I’m trying to help a friend with a big problem with one of her neighbors.

[Ark]

sex for drugs.

I felt the implication was pretty clear.

 

[PGRChaplain]

Common Walls are the problem. The Smoke may be infiltrating through the Electrical Switches and Outlets on those walls. You stated it was worse when the Heat /AC runs. I'd start by sealing all the protrusions on the Common walls. Calk or Spray Foam (Great Stuff) all the Electrical Boxes where the wires enter and around any Plumbing Pipes. If there is a Duct in the Attic for make up air it may be the source of infiltration.

 

[Hoosierdood]

Common Walls are the problem. The Smoke may be infiltrating through the Electrical Switches and Outlets on those walls. You stated it was worse when the Heat /AC runs. I'd start by sealing all the protrusions on the Common walls. Calk or Spray Foam (Great Stuff) all the Electrical Boxes where the wires enter and around any Plumbing Pipes. If there is a Duct in the Attic for make up air it may be the source of infiltration.

Could be common walls, but I believe building codes for common walls require fire board between units and insulation on each side. What’s more likely is the smell gettin in through the furnace inlet. Furnaces have an air inlet and exhaust vent right by each other, one pointed up and one pointed down. It’s getting sucked up through that and I don’t think there’s anything she can do to filter that air.

About a month ago, I thought I smelled gas in our house. I went all over the house looking for the leak, and found that it was strongest by the furnace. I was about to shut all the gas off until I realized my neighbor was grilling, and apparently used half a bottle of lighter fluid on his charcoal and that’s what I was smelling. I mean seriously, what kind of maniac uses lighter fluid to light their grill anyway?

 

[jkaetz]

The most strait forward solution is to move. It's unfortunate but seems to be clear that the neighbor doesn't care. No amount of legal or illegal action will change that. Any successful legal solution is going to take quite a bit of time and $$$ and may cause other issues.

That said, the below may make the situation more bearable. The trick will be sourcing fresh air to pressurize the interior without sucking in something else.

Don’t try to suck the air out do just the opposite bring air in to dilute the air and blow it back to other location. You need a high positive air pressure…. Good luck!

Maybe consult a Heat and air guy!

 

[Hoosierdood]

I will add…

DOCUMENT EVERYTHING!

Every email, phone call, every time she smells the neighbor smoking, every contact. Everything needs to be documented.

 

[printcraft]

Could be common walls, but I believe building codes for common walls require fire board between units and insulation on each side. What’s more likely is the smell gettin in through the furnace inlet. Furnaces have an air inlet and exhaust vent right by each other, one pointed up and one pointed down. It’s getting sucked up through that and I don’t think there’s anything she can do to filter that air.

About a month ago, I thought I smelled gas in our house. I went all over the house looking for the leak, and found that it was strongest by the furnace. I was about to shut all the gas off until I realized my neighbor was grilling, and apparently used half a bottle of lighter fluid on his charcoal and that’s what I was smelling. I mean seriously, what kind of maniac uses lighter fluid to light their grill anyway?

I read “lighter fluid and fire to solve this issue”.

 

[Hoosierdood]

The key is that your friend needs to be a pain in the neighbors ass to the point that she either stops the behavior or moves out. Nobody wants to be a Karen, but sometimes it’s the only way.

Example - a neighbor from an apartment complex close to us kept coming over to our neighborhood walking her dogs ( Golden and Newfoundland). She would let them crap on our property and wouldn’t pick it up. Huge piles. I had stepped in dog **** one too many times, so I confronted her one day. She didn’t care, wasn’t going to stop. So I documented everything with pictures of the poop, the dogs, and the dog owner. Contacted the apartment complex with my documentation, and the lady received a huge fine from her apartment manager and a threat to cancel her lease. Now she walks by with a couple poop bags and cleans up after her dogs. She didn’t care until it hurt her.

Your friend is going to need to pursue this legally and possibly get the neighbor fined or threatened by the HOA to the point that the pain and inconvenience is more than she is willing to deal with. Only then will she stop what she is doing or move out.

 

[HoughMade]

It's an interesting issue. As an academic exercise only, I am NOT giving legal advice, I think about such things as nuisance:

"Whatever is:
(1) injurious to health;
(2) indecent;
(3) offensive to the senses; or
(4) an obstruction to the free use of property;
so as essentially to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, is a nuisance, and the subject of an action."

Ind. Code § 32-30-6-6.

I also wonder if being hypersensitive, way more sensitive than the average person, affects what is or isn't an actionable nuisance.

I also wonder about how an illegal activity being the nuisance affects a nuisance suit.

 

[Ingomike]

Could be common walls, but I believe building codes for common walls require fire board between units and insulation on each side. What’s more likely is the smell gettin in through the furnace inlet. Furnaces have an air inlet and exhaust vent right by each other, one pointed up and one pointed down. It’s getting sucked up through that and I don’t think there’s anything she can do to filter that air.

About a month ago, I thought I smelled gas in our house. I went all over the house looking for the leak, and found that it was strongest by the furnace. I was about to shut all the gas off until I realized my neighbor was grilling, and apparently used half a bottle of lighter fluid on his charcoal and that’s what I was smelling. I mean seriously, what kind of maniac uses lighter fluid to light their grill anyway?

I wonder if there is a common attic? Is there HVAC supply or return in the attic?

 

[stocknup]

It should be on the Condo ........their designed HVAC system should not be letting in your neighbors odors .
I would call the News agencies ......all of them ,and let them do some fighting .
Have a reporter willing to be on "standby" to witness the odors when they are happening ........
Let the news spend their money investigating .
In the mean time , I would look into getting some air scrubbers to run in her home .

 

[Mij]

JMO, but take @HoughMade advice as you find it.

Second’ly capture a copy of the police report/reports.
Along with the HOA documents supporting your cause.

Third’ly pay the 50 bucks or what ever it is in your friends Co. and sue in civil. + court costs.

Go pro-se (represent yourself).

HoughMade correct me if I’m mistaken, the only thing you have to prove in a civil action is negligence.???

Sue the individual that is ruining your life. And possibly jeopardizing it. Again JMO. I am definitely NAL.

 

[jkaetz]

I will add…

DOCUMENT EVERYTHING!

Every email, phone call, every time she smells the neighbor smoking, every contact. Everything needs to be documented.

THIS!

The key is that your friend needs to be a pain in the neighbors ass to the point that she either stops the behavior or moves out. Nobody wants to be a Karen, but sometimes it’s the only way.

Example - a neighbor from an apartment complex close to us kept coming over to our neighborhood walking her dogs ( Golden and Newfoundland). She would let them crap on our property and wouldn’t pick it up. Huge piles. I had stepped in dog **** one too many times, so I confronted her one day. She didn’t care, wasn’t going to stop. So I documented everything with pictures of the poop, the dogs, and the dog owner. Contacted the apartment complex with my documentation, and the lady received a huge fine from her apartment manager and a threat to cancel her lease. Now she walks by with a couple poop bags and cleans up after her dogs. She didn’t care until it hurt her.

Your friend is going to need to pursue this legally and possibly get the neighbor fined or threatened by the HOA to the point that the pain and inconvenience is more than she is willing to deal with. Only then will she stop what she is doing or move out.

It should be on the Condo ........their designed HVAC system should not be letting in your neighbors odors .

The difficulty with these two is that a condo != and apartment complex. The condo owners have to pay for everything done to the buildings and if it isn't in the budget, guess what happens. Everyone's dues go up or a large one time payment is accessed.

More to consider regarding HOA and legal action. I don't believe HOAs in Indiana can fine members. The only avenue is to have a court grant an injunction. That may be possible if there is something in the by laws that can be applied. I still feel like the only solution in this is for one neighbor to move. While neither wants to, only one choice ends the problem without lots of time and $$ invested.

 

[dieselrealtor]

A call to 911 with a complaint about the smell of smoke making it difficult to breathe?
If it is all true.

Right to peaceful enjoyment of her property is being disturbed.

 

[HoughMade]

HoughMade correct me if I’m mistaken, the only thing you have to prove in a civil action is negligence.???

In a nuisance action, one would have to prove what the nuisance statutes say you have to prove.

Ind. Code secs. 32-30-6-6, 7 and 8. A negligence action is a different cause altogether.

 

[Twangbanger]

...I also wonder if being hypersensitive, way more sensitive than the average person, affects what is or isn't an actionable nuisance.

I also wonder about how an illegal activity being the nuisance affects a nuisance suit.

We're taking the OP at face-value that his "friend" isn't the Karen here. She sounds like an awfully sensitive individual. (Sorry to sound cold, but I have found there are always two sides to these things). A general-habitation condo with poorly-sealed individual units probably isn't the best living arrangement for someone with sensitive medical conditions. Even if the potheads move out (and assuming this isn't just moral outrage at "illegal" activity masquerading as a medical condition), if the next set of tenants are heavy cigarette/cigar smokers, it's not clear to me the situation would be any better for her. She can't control who moves in. She's never going to be in control of her destiny as long as she's sharing a common wall with others.

If there's no enforceable covenant against smoking cigarettes, and she goes the "legal route" against them, it isn't hard to see how they're going to get back at her.

 

[Expat]

It's an interesting issue. As an academic exercise only, I am NOT giving legal advice, I think about such things as nuisance:

"Whatever is:
(1) injurious to health;
(2) indecent;
(3) offensive to the senses; or
(4) an obstruction to the free use of property;
so as essentially to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, is a nuisance, and the subject of an action."

Ind. Code § 32-30-6-6.

I also wonder if being hypersensitive, way more sensitive than the average person, affects what is or isn't an actionable nuisance.

I also wonder about how an illegal activity being the nuisance affects a nuisance suit.

A whole new type of nuisance suit

 

[Twangbanger]

A call to 911 with a complaint about the smell of smoke making it difficult to breathe?
If it is all true.

Right to peaceful enjoyment of her property is being disturbed.

Frivolous 911 calls - after law enforcement has already been called, and they passed on the situation - are more likely to get "her" in trouble.

When law enforcement passes on something, that's usually a pretty good indication you're going to get the short end of the stick in any situation.

 

[MCgrease08]

She and her daughter would both have to move together, and her daughter wants to stay put.

It sounds like she may have as big of a relational issue with the daughter as she does with the neighbor.

Is she putting binary choices on the situation that are limiting the way she approaches it? There are few situations that are truly 'either or' decisions. There is almost always more than two ways to approach a problem. I'd encourage her to think more creatively about other options that would allow her to live independently without her daughter's help. Is there an option for in-home health care, for example?

If she's completely dependent on the daughter, she's essentially handcuffed to this bad situation and any future bad situations that come up.

 

[model1994]

I felt the implication was pretty clear.

implication was clear, yes. however the relevancy of the neighbors sex-life isn't clear . after I read that little assumptive sidebar, this post felt like reefer madness and I assume OPs friend is a bit of a Karen.

i've lived next to loud neighbors, neighbors who cook stinky food, neighbors who smoke stinky stuff, so I empathize. it comes with the territory though. as a type 1 diabetic, I no longer live next to donut shop... cause, the... smell...

also the odor of marijuana is null anyway, ever since hemp was legalized years ago. you can buy leafy green in every corner-store & smoke shop anymore. when burning that legal material it smells identical to the illegal stuff.

 

[Twangbanger]

It sounds like she may have as big of a relational issue with the daughter as she does with the neighbor.

Is she putting binary choices on the situation that are limiting the way she approaches it? There are few situations that are truly 'either or' decisions. There is almost always more than two ways to approach a problem. I'd encourage her to think more creatively about other options that would allow her to live independently without her daughter's help. Is there an option for in-home health care, for example?

If she's completely dependent on the daughter, she's essentially handcuffed to this bad situation and any future bad situations that come up.

I was thinking that, as well. She is imposing a lot of conditions on her living arrangement. I have empathy for people in that situation, but if everything has to be "just so" for you to live, a general-habitation apartment/condo situation is always going to be a struggle.