Help.- What should I do about my neighbours stinky drain?

[DrainedHelp]

We had a blockage along a row of a few houses recently and since it has been cleared the house in the middle has a very stinky drain. When they have a shower, we can smell their outside drain - we have windows open and the smell is so strong it comes into our upstairs room. It's like a sewage smell.

Options:

1. Do nothing it's not our drain or place to tell them what to do with theirs.

2. Politely knock and make them aware that we are suffering from the stench so could they try to do something about it.

3. Actually buy a product and take it round and ask them to use it on their drain to resolve the issue.

4. Something else - feel free to suggest?

Thanks

2

1. i would want to know that my drains were causing this smell.

Sorry my vote should be 2, not 1.

But 1 is do nothing

Ah cross posted

I also feel like they must know their drains stink as it's wright by their kitchen window which is open all the time. It's been like it for about a month.

I would politely tell them

I'd tell them. There shouldn't be a sewage smell (unless possibly you have had a flood recently). Are they on a septic tank that needs emptying? Or have they got a cracked sewer that needs fixing?
If they do nothing, I'd be tempted to ring the council and ask how to get it resolved.

They might have had covid, it does funny things to some peoples sense of smell

Some people are just domestically incompetent. They may not know something as simple as drain product might help the smell or that it is so localised. A gentle chat might be a gift to them.

This is a fair point. The family are lovely. They are not native to this country and I wonder if they just don't know what to do about it hence the option of taking a product round.

It's possible they've tried to fix it but found it's a collapsed drain or something which needs more extensive (and expensive) work doing which they may need to save up for.

Either way, talk to them. It's the only way.

And do they own the property? If not they may be waiting on the landlord to fix it.

Option 2. Obviously. All neighbourly relations start with a chat.

I would as them to ring the water company. If it is s shared drain then they will do the work and bill everyone who shares the drain. Often they will just fix it for free if it is their responsibility.

You can also ring the water company if they won't.

How do you know it’s coming from that drain in particular?

1. Why wouldn't you do 2? It's a no brainer surely?

They might be like my DH. No sense of smell even before Covid. When we had a gas leak he didn't notice!

Yes they own.

2

You need to tell them