Second-hand smoke in a rented property: your rights

Cigarette smoke drifting in from a neighbour, through walls, ceilings, floors or shared vents, can harm health and cause real distress. Here are your rights, and the steps to take.

Is second-hand smoke from a neighbour a housing problem?

It can be. Where smoke gets in through a building fault, gaps in floors, poorly sealed joints, broken shared ventilation, that may be something your landlord can and should fix.

Where there is no building fault and the smoke simply travels because homes sit close together, above all in flats and conversions, the position is harder.

What can my landlord do?

Your landlord must keep the home in repair and free of unacceptable health risks. If smoke enters through:

• Gaps, cracks or badly sealed spots in the floor, walls or ceiling
• Broken shared ventilation
• Holes around pipes or cables running between flats

...those may be building faults the landlord must repair. Sealing them cuts the smoke.

Ask the landlord in writing to inspect, and to fix any building faults letting the smoke in.

What if the smoke is from a neighbouring property managed by the same landlord?

If you and the neighbour share a landlord, the landlord holds more options: speaking to the neighbour about shared areas, or about smoke causing a nuisance. Smoking in a building's shared areas is banned under the Health Act 2006.

No landlord can force a private tenant to stop smoking inside their own home. But the routes the smoke travels can be fixed.

What about the council and statutory nuisance?

Neighbour smoke can count as a statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, where it unreasonably spoils the use of your home or risks health. Report it to the council's environmental health team. They investigate, and on finding a nuisance they can make the person responsible stop.

The test is not whether the smoke is unpleasant; it must cross the legal threshold. Environmental health judges that.

What if I rent from a housing association or council?

Social landlords hold more power, through tenancy conditions. Smoking that causes a nuisance may breach the neighbour's conditions, and the landlord can act on them. Speak to the housing officer or estate manager.

What about my health?

If the smoke is causing or worsening a health condition, see your doctor and ask them to note the link. It may matter in a complaint or a claim.

Can I withhold rent?

No. Holding back rent over neighbour smoke is unlikely to be legally justified, and it can bring eviction proceedings. Use the proper channels.

When should I contact Support for Tenants?

We help tenants with housing disrepair claims. If smoke gets in through building faults your landlord failed to fix, we may be able to help.

Call us on 0800 030 4669. No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation, not your pocket. If you don't win, you pay nothing.

Sources

• Environmental Protection Act 1990 (statutory nuisance) (legislation.gov.uk)
• Health Act 2006 (smoke-free provisions) (legislation.gov.uk)