Neighbours Gas Flue issues - regulations law help please!

[GotMyGoat]

Hello, we currently rent our house and have been here about a year and a half. Have noticed a gas smell, often near our boiler - so have purchased a CO detector, and had the landlord call out a gas safe person to check our house out for gas leaks etc, with no issues detected.

The smell isn't always there, and it's only ever downstairs, so something you can sort of ignore for a year and a half IYSWIM.

our houses are both old Victorian jobbies, and over the years each house has built a small extension so that each house now has L shaped patios in front of the garden/drives to the rear of the houses.

In the last couple of weeks, I've realised what the gas smell problem is; both mine, and my neighbour have gas flue exhausts leading into my garden/patio. Mine is 8 foot high and points towards the back of our garden, in a place where nobody walks past, I've never noticed a smell from it, and it causes nobody any bother.

My neighbours is about 6 foot high, and points straight into our patio/ drive walkway area, which is about 6 foot wide, and the exhausts go straight into our bathroom vents - which floods my bathroom (where the boiler is) and downstairs with a heavy smell of gas. - I've realised the only reason the house doesn't always smell this way is that sometimes we have our bathroom or kitchen closed which blocks the smell spreading.

Is this something I can complain about - and to whom? is it dangerous, or just unpleasant? Is it legal? can extensions be added to point the fumes upwards rather than into my house? I'm nervous as my rabbit died unexplainably, and used to live on the patio - could gas exhausts have killed my bunny? I want to get new bunnies this year - but don't want to poison them!

Thanks for listening!

If I smelt gas I wouldn't fanny about I'd be calling 0800 111 999 and reporting it. Details here: www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Gas/Safety/Emergency/

we've had the house checked by a gas safe engineer though - we know its gas exhaust fumes that are the problem so don't think we need to call the emergency line - but thank you.

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/2451/contents/made any help?

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/2451/contents/made even!

Yes but they shouldn't smell of gas and they give advice as well as sending engineers out.

Thank you boris, it's all a bit technical though, and to do with installationy stuff - I need someone clever to come along with a highlighter and tell me what it means (and so what to do).

OH is gas safe. You should definitely get this looked at by a gas safe engineer. He says if need be the flue gases can be diverted with a plume displacement kit. Oh and get an electronic carbon monoxide detecto
r in the bathroom ASAP.

oh ok, katie thank you i may well call the line then, and find out what's what.

I might get on to my landlord again then, to ask them to look at next doors flue - it's just so difficult, as tenants to know what to do, do we take action ourselves, ask next door... ask landlord...

I have a electric CO detector, I put it in the kitchen, but will move it into the bathroom as this is the worst bit.

I'm trying to find out if I'm justified to have something to complain about to my landlord, and if they pooh pooh it - is that bang out of order, or ok.

This shows you the requirements of the Building Regulations for positioning a flue.

If a gas safe guy visits and sees that there is something wrong he is required by law to make it safe. You need to get it looked at somehow, so maybe speak yo your neighbour first? If the problem is not with your property your landlord wont be interested.

Thanks - that's a really good resource.

"If a gas safe guy visits and sees that there is something wrong he is required by law to make it safe"

But I don't want this to be at my expense! It is either my landlords or my neighbours responsibility if something is unsafe, it is my responsibility if it's just a pain. scared of calling someone out and then my landlord refusing to pay the bill because I didn't ask them first etc...

do you mean his flue is 6 feet away from your bathrrom window? Flue gases are warm and usually rise (you can see the steam on a cold day) so I am surprised they get into the bathroom. A flue kit is just an elbow joint, usually used to point the gases upwards instead of outwards.

You are not allowed to empty your flue onto someone else's property, so his flue should emerge over his own land or garden. Does it? Or is it on a boundary wall?

6 feet opposite from my air vent, which is next to my ground floor bathroom window - I know these things go up - but it seems to have enough force to shoot through... or the smell is anyway.

Erm... it comes out through the back of their extension, so into our garden. I suppose it would have been a boundary wall... only they built a small kitchen along it.

I see the steam from our flue a lot, but that is silent and doesn't smell, there's smells and whirrs a lot - I'm sure there is steam but can't say I've noticed it (but only because i see ours from my window upstairs when i turn the heating on).

Oh i don't know. It's like googling for headaches... some websites say take a paracetamol and some say you've got cancer...

my neighbours flue is pointed at my house, the gas board have said it is not illegal or dangerous as no carbon monoxide is in the fumes. Brit gas have said it is a nuisance and it is a nasty situation but there is nothing they can do. We do not speak to each other so this is awkward and the are not approachable. Thensmell from the fumes in my upstairs and my garage are driving us mad.