Neighbours biomass smoke is ruining our house (and health of unborn child?)

[TheCornishGoodLife]

We moved house 4 months ago and really stretched ourselves to get it because we loved it so much.
Turns out our neighbours have a biomass boiler that pumps out black smoke across our house and garden every single day from about 4pm-9pm and it’s really getting me down. Now that the weather is warmer, we can’t have any doors or windows open at all, we can’t be out/sit out in the garden during that time because it stinks and hurts your chest, we can’t put any washing out. The smell also seems to seep into the house as well.
The smoke doesn’t affect them because it always blows away from them, right over our house and you get a horrible smoky haze in our garden for hours. It’s like living next to someone that has a big bonfire next to you every single day.
On top of that, I’m quite worried about the health effects of this (plus I’ve just found out I’m pregnant so that’s a double worry).
Ive read up about biomass boilers and used right, they should have a clean burn. So they’re clearly not using it right/burning rubbish to try to save money.
It’s such a shame because this house was supposed to be THE house, and now I’m starting to want to rush to get the redecorating done and move again.
We are super keen to keep good neighbourly relations - is it reasonable for me to say something - have we left it long enough since moving in? Am I being overly sensitive? Is there a gentle way of approaching this?
Thank you so much!!

@TheCornishGoodLife If your DH is a firefighter does he not have the ability to do something from his line of work. I know there are safety aspects the fire service can get involved in. If they are burning things that re not supposed to be burnt it could make it a fire hazard. Maybe a deadend I’m just thinking of him leveraging his line of work to get them to stop somehow.

The only way you'll get anywhere is the local council, get them out and explain you're seriously worried about your health over it. And take photos/videos every time it's bothering you. We had issues with a neighbour persistently lighting bonfires and it turned out they were bringing the rubbish home from their business (too tight to pay for commercial rubbish removal) and burning it twice a week. I kept a log as did others, and when someone from EH actually came out and smelt it, they were fined and told to stop. Thankfully it seems to have worked.... if they're farmers, likely chances are that they're doing the same and burning what would be classed as commmercial rubbish.

Yes definitely - I am realising that we do need to stop being apologetic - we aren’t helping ourselves there at all.
Luckily we used to back onto farmland previously so are used to the joys of muck spreading and cockerels 😅 but we won’t mention anything to do with what you mention - it won’t help our case like you say

Report him to the council, environmental health and agriculture. Your dh can use his position to strengthen your case. No more apologising or waiting to see what happens.,

Has your midwife done the breath check? What did you score? If you score above 1 the first time, they’ll do it at every appointment, so you’ll be monitored on that front. I scored 2 because we got stuck in traffic on the motorway 🫣 But we also found I scored higher if next door had burnt their log burners the evening before, otherwise I was always 0.

Sadly I think you’ve got to decide what you intend to do… you can report it, but if he’s burning any old rubbish, and possibly carcasses, he’s unlikely to stop, and if you report it, it comes declarable and you’re not going to be able to sell. A cynic would presume this isn’t a new issue, and your sellers decided not to declare it either.. but there is a moral issue there too. You have to see how it sits with you, if you’re lucky enough to be able to afford to move again soon after.

As someone from the countryside, I agree. Don't say this. The countryside is a working place, not a fantasy land for city people, so make sure you don't come across like this.

If the smoke is visible, try to film it as well. Hopefully they'll send someone out and you can show them in person what it's like when the boiler is going at its fullest.

Meanwhile I'd recommend a decent air purifier for your bedroom. We have a couple from here: https://www.iqair.com/gb/air-purifiers

But we also found I scored higher if next door had burnt their log burners the evening before, otherwise I was always 0

Log burners, whilst cosy and fashionable, are a modern blight on air quality.

Sounds like neighbours might be about to signal to indicate a new Pope.

What a weird and totally inappropriate thing to say

People think all these wonderful new 'green' renewable things are so lovely and clean, they bloody aren't.

Luckily we don't live near any but friends have lives blighted by biomass installations and anerobic digesters on farms. People regularly take the piss, they say it's only for on farm waste but then have huge lorries delivering extra stuff to burn and it's very difficult to get anyone to do anything about it.

I would second the log, take videos of the smoke, perhaps have a word with other neighbours. If you have a good branch of CPRE in your county they might be able to help.

Might be breaching Building Regs. My memories are very, very rusty but there are rules about combi-boilers not venting on to neighbouring properties. Something like this may have been overlooked by law makers but it has to be worth checking out, probably with your Council's planning enforcement or, if you prefer, you can pay for advice from a property lawyer.

Black smoke wouldn't come from untreated wood. I dread to think what they're burning.

Just trying to be pope ular sorry. At least OP will be the first to know!

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/fallen-stock

Hi op, I work for APHA, Animal and Plant Health Agency. By the sounds of it, your neighbour is contravening many regulations. He should not be burning livestock carcasses unless he has an Approved Animal By Product (ABP) facility, which is unlikely given the proximity to your home. He should also have a County Parish Holding number (CPH) registered with the Rural Payments Agency, so that his sheep are registered and can be tested for disease and their location known in the event of an Outbreak (like Foot and Mouth). By his actions it would appear doubtful he is doing anything within regulations. Email APHA by Googling your relevant body, could be APHA Wales or APHA England and Scotland. Give them the location (what 3 words is great for this) or post code, although rural post codes can cover a large area. Attach any photos and videos you have of the smoke billowing out. They will have people who advise on ABPs, they should check their systems to see if any sheep are registered. They won't ignore you. Don't worry if they advise you to contact your Local Authority, this is normal. Any contravening of Regulations are normally jointly handled by the LA and APHA. Use the main contact email you find, it will be forwarded to the relevant department. I would advise emailing rather than calling, it helps you to keep track of what has been said you can refer back to it if needs be.

Good luck, hopefully this will be sorted in the end and you won't have to move.

Farmers around here are very defensive about the 'right to burn' and will burn any old shit - especially when it's sunny and they go for hours. I just keep reporting it to the council - they will deal with it. Take videos of the black smoke and keep a log.
I am so sorry that you're having this experience - you're right to worry about the effects it's having on you and your family.

Was the boiler not on when you viewed?

I'm sorry but I think you are going to struggle to sell unless this stops altogether

We once had a similar situation. Contacted planning and environmental health as the situation was unbearable and we are in our 'forever' home. They did not have planning permission and environmental health said it was not suitable equipment so close to another property. It had to be removed. So eventually when we want to sell our house our solicitor said we can say to a possible purchaser; there was an issue but this was dealt with by environmental health and we have not had an issue since. This was five years ago and although we are not on speaking terms with the neighbours we have not had any further issues and love our home.

Not clear from your posts, but would planting trees and/or a solid fence do anything to redirect the smoke?
our neighbours massive conifers fortunately do a good job of funnelling their constant bonfire smoke upwards and away rather than into our garden.

I’d be wary of opening any official complaints channel as you’ll have to declare it if you want to sell.

Not true

As long as there are no ongoing disputes there's no problem

We were in dispute with our last neighbour , we went through the correct channels and we went to mediation and resolved the issues

Sold our house first day it went on the market with full disclosure of previous dispute

It was, but we weren’t aware - the flue is very much hidden behind a tree from our point of view, so you only know about it when it’s smoking. We viewed the house in the daytime before it was lit. Fortunately, in a way, the boiler itself isn’t the issue - biomass shouldn’t make any smoke when used properly. It should be a clean burn. But they aren’t using it the way they should, so the issue is improper use. It’s supposed to be a clean, environmentally friendly thing, but the way they’re using it is ironically causing a lot of air pollution. Hopefully we don’t struggle to sell 🤞 it’s always my biggest worry with houses because this is not our long-term home

I'm pleased that was the case for you, but it's very buyer-dependant.

I don't know what your dispute was, but I'd be very cautious about buying a home where a dispute about a biomass boiler that kicked smoke all over my property had been raised. Infact, I'd write it off - it's not worth the risk to my kids health; and unless the biomass boiler had been removed, I'd never be confident that it wouldn't start back up. And even if the boiler was gone; if next door are burners... I'd rather avoid that.

Nobody can say that it'll mean the house won't sell, of course; but it'd make it considerably harder to sell, because you'll have to wait for someone who doesn't mind, or who plans to burn their own stuff, I guess!

YANBU - What an absolute nightmare! Burning dead animals and you get the smoke? Yuck! I would have zero qualms in reporting to Environmental Health. I wonder if you can get a big industrial fan so you can blow it back over their property - probably costly but I like the thought. 🤔

If he's only got a few sheep where are all these dead lambs coming from? Even taking multiple births into account, surely not all his new lambs are dying.

I’d check it has building regs first up, if it doesn’t (it will be listed in the local councils building regs digital archives), you could ask for a building regulations inspection. I’d stop playing nicey nicey too, I’m amazed you didn’t spot this on any of your viewings? Honestly, maybe the best thing is sell up quietly and ask the farmer to keep it off during viewings. Obviously any legal disputes would have to be declared to a future buyer, so for that reason it’s better not to have a dispute.

Black smoke, not running it hot enough, wet wood, should be pellets and also burning rubbish. You see it all the time, people collecting crap to burn.

It's so bad for you. We moved as our neighbours smoked us out and now where we've moved to, everyone has installed woodburners.

We complained to the council last house and they really can't do much, they're not interested.