My neighbours really smell…heeelp

[sjxoxo]

I can see the ridiculousness of my issue BUT the smell is becoming unbearable for me to live with. We are attached on their side so our houses are joined.
The houses are very old- ours is having some renovations done, theirs was done several years ago so they’re not doing any work or anything like that. There is this horrendous stench from their house and I can’t for the life of me understand what it is. They are in their 30s and just had a baby like us, we are friendly. I can tell when their back door is open because I can smell the smell.. I have racked my brains as to the source but I just can’t think what it could be- it is quite a specific type of smell, kind of musty but sweet. Its constant, so not occasionally there- I can smell it any time their doors are open. I don’t think it’s a ‘rotting’ smell but it does make me feel a bit queasy; it’s thick, heavy and smells very very stale. Sort of sweet but not in a nice way. I wondered if they could be cooking with a certain type of oil or a fryer. I’ve never had one so can’t compare. I’ve been into their house before several times and it’s overpowering to me inside - it’s quite dirty (I don’t mean that as in insult) and their kitchen is on our side of the house; I can smell very strongly when she is cooking with her oven and the smell then is like an oven that’s full of grease and never been cleaned. You know when people have ‘their’ smell in their homes - obviously we all do and they are just that - it’s like theirs is really really intense and something is off with it. I don’t know if the smell is related to the oven; i have mentioned to her before that I can smell her oven and she did try and improve that but I just am at my wits end with it & don’t know what to do! I have these horrible thoughts we’ll all be on a Netflix doc in 20 years talking about something very sinister!!!! Heeeelp. Anyone have any similar stories or manky smells? Should I say something? What would you do?

my sister never used to open her windows and her place used to smell like sweaty feet, and more latterly, cat litter trays. But she could not smell it at all.

Weed is legal where I live and it smells like skunk or coffee grounds. Our neighbour, who's quite conservative, smokes it regularly behind his house. It's unpleasant, a bit like incense or patchouli. Maybe it's rubbish rotting away in your neighbour's house? Or perhaps a dead rodent trapped somewhere?

She's probably baking cakes with weed inside it. It has that overpowering aroma. Some people take a drink and some people have a smoke to relax. Each to their own. Buy them some strong scented candles and tell them the smell is overpowering so they will know that you know without saying anything at all,

Someone else mentioned that rotton pachouli oil is gross, thought that was out of fashion in the late 80's as it is sooo strong, that mixed with dirty nappies and a rotten dead mouse in their cupboard lovely..

Have you seen her husband lately??

I've been in many houses with this sort of smell. It's sort of sweet, musty, dirty and milky. They're usually houses where there are concerns about neglect. I would contact your health visitor and explain to them. Their health visitor will be from the same team and can keep it in mind when they visit.

.... and do they have a new patio?

I don't think it's a nice smell either. To me it smells like foxes.

Definitely weed! My neighbours smoke it but sometimes the smell at night in my bedroom is beyond! It really stinks. I can't smell when they are smoking and its not a smokey smell. I know they grow it as well so i think sometimes it depends on the wind direction and it must blow through the attic and down.
You would be very surprised at how many normla seeming people smoke it

@sjxoxo has said she knows the smell of weed and it’s not that, not sure why people keep suggesting it!!

Could it be the process of the jam making?
I remember making some chutney at my MIL's and the house smelled absolutely rank while I was cooking it.
If not then I have to agree with pp's, it could be weed, weed to me smells like mouldy cheese. One of my neighbours must smoke it as we keep getting a whiff of it now and again, especially when the wind gets up. It stinks!

@scoobydoo1971 oh my god, that would be my worst nightmare- poor you.i can't believe so many people live in such grotty conditions

I completely agree with this. The smell you describe is indicative of a really serious lack of hygiene and care (I hope you threw away the homemade jam.....just the thought of it makes me want to vom) so I would definitely raise this issue with your HV as it could be a red flag. And that red flag could be for all types of issues like PND, neglect, abuse etc so it's important to raise it. I wouldn't pussy foot around the issue with talk of fryers etc - it's more than that if you can literally smell it from next door. Start with the Health Visitor and if there is no joy there then I would contact environmental health.

Dirty house. Rotten rubbish Bins. Greasy Cooker.
and
Weed

People that smoke weed often dont go out, weed is there recreation time - at home. Weed permeates furniture, fabrics and the whole house and it does smell different than when its being smoked. I know a couple that smoked weed for years, had 2 kids and carried on and both had jobs. The stank of it all the time and their house also reeked. It made me heave to walk in there house it was that bad. I would not rule this out.

Dead body?

Do they have a food compost caddy with rotting meat in it? That could be it.

Could be Joss Sticks to disguise the smell of weed. My grandson did this in the garage when he used to smoke weed in there. Horrible sickly smell.

Make an anonymous environment health referral and let them investigate the smell, they tend to take that sort of thing quite seriously especially when they get complaints from neighbours

Wow I’m overwhelmed by all the replies!! Thanks 🙏 I will deffo update any news on the smell.. interestingly she’s been off work these late few days and today she’s back to work and the smell is much less, almost gone! I’m 99% sure it’s grease from fryer or her oven. I reckon her oven is absolutely rank to be honest!!

I told her previously that I could smell her oven because there’s a wall that had a hole in from some electrical work their side and the hole was badly repaired. So when she cooked I could smell her oven cooking - I told her so they could make better repairs to the wall which they did. I can still occasionally smell it but it’s sort of intertwined with this other sweet smell!

Ive been round because we are neighbourly.. and no I haven’t eaten the jam
and I won’t be. Nice gesture but I couldn’t bring myself to eat it knowing what the house is like 🤢 they are nice people though!

I will post any developments … 👃😬

Yep that’s weed for sure. All the things you wrote to say why you don’t think it is are all reasons I would think they smoke weed and don’t bother with alcohol, and make homemade jam ect. All things that a lot of people who smoke weed do. All natural and good for you (if used with care and knowledge) hippyish things. Also with her job I would expect it to be weed, she will see all sorts of benefits to different people using weed as the medicinal herb it is.
On the other hand I have no clue what a corpse smells like but if it gets worse and less sweet might be an idea to report it x
Hope you get sorted asap x smells can be worse than anything xx

Any developments? Overly invested in what the smell could be

Me too

And me 😆

I reckon it's from the animals and a build up of grime and dirt. Doesn't sound like weed to me either. I had a friend at school who lived in a small flat with several dogs, cats, pet rats etc. And the smell was so so strong. It was oddly kind of sickly sweet. It used to hit you on the face as you walked in and it smelt so strongly on her clothes it could make you gag when she got in my car. I also had another friend who lived in a very messy unclean house. Her family were always frying stuff and the house smelt so strongly of stale grease and general uncleanness so I can imagine a combination of animals, frying or not cleaning would be very strong.