe to grind to favour them whatsoever, but you have to think scientifically about the risk and the chances of it being them is very very low, and the chances of say having a crappy boiler is really high (as their concentrations just won't be high enough to produce a moderate reading) and I would rule this out first.

Ask your midwife next time you see her. But, after 20 years of using the monitors (and having irritated a client), pollution is one the factors I always explain when taking anyone's first measure.

That and do get a CO monitor, they are cheap to buy and easy to use.

It is unlikely that your neighbours smoking caused your elevated levels. You would have to be trapped in a smoky room for an extended period of time and then tested within moments of leaving it to get raised levels. Traffic pollution is more likely, especially if you live/work/walk in an urban area with high density, slow moving traffic.

i dont smoke anymore but i did hear a whiff of a neighbour complaining about smoking in the back garden.
it annoyed me intensely

why dont you, light incense, a bbq
see how they feel.
but it sounds like a minefield to raise it and i dont think one that you would win

All booking in appointments they do carbon monoxide tests in my area. I thought that was common practice now

We have a CO detector and boiler just serviced.

As my previous post/link smoke does get in through doors and walls. It seems tobacco smoke is a pretty powerful fume.

ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_827.pdf

The sore throat thing is true.

I get sore throats and earache if I'm around cigarette smoke for too long. Hideous.

Carbon monoxide tests are done on all midwife visits now (or the first one) to see if the pregnant woman needs help quitting smoking, it's quite a controversial move and many women don't like it/avoid them for this reason. You can refuse to do one of course.

OP, you are getting yourself worked up about newspaper articles that are designed to sensationalise and put two things together to make three- there was cotinine in the samples, but they did not do a long-term study that indicates this was a risk. The evidence over passive smoking is very controversial precisely because it's actually hard to detect the effects, easier if the parents are smokers and the children are surrounded by smoke (which is linked with adverse outcomes) but much harder if they are not, because the concentration of the smoke is so much less. All the carbon monoxide readings I've done show this, the non-smokers have low readings almost without exception even if they cycle along a busy road or live with a smoker- if yours are high, then either your neighbours have venting/more exposure into your house than simply smoking outside and some drifting over to your house, or you have something else driving up your risk which needs immediate investigation.

Get a gas safety check done or get the Gas Board out (if it is not from you it may be from somewhere else)- my neighbour smelt gas and it was our boiler which was venting it outside and was immediately condemned. Then get a carbon monoxide monitor inside the house.

If you have done those things, and the monitor goes off/you still have high readings, then you have a more concrete case to take to your neighbours/into a dispute.

Noah thank you very informative

I am 38 weeks pregnant so my booking in appointment was a long time ago. Boiler was checked few weeks ago, and we have a CO detector. But we do live in a city.

I have lived next to them for 3 years and it's always been a problem. I am just about to have another baby so was wondering if there was any way to limit smoke from next door.

It's not simply a 'bit of tobacco smell', it's like sitting next to a smoker in the summer

Although I also get sore throats from Robinson's squash, now I think about it.

At leat you can control your exposure to squash tho, I hope

Which cigarette do they smoke?

anti physics ones obviously if the hot smoke can stay at the correct height in the open air for you to ingest enough

It's good you have checked out your boiler recently- CO monitors only go off at quite high levels, but it's still a good thing to have.

It's very difficult though, because your neighbours may not be able to smoke indoors as part of their lease, so going outside is better for their landlord and for them healthwise, but not good for you...although I think your risk is still pretty low, I totally understand you don't want to sit in their smoke all summer.

On the ASH pamphlet, it's helpful but basically comes down to - contact the neighbours and ask them not to smoke. Only you know how possible this is- my guess is they won't take it well, as they are already inconsiderate, but on the other hand, perhaps the council could approach them again.

As well as block up any holes/vents...(but then you are sweltering inside on a hot day).

Can you put up some trellis and plant something fast growing on the fence?

Even morning glory or sweet peas or a money sucker might help provide some screen for you?

Chardonnay that might be good idea. Will look into it. It's a brick wall next to our patio but more plants might help

There's some random gaps in the wall so maybe putting plants over them will help

For clarity.
If they are smoking normal shop bought cigs and you have normal lungs it'd be impossible to harm yourself in the open air.
*mechanical lungs provided by Dyson may be able to suckling in more.
If they are smoking counterfeit fags you can get a decent outcome by reporting them for excise avoiding.
Counterfeit ones have all sorts of nastier stuff than cigs so no one knows how harmful.

What number was your reading?

My neighbours do this and it drives me insane. I have to keep the upstairs windows shut even in hot weather as all the smoke blows in and makes the rooms stink. I hate it. I go outside and mow the grass for a VERY long time whenever they are having a bbq or smoking outside with lots of people just to annoy them. Can't stand smoking.

I am not in the UK.but have recently taken action against my neighbours for this. The law here is very clear, they have the RIGHT to smoke on their own property, but the DUTY to make sure their smoke doesn't affect anyone else. A legal duty usurps a right and so they (4 adults, all at home all day, all very heavy smokers)have had to agree to smoke on the other side of their property and get a special door fitted.

And a flying fuck I do not give. My house was literally full of smoke from morning till.night. We weren't the only ones to complain and the property administrators dealt with the legal stuff.

Check maybe if something like this could be done there? Our letter to the admin was acted upon initially because the laws are much stricter about smoking near children and their front door backs onto dd's ground floor bedroom.