Neighbour dispute - cooking smells/ noise - advice needed

[Sammyham]

We live in a small apartment which has a shared hallway with one other apartment whom leave their front door open almost continuously apart from late on a night when they finally close it.

Our neighbour cooks extremely strong fragranced foods, her kitchen is probably less than ten meters from our front door and is causing our entire apartment to fill and linger with her cooking smells, it's getting really stressful as it is so potent and clings to our carpets, clothes etc, it really is that stomach churning that on the rare occasion we were able to have a lay in the stench woke us up and coming in after work when the windows have been closed is starting to fill us with dread as we immediately have to come in, try and air our place out and clean so we can actually enjoy our home without feeling like we're sat in the middle of a tip.

We've asked on multiple occasions, trying to be as polite as possible for her to close her door whilst cooking to minimise the smell into our apartment, turn on her cooker fan etc but she either smiles and nods and then ignores us or as she does now, completely ignores us. I know it's not right but I've even shouted at her to please close her door and sprayed febreze into her apartment, I've even complained to the agency we're with but there's still been no change at all.

This is all along side the fact that her living room/ TV is pretty much outside our front door/ living room and she enjoys watching and conversing at ear splitting levels to the point we can't relax or hear our television without also having it at uncomfortable level to drown her out.

We're at our wits end and won't be able to move for another eleven months, sorry for such a long post and thank you in advance for any advice given on how to deal with this situation.

Every time your letting company calls instead of emails responses, email them afterwards to say 'Just to clarify what Eddie said in his phone call of 10:03' etc etc.

a) you will have a written, contemporaneous record
b) the agency will have to stop ostriching

You have to put it all in writing, yeah it is a pain but if this matter is bothering you like you say it is you will only see results in writing. It shows you are serious and ramping up your campaign I.e not giving up

The hassle of moving will outweigh the hassle of living where you are now. I would move her easting into the flat and shut the door everytime. Draw a picture of a drier with a red cross through it and stick it on the hall wall.

You poor thing. I have experienced similar with food smells and as everyone says no one takes it seriously or will do anything. Your best bet is to focus your attention on her open door and using the communal hallway as an extension of her flat. It isn’t. It’s a fire risk and this will be the thing that will gain you traction. No point focusing on the food smell issue although I know that can be soul destroying. You need to focus on what other people will take seriously and that’s the open door and the use of the communal hallway.

Maybe drop an official looking note through her letterbox about a recent burglar found wondering through the appt block and how it is strongly recommended front doors are kept shut for their own safety. Also because it invalidates insurance claims in the event of a burglary.

I had a similar experience a few years ago with people smoking in the building - this was years after the smoking ban they just ignored it and the smell came onto the landing and into the flats. There was also a laundry room near us so everyone's washing caught this too.

I kept complaining and in the end I moved and told the lettings agents that was my reason and I also got the address of the actual landlord off my contract and then copied the letter.

The actual landlords wrote back to me very annoyed the agents hadn't flagged this up or deemed it a health & safety issue and said they were very sorry I was going and was there anything they could do so I phoned them and they said they had some other properties in the area I could look at and so I found a house instead of a flat!

If the letting agents are rubbish, get hold of the landlord!

Agents will only get involved if an issue threatens to put them on the wrong side of the law. It has to be very seriously antisocial for them to get involved, if at all. So the only thing that is likely to make them move is a fire risk. If she is a good tenant in their eyes ie does not com0lain about issues in her flat, pays rent on time etc, they’ re even less likely to do anything. It’s fortunate in that respect you are renting and not owning the flat. We lived ( as owners) above a compulsive, all waking hours skunk smoker, the smell permeated all our flat and no one ( council, EHO) could do anything. we decided not to involve the police as he would undoubtedly have turned nasty. Sadly it only ceased when he died of lung failure. If we hadn’t been owners we would have moved out.