Garden unusable due to neighbours pot smoking

[QuestionableMouse]

This might be a bit of a long one, sorry.

I got a new neighbour a few months ago and knew he had mental health issues when he moved in. He has social workers going in every other day. He's also quite aggressive and I find him very uncomfortable to deal with. (example, one of my towels blew off the line and into his garden which caused a huge row with him being very aggressive, all because I'd nipped in to get it which is pretty normal in my street.)

He's recently started smoking a lot of very strong smelling pot. He has his window and door open and the smell fills my garden. I can't stand it- on my bad days it can easily trigger a severe migraine. I can't hang any washing out, can't sit in the garden and or use it at all. I've even started parking at the back of my property and coming in through the back door because it's so awful.

I don't know what to do. I'm honestly frightened to confront him as I live alone and he's a big man with a bad temper. But I can't go on like I am because I feel like a prisoner in my own home! It's a gorgeous sunny day and I have all my front windows closed so the smell doesn't get it. I'm also not sure if I'm imagining things or if my house in general is starting to stink of it. (victorian terrace)

Any ideas what I can do?

Thank you.

We get this from our downstairs neighbour The smell comes into our airing cupboard and bathroom. It STINKS We opened our windows last Friday night as it being a flat it gets hot in here. Had to shut them again after 20 minutes. HAs decision to allocate him the flat knowing full well about these problems. Every time a tenant leaves or dies the flat goes to someone like this. I have my suspicions as to why.

We are in the same situation and I empathise. We can't open our windows when they are smoking pot. It absolutely stinks, and as a PP said it clings to everything. Next time we move house I am going to check the road for council properties.

Are you getting Kyle withdrawl symptoms or something.

Im a social housing tenant and have never even been drunk..........not once and im in my forties ive never tried drugs Not interested. Not everyone who lives in SH smokes this shit. Some of us are fed up with it too. Some of us are also capable of critical thinking and know exactly why HAs are allocating more properties to druggies. Its so they can excersise managed decline for regeneration later on.

Watch this space.

I'd have been quite annoyed if someone went into my garden without permission too. I'd have actually found it quite frightening if I saw someone in my garden. So maybe that's why you got off on the wrong foot.

Agree that I used to live next door to pot smokers - three of them - and I couldn't smell it really. Just the odd whiff, like a PP said. Is it really THAT bad? Surely he can't just sit out all day smoking? Can't you ask him nicely to not smoke outside when you have washing out?

If not, just continually reporting him is your only option, I guess

Glad you rang 101 - he sounds like a complete arsehole. Throwing tins into your garden as well - cf!

IT WAS THE FRONT GARDEN 😬😬😬

If someone knocked on my door and said is it ok if I pick this towel up that has blown onto your lawn I would think they had lost the plot.

I like in a state where marijuana is legal. It’s come a long way from the joints we sneaked when we were teenagers. My husband smokes it regularly but I insist he smokes in the garage with the door open or on the back deck. Never in the house. He does dabs too and my goodness the smell is strong. For those who think it’s “not that bad” - you only need to drive by a Bud Hut here and the smell fills the car.

YANBU. The family across the street are prolific smokers and I can smell it when I'm outside even if their windows are closed.

It's much worse in summer when we have our windows open and they smoke pot in their garden.

I never used to mind the smell of pot even 10 years ago, I occasionally had a joint myself. These days the smell gets everywhere and is strong enough for me to induce a headache.

MIL used to smoke pot regularly in her younger days and has commented on how strong the smell is. It's awful.

Only on here would someone be frightened by a neighbour nipping into their garden to retrieve a towel. It's about as bonkers as my night last night.

The police came and he was still in the garden. He'd drank at least one more can (rural village, it takes time to reach us from the nearest big town) and had fallen a couple of times. (I was watching from upstairs) They had to get an ambulance out to him because he'd split his head open. It's all getting fed back to his care team so maybe some good will come of it.

"strangers coming and going at all hours"
Could he be dealing? Police then.

The stuff people smoke now stinks. My neighbours son smokes it and it’s vile. I can catch a wiff if he’s in the garden or by the windows sometimes it’s enough to knock me sick.

Yanbu, someone else’s drug abuse should not curtail the enjoyment of your property. Speak to social workers/land lord if there is one. Speak to police and council. Make a nuisance of yourself with them if they don’t do anything and make it better for them to deal with him than with you

Could you have a word with his social workers?

I reckon when neighbour said you’d taken in his washing he got all paranoid about you skulking around his house and that set him off.

I know he deserves help and somewhere to live, but you do deserve to feel safe in your own home.

Perhaps he shouldn’t be living alone.

Either way, hopefully this will get it sorted somehow for you.

Going forward I’d start to keep a diary of anything untoward (toward you, I mean before anyone starts) and would ring 101 or 999 if the situation warrants it, every time there’s an incident.

Thanks. I managed to speak to his social worker today and she was very helpful... He is working towards getting a better care plan in place and looking at some drug rehab stuff? (might not be the right term, as the social worker couldn't really say much to me for obvious reason.)

Do you feel better and safer having spoken to her?

I don't feel worse but I'm also not convinced that anything is actually going to change so.... 🤷‍♀️

Waiting to hear back from the anti social behaviour team still too though.

People seem to be confusing the little bit of weed that they smoked when they were 17 with the hideous fucking super skunk that’s around. It stinks to high heaven, it clings to your clothes and sends relatively sane people around the bend.

Absolutely this.

I know two lovely lads whose lives were almost destroyed by this stuff including in one case terrifying (for him and anyone who had to witness them) psychotic episodes. In both cases it's taken the best part of a decade for them to come through.

And as a PP said, it's not called "skunk" for nothing. It smells bloody rank.