New neighbours complaining about our toilet

[Amanda98]

We’ve got a new build where one side of our house completely backs on to a neighbours garden - that’s the back wall/boundary of their garden essentially.

Downstairs, we have a toilet with a window which is on the side of the house where that wall is, and has a small window which opens at the top. Their garden is slightly lowered so it isn’t within reaching distance. It’s a fairly odd design but we’ve lived here for years with no issues.

The neighbours have recently changed. In one of the early weeks in April when it was warm, they put a note through the door which asked we keep the window closed when it’s sunny because of the smell. We don’t really open it much anyway so thought nothing of it.

We’ve since had a further note through this week asking it stays closed on Saturday because they are hosting a BBQ for a family members birthday. We also have family over on Saturday and the downstairs loo is the one they’d naturally use.

Are the neighbours being CF? They surely can’t expect us to introduce a rule where we only crap upstairs whenever they say so!

I mean, it’s a toilet. It doesn’t stink 24/7 but in a house where there’s four men (DH and 3 teenage DS) it’s not always going to smell of roses, hence the window being opened when needed.

I wouldn’t entertain this at all. In fact I’d probably make a point of ensuring the window was ALWAYS open.

I'm surprised it smells that bad. As someone else pointed out it is probably the drains.

Not so nice to hear toilet noises while your chomping down on your burger though.

Provided it was not a frequent request and they didn't do anything that I found offensive (maybe now is a chance to negotiate) I would probably accomodate them.

I’d be mortified if my shits were so foul that they could literally stink out a neighbour’s garden.

Honestly, some people’s poo just really stinks. Our household has the same diet yet the smell that comes from the bathroom when DH has been there could clear a suburb. With the rest of us, it’s just a ‘normal’ poo smell. Nothing physically wrong with him though. However, even if it is a case like this, the neighbours are still out of order asking the window be kept shut, it would obviously need to be open to clear the smell faster!

Yeah, this. Classic MN with everyone distancing themselves from doing smelly craps!

I can't believe th3 comments.

Clean your bloody toilet! The fact they can smell it is disgusting!

My immediate response is to tell them to bugger off, but then I read back and realised that the toilet window isn't even next to their house... I'm wondering if it's smell AND noise? Agree with PP there might be a dodgy drain somewhere, very common on new build sites.

I suspect it isn't all about the smell. Imagine sitting in your garden and hearing the neighbours straining, farting and poo plop noises. Gross!

It's a really poor layout. Caveat Emptor for the new neighbour.

But don't be surprised to have a trellis, fence or tree erected right outside the loo window to minimise the intrusion.

Can you clarify exactly where the boundary is, and do you have rights to actually open your window into their land?.

Poor you! Get him to get checked out though or try avoiding something in his diet it really should not be so bad that it could clear a suburb

I mean, they are being CF but no one wants to smell poo in their garden. Aesop poo drops are what you need here. Game changer.

My father is the same-his backside has to be smelt to be believed

He can clear a whole house out when he's had his trip to the loo

I'm amazed his neighbours haven't complained (although they are bloody tolerant-he once put 50 bags of fresh horse manure on his garden,In a heatwave,dug it in and avoided them for a few days-they just laughed,i was gagging)

I wouldn't do that op!

Please do explain how cleaning the toilet will
help the smell from a fresh 💩? Spray and open the window.

They open the window to let the smell out, it’s literally the purpose of the window to let in fresh air!

OP, ignore them! Don’t get embroiled in their bat shittery!

I think that is one of the most ludicrous neighbour requests I've ever heard.

Surely any shitty smell disperses pretty quickly once it's out in the open?

If the window opens onto their land / “airspace” then the window is trespassing! Should not have been approved with planning permission. YABU

Do they have a very small garden which means they have to sit very close to the window?
I don't see how they could smell it otherwise?

Could it be a noise thing rather than smell?

Perhaps offer to use vipoo if they pay for a job lot! And some fancy air fresheners...

Can you splash out ( sorry) on one of those fancy Japanese toilets, I am pretty sure you can get ones that play appropriate music.

Handels Water Music for a basic wee

1812 Overture for something a bit dramatic in the poo line.

Thus Spake Zarathustra or the Rite of Spring if you are a tad bunged up and need some encouragement.

The Minute Waltz if you have a touch of the runs and are in a rush.

💩

How did that design get through planning!

OP they bought the house as is.
They do NOT get to decide when you open your windows.
If this was an issue they really shouldn't have bought the house.
I certainly wouldn't have bought a house with that set iup.
Your window opens into their air space.
I didn't think that was allowed.

Does your window actually open in to their garden?
if they wanted to go they put a fence up so your window could no longer open?

Anyone else getting flashbacks to Leage of Gentlemen and Harvey Denton’s rule that downstairs loos are not for number 2s?

”We thought you’d be happiest down here on the sofa bed, you’ll have your own shower and WC.”
”Into which we do not pass solids.”

Do you live next door to the Dentons OP?

🤣🤣

Ignore and carry on as before.

I'd repeat their request back to them. "So you are asking me not to use my toilet? Just to clarify, where do you think I should go to take a shit?"

I appreciate that everyone does a number two in the toilet but even with by the sounds of it at least 5 persons, it still doesn't make sense that the toilet would be noticeably smelling foul at all hours of the day - it surely cant get that much use that there is a visible toilet smell that emanates into the neighbours gardens? Could this be the drains or something else?

I don't think YABU OP as such because its your house and you can do as you wish, there is no requirement to yield to their request - but if it's genuinely the case that four men leave the toilet smelling this bad throughout the day in a way women apparently do not then I would be asking them to clean up after themselves properly after the toilet has been used, use an odour neutraliser or frankly see a doctor.

I'd probably also pop over and politely ask the neighbour that they stop sending notes regarding this and that I have no idea what they're referring to as there is no smell within the house so perhaps it is the drains (even if just to save face).

YABU to not try to get to the bottom of this. Generally people don’t resort to notes unless they are desperate and something is very wrong. Most people will put up with a hell of a lot from neighbours without saying anything.

I’d be going round and asking them to show and tell what stinks. No toilet is going to be stinky unless you have some kind of sewage leak going on. I’d want to find out why they are associating the smell with your toilet.