My neighbour has a disgusting habit that’s ruining my home life. I’ve asked him

My neighbours smoke in their garden come rain or shine. The problem is, we live in a terrace and the fumes blow over near my bedroom window. I can’t open my window in the summer and, even in the winter, it seeps in through the air brick. I’ve asked them to stop but they say it’s their garden and they can do as they please. What can I do? 

Name and address via email. 

Dean Dunham replies: Unfortunately, the law does not give you an automatic right to clean air in your garden or home when the source is a neighbour smoking legally on their own property. There is no law that bans someone from smoking in their garden as it’s their private space and, provided they are not breaking local by-laws, they are entitled to do so.

That said, there is a potential route you could take to deal with the issue.

Where a neighbour’s actions seriously affect your enjoyment of your home, you can make a complaint to your local council’s environmental health department. It has the power to investigate if the situation could amount to a ‘statutory nuisance’ under Section 79(1)(b) of The Environmental Protection Act 1990.

To amount to a statutory nuisance, the local authority will need to be satisfied that your neighbours smoking unreasonably and substantially interferes with your use or enjoyment of your home and is injurious to health or is likely to injure health.

You therefore need to collate sufficient evidence before making your complaint.

This should include a diary of when the smoking takes place, so you can show the frequency of the issue, photographic or video evidence of the smoke entering your home and, if possible, a letter from your GP detailing the impact on your health.

If the local authority agrees with you, it can serve an abatement notice on your neighbour. This is a legal notice demanding that they stop the action complained of.

However, be prepared for a rejection, as my view is the local authority is more likely to find that the threshold for a statutory nuisance has not been reached.

The law does not give you an automatic right to clean air in your garden or home when the source is a neighbour smoking legally on their own property, writes Dean Dunham (picture posed by model)

An auction house put up a ‘for sale’ sign outside my house by mistake. I was on holiday and only found out when my neighbour texted me to ask if I was moving. After I complained, it took the auction house about a week to come and remove it. I’m angry because I think it made me look as if I was in financial trouble and my home was being repossessed. I feel my reputation has been damaged. What are my rights?

M. L., Leicestershire 

Dean Dunham replies: The likes of estate agents and auction houses are permitted to erect ‘for sale’ or ‘to let’ signs outside properties under a law called The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007. This sets out the circumstances under which signage can be temporarily erected without formal permission and details rules that must be followed.

The most basic requirement is obviously that the signage is erected outside of a property that is for sale, rent or auction – so technically this law has been broken by the auction house, which is a criminal offence. Putting up the sign was obviously a mistake and it is therefore highly unlikely that any enforcement action would come from this – but it’s a good bit of ammunition to have up your sleeve.

Your next move should be to write to the auction house and set out five things in your letter. First, the background as you have explained it to me. Second, the law that has been broken, as I have explained.

Third, the impact on you, in that it has caused you inconvenience, distress and potential reputational harm.

Fourth, what you are seeking – this should be a written apology and compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused (noting this will not be a big sum).

Finally, you should outline what you will do next if it refuses to recompense you. This could be to escalate to The Property Ombudsman if the auction house is a member, or the National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers.

The ombudsman can award compensation, though these awards tend to be modest, usually a few hundred pounds.