What can I do about odor in a hallway from my neighbour apartment?

[xxgrzesx]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Since my new neighbors moved in, the hallway stinks (I think from cooking.) But it is very bad and intense smell. Because our apartment doors are not tight, the odor enters our apartment especially when we use air condition. I guess it sucks in the air though the gaps between door and frame. There are three apartments in that part of the hallway (fire doors in the hallway divide it into 3 apartment sections). One apartment is vacant, so there is only me and that neighbor from whose apartment stinks. I have contacted landlord twice about it and I have mailed certified letter to landlord as well. Landlord has never even contacted me. I am considering filing small claims court lawsuit, but how do I evidence the odor to the court? Since the other apartment is vacant and we are at the end of the floor, no body else is bothered by it. So, nobody else complains. What else can I do about it and in case I have to go to a court, how can I provide evidence of the odor? Thank you in advance for replies. I live in Los Angeles.

 

[Alaska landlord]

Personally, if I were the judge I would lock you up for wasting my time.
Put some weather stripping around the door and stop being such a PITA.
I get the feeling you won't last for long in that apartment. Landlords don't like complainers especially for nonsense like this.

 

[Number21]

Have you read your lease carefully? The lease I signed for my shop, which was just a generic prewritten housing lease, specifies that no obnoxious odors may be emitted from the unit, and you must not "create a nuisance", which is rather vague. I'm using that wording to get my worthless neighbor kicked out.

In your case I don't know about a lawsuit, but you are certainly entitled to clean air.

 

[Alaska landlord]

You will not find any residential lease covering obnoxious odors.
OP is out of luck. What is obnoxious to OP is delightful to the other tenants. Hell, if you can't cook in your own home what the heck can you do. I like fish. what, now I should worry about my neighbors not liking the smell of fish?

 

[CraigFL]

Where would we be now if the neighbors reported those obnoxious odors coming from Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment sooner?

 

[Number21]

You will not find any residential lease covering obnoxious odors.

I'm looking at one right now as I type this. I am in a commercial building but the lease is exactly the same as if it was a house where I lived. The exact words say

the lessee will not permit any objectionable noise or odor to escape or to be emitted from the premises or do anything or permit anything to be done upon or about the premises in any way tending to create a nuisance

I would not be surprised at all if the original poster has a similar claus in their lease. I'm not saying they do, but I am saying they need to check closely.

To the OP: Alaska landlord's advice is usually pretty questionable at best.

I like fish. what, now I should worry about my neighbors not liking the smell of fish?

If you were my neighbor my lease would require you to keep that fish smell to yourself or get the hell out. Only 2 options.

 

[Cvillecpm]

You you THINK you can for your landlord to enforce an unenforcable part of a lease?

LANDLORDS need to IGNORE PITAs more and RESPOND less....KUDOS to your landlord for ignoring your letter.....I suspect you may have a notice on your door terminating your tenancy for violating the QUIET ENJOYMENT of your NEIGHBOR!!

 

[ecmst12]

The landlord can't forbid other tenants from cooking. YOU need to take the responsibility for your own space instead of expecting other people to change for you. There is a staggering variety of odor-correcting products on the market - candles, incense, sprays, plug ins, etc. They are remarkably effective at removing offensive odors. Some of them have scents and others claim to be "odor neutralizers". Get some. Use them. And apply some better weatherstripping to your door (as suggested already). And move at the end of your lease, to a smaller building or single family home.

You can't make your landlord stop other tenants from doing things which are merely a normal part of their daily lives. If you live on the bottom floor, you can't complain about upstairs tenants walking or even running above you - they have the right to walk/run in their own apartment and it's just one of those things that you have to deal with when you live in a multi-family dwelling. It's the same with the cooking. I once lived in an efficiency where I shared the kitchen and bathroom with my landlords. They were an older Korean couple and they would get up at 8am (I was still in college, that was EARLY) and make the nastiest smelling breakfast you could imagine. I bought a can of lysol and kept it next to my bed. You adjust yourself to the situation, don't expect it to adjust to you.

 

[divona2000]

...Since my new neighbors moved in, the hallway stinks (I think from cooking.) But it is very bad and intense smell. Because our apartment doors are not tight, the odor enters our apartment especially when we use air condition...One apartment is vacant, so there is only me and that neighbor from whose apartment stinks. I have contacted landlord twice about it...What else can I do about it...

Uh, have you talked with the neighbors about it?
You say the hallway stinks-does their apartment too?
If it's in just the hallway-maybe dead critters in the walls?
Worse when you use the air-is it a central system? Maybe with a dead critter in that?

 

[xxgrzesx]

Thank you Number21. Actually there is a clause regarding odors in the lease. However, I spoke to janitor today and the landlord has ordered them to use range hood and if it does not work they will replace it. He told me that if that does not work they will try to evict them. They did it because over the weekend some of the prospective tenants did not want to see the other apartment once they got into hallway. They just left because of the smell. He told me that he also informed the management about it few days after they moved in.

To Alaska Landlord no need for your insults. I asked a question and if you do not have the answer you do not have to respond. I have not made a single complaint during my two years in the building and pay rent on time. I think that as a senior member you should know that your response that is off topic is a PITA. You can cook fish, but keep the odors in your apartment.

 

[Cvillecpm]

Get verification from the OWNER and not the JANITOR.....operation of the range hood may well be an ethnic problem and may not solve the problem if the hood is not vented to the outside.

FYI * a good fair housing group * ACORN or Operation Sentinel * will get any attempt at eviction stopped on the basis of discrimination * don't hang your hat on that issue.

These cases are making their way through HUD and the Department of Justice so don't put your Lysol away just yet!!