The smell is coming from the unit next door

This is one of the hardest calls we take, because the person calling is worried, has no authority over the other unit, and is not sure whether they are overreacting.

You are not overreacting by asking. Here is the honest position on what happens next.

We cannot enter a home that is not yours

This is the first thing to say plainly, because it is the thing people hope is not true. A cleaning company can only work on a property with the permission of whoever is responsible for it. We cannot let ourselves into a neighbouring unit and we would not want a company that would.

So if the source is next door, the route runs through whoever has standing there, not through us.

Who to raise it with

• The neighbour, if you can. Sometimes the answer is a dead drain trap, a fridge that failed while they were away, or rubbish that did not get taken down. It is worth one knock before it becomes anything else.
• The landlord or the agent, if the unit is rented and you know who they are.
• Your building management or town council, who deal with this more often than people assume and know the process.
• The authorities, if you are genuinely concerned that someone inside may be unwell or worse. That is not a cleaning question and it should not wait on one.

We are not able to tell you what your town council, management or the authorities will do in your case, and we are not going to guess at their procedure. Ask them directly.

What to do in your own home meanwhile

Keep your own doors shut rather than airing the corridor through your flat, and check your own drains and traps first so that you are certain you are not chasing something of your own.

Rule out your own home before you raise it about someone else’s. It costs you an hour and it saves a relationship.

Where we come in

Once somebody with standing over that unit asks us to attend, this becomes an ordinary job for us. Very often the person who eventually calls is the landlord, the agent or the executor rather than a family member, which is normal and not something anybody needs to apologise for.

If you are that person and you are not sure whether it warrants a visit, call and describe it. One of the directors comes and looks before anything is quoted, and if the answer is that this is not a job for us we will say so.

More on who is entitled to call in you do not have to be family to call.

Write down what you notice, with times

If this ends up going to management, a town council or anybody official, the single most useful thing you can hand over is a plain record rather than a description of how bad it is.

• Dates and times you noticed it, including the times you did not.
• Where in your home it is strongest, and whether that changes.
• Weather and conditions, because heat and still air make a real difference.
• Anything else observed, such as post building up or a unit that has been closed for a while.

A fortnight of that is far harder to set aside than a phone call, and it costs you a note on your phone.

Be careful about what you conclude

A bad smell from a neighbouring unit is usually a drain, a fridge, rubbish or damp. It is occasionally something worse, which is exactly why it should be raised with people who can actually go and look rather than speculated about in a chat group.

Say what you have noticed. Do not say what you think it is. That protects your neighbour if you are wrong and it gets a faster response if you are right, because officials act on observations rather than on theories.