Offensive incense/diffuser smell from neighbor downstairs (lease, tenants, house)

[The French Maid]

Hi all,

We moved into a brand new building back in January. It is just my husband, me and the cat. We both wear crock flip flops in the house (because the ground is hard on our feet).

After a week of the new neighbor moving downstairs, they complained to the manager that we were walking too loud between the hours of 5pm and 9pm. This was before the lockdown and everyone having to work from home.

They have a very offensive diffuser downstairs which is poisonous to cats. My cat also has asthma and so do I. We have been on our inhalers quite a bit because of this smell. It seems like it's on their balcony and it may even be their water fountain on the balcony as some of them are aromatherapy. Ugh. It just smells cheap grandma drugstore smell flowing into our windows constantly but seems worse in the mornings. We live in a warm climate so everyone has their windows open a lot here.

I have asked management to deal with this but the smell hasn't changed. I told them this could become a legal issue given the health situation. I complained after a week and now the smell (I swear) is stronger than ever. They offered to move us to another unit. Um, why? We are tired of moving as we just moved back from overseas!

My husband got angry this morning and walked heavily because we are so tired of it and they banged on their wall/ceiling. So now it seems to becoming a tit for tat which is the last thing we want in our lives.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Also, for us to break the lease we would have to pay 1 month rent plus the month rent back we got for free.

We have never had anyone complain about us. We don't have barking dogs or kids running around here. I can only imagine if they had to live with kids above them!

[semispherical]

They offered to move you to another unit. Would you rather solve the problem, or continue complaining?

[The French Maid]

Well... perhaps they could pay someone to help us move since my husband is disabled with Multiple Sclerosis. Maybe in that case... and then since I am a contractor at work and have no paid off days, they could cover my lost day of work? So yeah, that would be good.

Its alot easier for them to stop the diffuser than have someone move? No?

[Kim in FL]

The walking is normal daily living noise, tell them to shove it.

The diffuser is different, that is something that can be controlled, just like cigarette smoke coming into your unit. That was nice that they offered you a new unit, but they should be addressing the diffuser odor with your neighbors. They should be diffusing indoors only.

How do you know what they’re diffusing and how do you know it’s dangerous for your cat?

They aren’t going to pay you anything nor are they going to pay for you to move.

You need to sit down with your landlord and have an adult conversation

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by The French Maid

Well... perhaps they could pay someone to help us move .......

That's never going to happen so forget about that unrealistic dream.


Unless it specifically says in the lease that incense and air fresheners are not permitted, there isn't anything your landlord can do about the perfume used downstairs from you. With hindsight, since you have asthma and can't tolerate chemical scents, perhaps you should have selected a place that forbade those things in the lease.


It's in my lease that those things are forbidden and I will enforce it, not because I care about your complaint, OP, but because those things damage the paint. As a landlord, I refuse to play referee for tenants who can't get along. I'm not their mother and adults are responsible for getting along with their neighbors all by their own selves.



You were offered a viable solution, OP, and I suspect that is all you are going to get. Most likely because you refused that offer, that offer is no longer valid. You can't stop the neighbor and you refused to move, so there isn't much remaining for you to try. At this point, I would call your ongoing problem self-inflicted.