Legal Q&A: my neighbour regularly burns garden rubbish. How can I stop him from sending smoke into my house?

Question: the neighbour to the rear of our house is forever having bonfires to burn his garden rubbish. These fires are really smokey at the moment, presumably because the garden rubbish is very damp at this time of year. The smoke always seems to blow into our garden and into our house. How can we stop our neighbour’s antisocial behaviour?

Answer: Neighbour disputes are often costly, time consuming, unpleasant and acrimonious and tend to destroy the possibility of any future relations between neighbours so try to resolve the issue amicably.

Tell your neighbour the problems his smokey fires cause you and remind him that he could dispose of some of his garden rubbish at the local tip.

Some local authorities collect garden rubbish on certain days each month and so he may be able to use such a service resulting in him having less garden rubbish to burn in his garden.

If a satisfactory solution proves impossible and the bonfires continue on a regular basis and spoil the enjoyment of your property this may amount to a nuisance.

You could apply to the County Court for an injunction to prevent your neighbour lighting bonfires and for damages. See if you have legal expenses insurance covering the costs of such an application.

Regular bonfires may also amount to a statutory nuisance. Ask the Environmental Health Department to assess the situation.

If appropriate they could issue an abatement notice requiring the cessation of the bonfires or limiting their frequency. If your neighbour ignores the Notice he could face criminal proceedings and a fine.

These answers can only be a very brief commentary on the issues raised and should not be relied on as legal advice. No liability is accepted for such reliance. If you have similar issues, you should obtain advice from a solicitor.

If you have a question for Fiona McNulty, please email legalsolutions@standard.co.uk or write to Legal Solutions, Homes & Property, Evening Standard, 2 Derry Street, W8 5EE. Questions cannot be answered individually, but we will try to feature them here. Fiona McNulty is a solicitor specialising in residential property.