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Report an odour problem
You can report an odour problem to us if a smell is having a significant impact on you and your home. By law we can only deal with odour that is defined in the Environmental Protection Act 1990 as being a 'statutory nuisance'. This means the odour must be:
- excessive
- unreasonable
- considerably affecting you and your enjoyment of your home or garden
If the odour is coming from a neighbour's property, you should try to speak to them about it before reporting it to us. Read more about resolving disputes with neighbours. If you live in a housing association or rented property, it's worth discussing the problem with your landlord first.
Odour you can report to us
You can report the following types of odour to us:
- fumes
- smoke from bonfires or chimneys
- a build-up of dog mess or food waste
- smells from how animals are kept
- filthy premises
- waste management sites
- odour from other industrial, trade or business premises (including food businesses)
We can't deal with reports of odour from cooking in domestic properties.
If you can smell gas you should contact the 24 hour National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999.
How to report an odour problem
You can report an odour problem to us using our online form. In the form you need to tell us:
- where the odour is coming from
- what it is (if known)
- when it happens and how long it lasts for
- how it affects you
- anything you've done to deal with it
- your name and contact details in case we need to contact you (we won't share these with the person or business you're reporting)
It would be helpful if you could also fill in our odour diary over a period of two to four weeks, to give us more details about the smell and how it affects you. You can upload this and any photos or videos in your report.
What happens next
We'll use the information in your form to decide if we can look into the matter. We'll ask you to fill in our odour diary or send us some other evidence, if you haven't already uploaded this with your report.
If we decide to investigate the odour, we'll usually write to the person or business to ask them to resolve the problem to avoid any further action. We may also visit the area at the time you've told us the odour occurs.
In most cases we'll need to witness the odour before we can take any formal action. If we're satisfied that the odour is a 'statutory nuisance', we can serve an abatement notice on the person causing the problem. If they don't comply with the notice we can take legal action. If we decide to prosecute, we may ask you to provide a witness statement and attend court. We'll tell you what's involved in this and support you through the process.