Tenants cannot stop neighbor smells from entering their unit
Residents are experiencing unsettling and concerning situations in their apartments, including the discovery of a deceased neighbor's body and unusual smells. This creates anxiety and raises concerns about building management and safety.
SOURCES (60)
“So I’ve recently moved in to my high rise apartment where you’re not supposed to smoke and yeah as far as I’ve seen, there’s literally no one smoking on their balcony. So I didn’t wanna put myself in the situation by smoking a joint in…”
“I've lived in my apartment for a few months with no issue; third floor, central air. ~1 week ago the place started smelling of weed, and it's become constant and oppressive. I'm certain it is my downstairs neighbor; not sure if they just moved in or if they have been there longer but are taking advantage of the nice weather to smoke on their balcony more (right by the exterior HVAC units . . .). They're not allowed to, and I've reported it to the management, so maybe that wil”
“Hello. Looking for ideas I may not have thought of yet. I live in a building that has 60 some units, I’m in an upper. The layout of all the units are identical so my downstairs neighbor kitchen mirrors mine. This means his stove is also directly below mine. He’s a chain smoker and he leaves his stove fan on when he smokes and because his stove is below mine his ventilation is connected to my stove ventilation. All day long his cigarette smoke is getting dragged out through my range. I have talke”
“Hi all! I post to this sub for the first time out of desperation. I moved into an apartment a month and a half ago now, and over the past month I’ve been smelling this distinct…. Smell. Can’t quite describe it, but it smells rotten or like garbage. It wakes me up in the morning before my alarm does. It is really quite pungent. I assumed it was a drain or garbage disposal issue at first. It was only after a couple of weeks of pouring baking soda and vinegar down my drains every day, scrubbing the”
“In an apartment, worried this could be causing breathing issues. or Is this normal and i’m just tripping? submitted by /u/Odd-Ad-2673 [link] [comments]”
“i have been reading about worm bins for six months and I am still stuck on the fear that my landlord will smell something weird. my apartment is 600 square feet. no basement, no garage, just a closet and a balcony that freezes solid. the worms would live in the kitchen or the bathroom and I need to know if that is actually doable or if I am romanticizing it. i generate enough scraps. coffee grounds, veg trimmings, the usual. I want the castings for my containers come spring. but I also show apar”
“Strange odors coming from other apartments frequently ugh. submitted by /u/Aquarius3312 [link] [comments]”
“Hi! I work late (I often come home from work at midnight) and without fail, my apartment always smells like weed around the time I come home. I am not sure what to do. I am fairly new to the area and don’t know my neighbors (there are 3 other tenants in the building). It’s been happening every single night since I moved in and I don’t know what to do. Recently, there was a list of warnings from my landlord of things that we shouldn’t do: “don’t put grease in the sink and don’t smoke marijuana in”
“I live in a 5 unit multi-family house. Every Sunday someone meal preps or spends the day cooking this spicy pork dish and while the smell isn't necessarily a bad one, when it's not something you're cooking yourself, it is noticeable, heavy, and it lingers. It ends up getting into my apartment and it's strong enough that I even smell it when I wake up on the opposite end of my apartment. This has been happening since I moved in here in the summer of 2025. I've noticed that the”
“Multi-day houseguest insisted on using this gross "Stinky Bowl Spray -Lavender Vanilla" (like PooPouri) and now that she's gone, I can't get the smell out of my small apartment, especially bathroom. Please help me clear the air of this toxic odor. submitted by /u/OodaliOoo [link] [comments]”
“So we reached out to our apartment management because our balcony reeks of dog piss. it comes and goes and after about a month of figuring it out where its coming from we realized its from the upstairs neighbors letting the dog piss on their balcony. At first we couldn’t believe it because they have patio furniture and all there. but its them. Its absent when their patio door is closed and boom dog piss when it is open. We reached out to management and management said they’d look into it but nee”
“Just moved into a new apartment and have been dealing with a mysterious, sharp smell that I only seem to notice when I first walk through the door. The mechanical closet is directly to the right of the entrance. Maintenance came by and said that the opening in the floor leads to the sewer line. He also mentioned that the cap to the left used to be on, but it was causing overflow issues, so I guess it was removed. I’m worried that vapors could potentially be coming up through the opening and gett”
“I think you're right in you're comparison. For this application. Of odor removable. However a strong acid like vinegar does break down and D nature protein. And in certain situations it's a better option for removing bio films”
“Hey everyone, I just rented a fairly new build basement apartment which has its own AC unit and LifeBreath system. Before this week, never heard about LB before. I’ve looked up how this works on YouTube so I kind of understand what it does - kind of. I’m in Ontario Canada. It’s the end of summer right now, creeping into fall. When do I use this thing ? Should I be using it now? I had to get a dehumidifier because it gets a little damp through the night. I’m keeping it under 60%. submitted”
“My neighbour gave me her sofas. She did not tell me she smoked. I have an uplift due in 3 weeks so anything that could help the smell so I don't hate my home and have a breakdown, all would be appreciated. The worst of the smell is from within the cushions, so it's like every time I sit on it, it's like a smell cloud of her smoking. She had it "professionally cleaned" so I believe this covered the issue when I took it from her and I only realised it was bad over the last mo”
“I’m really hoping that someone knows what I’m talking about and can help lol. My apartment has a smell that I’ve smelled occasionally in old apartments and house my whole life. It smells…like an old apartment. Kind of sour wood and dust? Maybe slightly like wood chips? Very lived in. Stale. It’s not good. It’s a pre-war Brooklyn apartment. It’s not about it being dirty, I keep it clean. And I notice it more when I’ve been gone and come back. Does anyone know the smell I’m talking about? lol And”
So my landlord lets me rent a room in his house and he’s a 80 y.o man and he likes to keep things past expiration date until it’s like no longer deemed…
“How about the HVAC? Maybe the smell isn't actually coming from where you think it is.”
“Service manager here: Rip up the floor, use enzyme, let it dry out and apply kilz for heavy odor, install floor again. DO NOT waste your money on ozone machine.”
“Recently moved into an apartment with my partner, they’ve already been living here. It’s a non-smoking complex, and we live on the 2nd floor of a 3 floor building. We’re finally starting to see cooler days here, so I’ve wanted to have the windows open and save money, but I literally can’t. The people above AND below us smoke cigarettes constantly. The people downstairs are a unit with multiple smoking adults, and the people upstairs are suspect smokers since our balcony is constantly covered in”
“Hi all, Had a roommate move in about a month ago, and it's been good BUT the room smells of B.O. due to her belongings/habits. She got a new mattress, but her room is still pretty smelly. Here's what I'm thinking of recommending she do: - See whether getting old smells out of clothes (w/ oxyclean or an enzyme cleaner - or laundry stripping) and linens works. See if pillows/mattress cover are an issue. - Clean all surfaces/plastics in her room which may have absorbed the smell. Using”
“I live in a place with a swamp cooler, meaning outside air is brought in, humidified, and pumped into my apartment. I leave the windows open for stale air to flow out. Recently two new neighbors moved in and since then, once or 9a week a strong wood smoke smell floods my apartment for hours. I've looked around and my best guess is one of them is using their fireplace and the chimney is right next to the swamp cooler intake. I emailed my apartment, they said they can't do anything if its”
“Hello! I’m wondering if anybody in here could give their opinion on my situation. I have recently moved into a newly converted ground floor apartment, it used to be an office building, we are the first tenants. Many of the bedroom walls are external, but still hollow. There is a sour, rotten vegetable type smell, that my partner describes similar to compost? We realised that the smell gets much worse when the bedroom window is open. When it is open, drafts of air push through the bottom of the b”
“I just moved into a bachelor apartment. I’m noticing the kitchen has a strong smell, I can’t place it exactly but I believe it may be cooking/food smells that have settled in over time from the past tenant? I’ve had all windows open since I moved in, I had a professional cleaner come and clean the entire place, the smell will not go away!! I don’t know what to do :( submitted by /u/AphroditesAbundance [link] [comments]”
“I’m not sure what it is but I just feel really gross and sticky. I have all the fans on, open windows, but nothing is working. Any advice? submitted by /u/Fine-Zombie6782 [link] [comments]”
“Moved into a smaller new-build apartment in April, first floor, not sharing walls with neighbors. The building was finished around January. The off-gassing was intense for several weeks, but got better except for one bedroom. It was manageable at first, only appearing when very hot or humid. It’s been colder and humid for a few days now and the drywall smell is so strong it’s making me nauseated. We’ve also been dealing with a strong rotten egg smell coming from the water heater or the drain in”
“Hi all, quite an urgent situation. I would really appreciate your advice and if anyone has been in any similar situations! Sorry the post is so long, I want to include as much nuance as possible to diagnose this correctly. I have been living ALONE in my family‘s apartment since May. Since living there I have noticed very concerning things and very concerning physical and mental symptoms presumably because of something external in the air or ventilation. I brushed it off as me being paranoid or h”
“We just moved this last month and the weather has been nice so our windows have been open everyday. Today we had to close up so they could power wash the patios, and right by my in-home office desk, I kept smelling a powerful urine smell. We know the place is pet friendly (we have a cat) but I think this was a spot of constant accidents. Just sitting near it is giving me a headache. Should I just keep spraying it with nature's miracle? Is there a better way to remove the smell like vinegar?”
“Hi all, We have a forced air system in our condo with multiple vents throughout. Occasionally, a strong musty / mildew odour comes out of all vents at once. We haven’t lived here too long, but I think it’s only emitting this odour when the AC is on - but it’ll happen in random spades. Humidity in the unit itself as well is generally pretty low despite living in a wet city which is a bit bizarre. We’ve tried cleaning the coils but to no avail. Is this likely a condo issue that we’re dealing with?”
“Hello! I have just moved in to a one bedroom 750 sq ft apartment and it mildly smells like smoke. I need help with deciding the next best steps for how to reduce the smell and (hopefully) eliminate it. I have a steam cleaner which I am planning to use on all the walls, ceiling fans, and floors, but if that doesn’t work, I am considering an ozone generator. From what I read online, there are mixed reviews. Some people say not to use it at all, and others said it worked for them. For this small sp”
“Just moved into a new apartment and I smell that earthy mildew-y smell. Thought it might be the apartment's AC, but I stood in front of it as it was running and it was surprisingly fine. Thought it could be my clothes since it's been sitting in public storage for a while, so I sniffed each one and ran any that smelled strange through a wash. Still smell it every time I come back in, but get used to it so fast that I can't reliably go around sniffing to see where it's actually com”
“Hi all. I'm very new as a property manager and I have been encountering an issue with smells on one of the floors. A new tenant has been complaining about cooking smells on their floor seeping into their apartment. I have sent out a memo regarding respecting your neighbors with your in home practices. Two days after the memo was given out the same tenant emailed me again saying that the smell is persisting. Does anybody have any advice on what I am actually able to do in this scenario? Thank”
“About 2 weeks ago I moved into the unit right above a bagel shop. It has been totally fine the past two weeks, smelling fresh every morning, but the past two days I have been waking up at 3/4am to the smell of bagels. I completely understand that this is probably when the shop is making their bagels, what I don’t understand is why it’s suddenly appearing now. We didn’t have this issue AT ALL for two weeks. Could something be wrong with the ventilation? I did report to maintenance but I worry it”
“We were part of a power outage that lasted over 24 hours and in our haste to be somewhere safe, some things were forgotten at the apartment that have led to an awful stench that's lingering. It smells like pet odor dialed up to eleven, trash, and the stagnant water stench from our breezeway that flooded has seeped in a bit. Is there something we could do to help make it more tolerable in the short term so I can start cleaning for long term? Im pregnant right now and insanely sensitive to sme”
“Hello, I am in a very desperate situation. For nearly two years there has been a bothersome stale smell in my apartment. I smell it as soon as I walk in , in the bedroom, bathroom, everywhere. Admittedly I have a very keen sense of smell and I am seemingly the only person who notices the smell. Regardless, I am in a state of constant distress. I so badly want to have a home I enjoy and not worry that in public I carry this scent with me. Here is the list of things we have tried, sorry for the lo”
“I am a sahm of a 2.5 year old in KSA. I shifted into a new apartment a month ago and the wall where our living room couch is placed is shared with our neighbour who is a single arab guy who smokes all day and night and I'm pretty sure the wall leaks the smoke from somewhere. Initially the two apartments were one big apartment but the landlord put a wall in the middle and made two apartments. At first i thought I'm imagining the smell because my nose is very very sensitive to smells and t”
“I have a friend coming over in an hour, and work went longer than I was hoping. I want to get my apartment cleaned up as best I can before they get here to at least have the place look put together. It’s not a pig sty, there’s no garbage or random things around, but I just want it to feel super clean. Thank you!! submitted by /u/Reasonable-Poetry-55 [link] [comments]”
“Hi y’all! We recently moved into a new place and the smell is killing me. I clean houses for a living, I’ve never had this issue before where I literally cannot get rid of this smell. The walls were painted recently so I don’t think cleaning the walls will do much , I’ve cleaned floor boards, cabinets and scrubbed the floor. There’s no carpet or I would’ve cleaned them. I’ve cleaned every nook and cranny in this house. We can’t leave windows open to ventilate because I have a one month old and 2”
“Also the tubular is absurd and may siphon itself. That uncapped pipe is def the smell but the traps may not always be wet”
“Need help answering these questions to rule out Cigarette use in apartment with no carpet. I can only smell the "cigarette" smell upon first breath when entering the apartment, afterwards nothing. Is that normal? Looking at the walls I see some discoloration but touching the off colored parts does not feel sticky. It just feels rougher, there is a smell but nothing I would suspect tar to smell like. Ive cleaned the walls with TSP substitute and no notable film came off the wall or in t”
“It’s progressively gotten worse over the last 4 days and now it’s to the point to where my entire crib smells like sewage, and I can smell it when I walk outside and go on different floors too. I have a VERY strong sense of smell; I usually smell shit days before other people can. 1 person said they smelled it as well but I’m stumped. Other than going door to door I don’t know what to do. Don’t wanna call a welfare check if I can’t figure out where it’s coming from. submitted by /u/s”
“Dude same. We had 3 different inspectors actually, one of which inspected it maybe 10 times as the house was built. The amount of things I pointed out that they never mentioned was astounding.”
“If this isn’t an island kitchen sink, that should be run up and tie into a branch vent or send that shit through the roof. If it is an island kitchen sink, that AAV termination should be as high as possible while still being able to service the AAV.”
“My garage freezer must’ve broken weeks ago. We rarely check and it was full of now horrifically rotten meat, so I grabbed a bunch of heavy duty carpenters bags and threw everything away. Everything is triple bagged and I dumped a massive bag of baking soda in can. I’ve got 3 big problems. 1. Trash pickup isn’t for 3 more days 2. the stench is unbearable and 3. this has attracted so many flies that there is now a gang of bald-faced hornets having a feeding frenzy. Need to know if there are any he”
“I moved into my apartment several months ago, and since then there has been a lingering chemical smell that isn't present in any other apartment in the building. I've spent months troubleshooting with no success. An inspector from the city came this week and said he thinks it's coming from the vinyl flooring. Every other apartment has the same flooring, but the only thing I can think is that there was an issue when the floors were cleaned. My super told me he mopped the floors just b”
“Strong musky odour coming from an Airbnb we are at. The host is yet to respond to us on what is the issue but after a quick look around the bathroom sink seems very suspect. Does this make any sense at all having the black tube connected to the drain and then open to the air? Would sewer gas be able to pass the trap and back out the black tube? submitted by /u/baheer [link] [comments]”
“Hellllo! I moved into my apartment about 3 months ago. I started to notice an awful smell coming from one corner of my room. it will not go away. Idk if this is the right sub for this, but i’ve tried deodorizers, candles, scrubbing the wall, etc. Nothing helps and I feel like it’s spreading throughout my house. I feel like if it was a dead animal in the wall the smell would be less now that months have passed? if something big died how long does that last, and what do I do ?? any advice would be”
“I moved into my apartment a month ago, there's always been an unspecified odor in the kitchen. A little bit like onions, relatively faint but omnipresent. I've been cleaning the place from top to bottom trying to eradicate the smell (it's a small apt). It seemed a bit worse around the oven, so I made sure to clean the backsplash and the underside of the microwave. Nothing helped until yesterday when I finally thought to pull the oven away from the wall, which no one had done for quit”
“I’ve lived in the same apartment for years. Over the last few months, a disgusting odor has been omitting from my bathroom ceiling fan (vent). It usually occurs at the same time of evening/night and eventually stinks up my entire apartment, lingering for hours. I have a feeling it may be a cooking odor but one that smells the same every day? I’ve tried every fan and air freshener you can imagine. I’m going to reach out to my landlord/handyman but question what they can do… the smell is driving m”
“I think if you get an air purifier and crack open a window, you’ll be okay. It sounds weird but rubbing dryer sheet helps to get rid of any smokey smells on your clothes or hair in a pinch.”
“I live with my partner in a small apartment. There are 3 rooms: the kitchen/living room, the bedroom, and the bathroom. I don't have a sq footage, but we rent it from his mom, it sits above a 4 car garage/barn type thing and was renovated last year. However, my partner loves to cook. Lots of spice, lots of oil, lots of pan-frying. And while there is a hood, it's tiny, and supposedly it vents outside; I don't know if I believe that. We can have it on high and the whole apartment will”
“We are dealing with a lingering odor in our bonus room above the garage. We found bat guano in a dead space in the corner, opened up the sheetrock, had a wildlife exclusion company out and take care of everything. The smell was still there. We ripped up the flooring, primed the subfloor, ventilated, etc. I got curious and opened up some of the outlets and lo and behold......in an old telephone jack, more bat guano. Someone tell me this has to be contributing to the smell in that room, right?? &#”
“Just moved into a townhouse and the smell is very musty. The HVAC closet looks a mess, but is this something to be concerned about? submitted by /u/noodlepaws91 [link] [comments]”
“So for the past month i noticed an acrid acetone like smell in my apartment. I've been dealing with second hand smoke from the apartment below me for two years and they've been using all kinds of horrid fresheners and such to cover their smell. The management is currently trying to evict them. For a bit the odors calmed down but the past month they went hard with the fresheners. Like extreme use of fresheners I can't breathe when they do it. The acetone smells started when they began”
“I recently got a roommate in a small apartment who cooks with a lot of spices and ingredients I’ve never really used before. The food is great, and it’s honestly been cool getting exposed to new things. The only issue is that I’m super sensitive to lingering odors, and I’ve noticed some of the cooking smells tend to be stronger and stick around a lot longer than what I’m used to. I have a candle warmer in the living room, but I’ve come to realize there’s a big difference between actually getting”
“Hi there! For some context, a few months ago my neighbors started yelling about weed. I used to smoke in my apartment but do not anymore! I have since deep cleaned, started lighting candles, using air fresheners, i even got stuff to seal cracks/drafts on every door and window, and they are still complaining. It’s gotten to the point that every time I come home I can hear them in the hallway outside of my door. Every time I use the bathroom, they start yelling and blasting music so loud I can hea”