Smell nuisance and recovering costs from neighbours

[NewNeighbourSmell]

NC (but I have another thread under this name in housekeeping about getting rid of the smell!)

The new tenant in the rented flat next door has made my home stink of weed. This started late on a Sunday night and I found myself having to go to work stinking of weed on the Monday morning as my work clothes that had been hanging out ready also stank. (This is a key fact as I work in an environment where turning up stinking of weed is likely to result in questioning and possibly an investigation. Fortunately on this occasion my explanation was accepted. I am of course worried about it becoming an ongoing problem.)

The landlord has confirmed that this is a breach of the tenancy agreement, although they don't seem to be in a rush to do anything about it.

Environmental health are unlikely to be interested as it's smell from a domestic property (and it's smell rather than smoke, and there is a right to smoke in one's home - even though it's illegal to smoke cannabis, illegal under section 8 of the misuse of drugs act for the landlord to permit it, and in this instance against local landlord licensing regulations as well as against the health and safety code for this building which prohibits any smoking indoors. Unfortunately the management company are even less helpful than the landlord, and the freeholder less helpful still... The landlord licensing team at my local council are not interested in concerns raised by anyone who is not a tenant raising a concern about their own landlord.)

My concerns here are primarily about the fact that my home now stinks unless I have all the windows open and the air purifier running overnight. I've cleaned my soft furnishings and had the coats hanging on the back of my front door dry cleaned. There has been a spike in my electricity costs because of the air purifier. I am out of pocket for dry cleaning and paying to have my carpets cleaned. I'm worried about the impact on my heating bill if I have to have the windows open as the weather gets colder.

I am sympathetic to the argument that the new tenant did not foresee that breaking their tenancy agreement would leave my home stinking of weed and leave me facing extra costs as well as problems at work. However, they have now been informed - both in person, and then followed up in writing - about these consequences. I am hopeful that this behaviour will stop, although I suspect it won't as they seem to find the whole situation hilarious.

Given that they now expressly understand that their actions have resulted in these costs, if it happens again I am inclined to ask them to refund any further costs incurred as a direct result - and to pursue the matter in the small claims court if they don't. I appreciate that the costs involved are small, but the impact on my time, my ability to enjoy my home without interference, and the professional consequences if I keep turning up to work stinking of weed are not. (It is patently ridiculous for me to have to keep my work clothes somewhere else so my neighbours can smoke weed.) I hope that being out of pocket may be more of an incentive for them to smoke outside than me and/or their landlord begging them to do so.

(I appreciate that there is the possibility, if this behaviour persists, to pursue a claim in private nuisance - but the cost of civil action outside the small claims track is prohibitive. Litigation of any kind will of course be the last resort, but I want to make sure I have my ducks in a row in advance in case this behaviour persists.)

I would be grateful for any insight into the viability of my plans to try and manage this situation!

How are you going to prove your clothes smelt, to the court?

I'll be honest, I think you'll struggle to progress this.

@Meadowfinch good point, thank you.

When I took my coats to the dry cleaner the person checking them in actually commented on the smell! But there was nothing in writing about it. I will need to think about whether it is possible to credibly evidence the smell on the clothes.

(I am not looking to make money out of this. I simply don't want to be out of pocket because of the antisocial behaviour of these people.)

Your neighbour may be a medical cannabis patient and so for him it's not illegal to be using cannabis. Do you think he might be open to using edibles instead?

Medical cannabis prescriptions are supplied as either edibles or to be vaporised - they are not supplied to be smoked.

(I've also asked and had it confirmed that this is recreational use.)

Write to the freeholder again and ask for the name of their insurance company - the insurers might be more concerned than a clerical worker at the freeholder themselves.

(it's your insurance company too, assuming you are a leaseholder paying ground rent/service charges, so you are presumably fully entitled to this information)

if the smell is so strong could he be growing it? Worth a call to the police or Crimestoppers?

Is he sat in your front room smoking???
We once had a direct next door neighbour who smoked weed - we could smell it when we were in the garden sometimes, but never smelled it in our own home. I can, however, tell when he’s cooking bacon!

How is it seeping into your home to this extent?

Speaking as a vegetarian I strongly dislike the smell of meat cooking to which I am subjected by my neighbours, cannabis is just another household smell, like cooking smells, cleaning materials etc.

Except if I go to work smelling of bacon I am not at risk of disciplinary proceedings!

(ETA and I can't imagine cooking bacon would be a breach of a tenancy agreement. It is also not against the law. I would also rather not smell other people's food, but when that happens the smell usually disperses quickly - and I've never needed to dry clean or hire a carpet cleaner after a neighbour has cooked breakfast! The smell of terpenes is particularly strong and persistent...)

I honestly don't know. I presume it's to do with the way the building has been converted - and is perhaps why there is (allegedly) a "no smoking indoors" policy for the building.

I've lived here a very long time and can sometimes smell things from other flats that I would rather not smell - eg one neighbour boils fish - but those smells tend to disperse with ventilation. This one has persisted. If I could find a way to prevent it getting in I would do so!

Was about to say this . Smoking the odd joint is not going to result in your clothes , house ect smelling to that degree .

I wouldn’t be focusing on the tenant themselves. It is going to be really hard to make that case in court and I don’t think they’re going to happily accept the bill for the costs of dry cleaning.

I appreciate they haven’t been helpful to date but I would focus on legal arguments and strategies that focus on the landlord / freeholder / managing agent etc if they are not meeting their legal obligations. Not my area to be able to suggest what arguments they would be or their strength but the only way this is likely to stop is if they put pressure on the tenant.