That's a nice letter. Agree with Oly to change "remove" to "relocate".

And add contact information for the official should they have any questions.

Dear Neighbors,

We would like to first of all thank you for being good neighbors. It was especially helpful when you alerted us to a recent water leak in our front yard, enabling us to have the problem repaired right away.

We want to make you aware of an issue with the cooking vent that you recently had installed on the side of your house that abuts our property line. The vent is a problem for us, because it sends cooking odors directly into our small garden and patio area, adversely affecting enjoyment of our private space. We have recently been informed by Mr. **** *****, Building Official with the City of *****, that the location of the cooking vent is not “legal” as it is prohibited on the zero lot side of your structure. Mr. ***** cites Section 501.3.1 of the International Mechanical Code, which requires ventilation to be installed a minimum distance of 3 feet from the property line. Unfortunately, your new exhaust vent does not meet that minimum requirement.

We would appreciate it if you could please remove the cooking vent at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your assistance.

I just made it shorter and took our "strong"cooking odors as it could be offensive.

We can understand your desire to vent cooking odors out of your home. We hope that you can understand our desire to not have cooking odors vented into the area we enjoy for outdoor relaxation. This letter is a respectful request to please relocate the cooking vent to a code-compliant location.

Better? I see the point about "earliest convenience", so just took that out. I don't know how we can assign a deadline (will have to give that some more thought), so just made it more of an imperative.

This is hard. I work in corporate communications, but something like this letter just feels so awkward to me. Thanks for the help. (And yes, the email from the city official along with his contact info will be included.)

Your revisions are on target. I was going to suggest the same--"relocate" so it's "compliant."

In fact, you could remove altogether the explanation that it impedes on your private space. The fact that its current location is out of compliance is the incentive for them to relocate it.

Yeah, but I want them to be well aware that it's a nuisance to us as well.

Thanks, mtn!

We would like to first of all thank you for being good neighbors.

I understand your want of being kind, but , have they really been good neighbors with all the illegal parking problems? Mostly I see no problem adding the above in trying to be civil . However, maybe there should be caution in putting it in writing about there being a good neighbor”history”. Even though you have the law on your side you do not know how reactions will play out.

They're generally friendly people and I don't think they mean us any ill will. They're just clueless about certain things. It annoys the hell out of me at times, but overall I can't say they're bad neighbors.

All good advice. I agree with Mtn about taking out your original third paragraph. Less is more.

Right now I think you are correct in going the out of code compliance route. The city backs you up on this. As for setting a deadline to have it removed/relocated, isn't that better coordinated in consultation with the city? If the city says they have, say, 3 months to fix it, I don't think it would be wise for you to insert anything sooner. You want to keep the code/city/law on your side.

I agree that you should let them know why you want it changed. You don’t want to be the code police, let the code people do that. Will the code people leave a notice?

I'm just so glad to hear that it is not to code and it will be removed. To others, these things can sound petty (they are NOT) so its nice to have code to point to.

Sorry I come without specific suggestion on how to communicate with the neighbors, but I just wanted to offer my sympathies for your situation. I think I'm abnormally sensitive to odors and like you the smell of cigarettes is enough to make me want to throw up. I like to cook foods with spices and do so at the risk of knowing I'll be stinking up my own home. But the thought of having a neighbor spewing smelly cooking odors of any kind into a garden sanctuary where you should be smelling the fresh breeze, flowers, and other growing things infuriates me. Sadly I've determined that there are a lot of people in this world that are absolutely oblivious to their impact on neighbors (barking dogs, dogs attacking the fence, blinding exterior lights, loud games into the night, smelly fire pit / BBQ odors). It sounds like your neighbors are generally nice people who are oblivious to their impact on you. I'm really glad there is a legal issue to bring up because I worry they otherwise won't be willing to make a change. I hope they resolve the issue!

I'm confused. Why not just let the code enforcement people contact them, leaving you out entirely? The vent is probably obvious from the street to any official driving through the area.

If neighbors don't comply asap, your letter leaves you being the ornery neighbors who must contact officials to get your way. I'd let the officials enforce the rules, allowing you to be the innocent good neighbors.

If you do write the letter, remember, less is better. Good luck.

I think Sheesh may be right? Or would the neighbors suspect you for "turning them in"? and then it seems underhanded?

Underhanded? No, I don't think so. Illegal is illegal. I know I'd let the officials handle it officially. I'm sure it can be kept anonymous. Actually, now that the official has been contacted, I'm surprised he didn't just take over.

Yes, let the board approach it first.

If you do write a letter, simplify. It sounds friendlier and if they are not native speakers, you don’t want them heading to Merriam-Webster.com . “Adversely affect”? Try “we can’t enjoy our patio.”

I'm just preparing, not knowing how the city will handle. The neighbors will know who alerted the city; we're the only ones who have seen the vent besides the installer.

But we didn't actually "turn them in". We inquired as to the legality of the vent, and we assume the city takes it from here, but we don't know what to expect.

Even if the city does enforce the legal requirements, I may still feel compelled to follow up with a note to the neighbors. I would like to maintain as decent a relationship as possible, given the super close proximity.

Ida, you did alert the city of the address, right? How else would the city know where the violation is? I'm on your side, but unless this thing is sitting on the front of their house, they will know it was you.

I think you need to convey that either it is a bother for you or it is a code violation.

I would choose the later because it will get action. Be nice like you were in your first paragraph, but keep it brief and to the point.

Also work with the city. I was all over code enforcement for an issue with a neighbor and they did get on it pretty quick. Guessing this is a fire hazard and they'll act quickly.

Then be honest if they ask that you checked with the city because it bothered you. No need to elaborate on why. Any elaboration is likely to p!ss them off whether they cook Nona's meatballs or are on a fish-only diet.

IdaClaire, you said that the person you talked to passed it over to the Neighborhood Services Division. Are they going to send out an inspector and then get back to you? How was it left?

I wouldn't send a letter to them. Better to let the city take care of it.

I assume I'll be contacted by a city liaison. Will give it a couple more days and if I know nothing further, I'll reach out again to ask for clarification of the process.

I have no doubt that the neighbors will know that the city knows because of us, but I don't really care about that. My concern is twofold... having the vent removed and trying to maintain a semblance of friendliness with the neighbors. I'm not concerned with trying to hide the fact that we were the ones who brought this to the city's attention.

Thanks to all for the most helpful input. You've all provided excellent food for thought.

Ida, I'm not sure you'll be contacted by the city liaison. I'd expect the code enforcement folks will just enforce code with no further conversation with you. You alerted them to a problem, they should just take care of it.

I think that the primary concern is that the location of the cooking vent is a fire hazard and against code. The fact that the vent directs cooking odors into your patio space is an unpleasant annoyance, but being a fire hazard should be the primary reason for your objection. Hopefully, the city will intervene and explain to the homeowner. If you decide to follow up with the neighbor, I would avoid speaking about unpleasant cooking odors as I would not want to risk offending them, but rather I would mention that the location of the vent is a fire hazard and a concern to you.

It sounds like the city will act on your information.

Have you talked to your HOA - if it is illegal they would surely want it removed and coming from them would be better and more official than you asking them to move it. They are usually very picky and sticky about things being in both HOA and city compliance. If that doesn't work, I agree notifiy the official you spoke with and let them handle the situation. In either case, it puts another entity between them and you.

...I don't think it's a fire hazard and I doubt you could convince the neighbors of that...

I wonder about that too, Fori, unless it's a fire hazard for the kitchen it's venting, but I can't really figure that one out either.

I don't have any indication that the vent is illegal due to posing a fire hazard, simply that it must be a minimum of 3 feet back from the property line.

I'm not against a 'white lie' for an uncomfortable issue that I don't want escalating, but don't know if you'd be ok doing that. If so, perhaps you could tell your neighbors that after noticing that all their cooking odors were now dispersing directly onto your back patio, you called the Code people, inquiring if the vent overhanging your yard should have an accessory that would redirect the airflow horizontally towards the front of the property. "I'm sorry to learn from them that it will require a relocation, but I'd simply assumed your vent had been installed to code, and thought I'd just be letting you know an easy fix to rectify the problem."

Don't insult the neighbors by mentioning cooking odors! They are cooking what they like to eat, odors and all.

But that's the gist of the entire problem for us -- the odors. It's not like we're objecting to odors that we can detect emanating from inside their house, but smells that are being directly piped into our private space. And apparently they didn't want the smells lingering inside their own home, so ...

DH is a little worried about bringing up the cooking smells too. I guess I'm just not that sensitive to ethnic differences that I would think the mere mention of the universally-understood strong scent of garlic, onion, and curry would be offensive. I love to eat those things. But I don't want to smell them amongst my flowers. ;-)

And while I appreciate the "little white lie" suggestion, I think it's best to just be up front about everything, in as respectful a manner as possible.

Were you ever in their house when the previous owners lived there to see the layout of their kitchen? If not, you can google the address and the most recent realtor’s pictures may still be up. ( I don’t understand why people keep them up after the house is sold. Burglars can case out entry points from the comfort of their living rooms.) Anyway, I’m assuming the house at one point had a fully functional vent hood and now it isn’t drawing properly because the filter needs to be cleaned or the hood needs to be repaired or replaced. I don’t see why they need to bust through walls or reroute duct work. Maybe they’ve gotten bad advice or are trying to save money, but it had to cost them something to hire the guy to install the new unit. Maybe the older generation is doing the cooking and making these decisions.🤷‍♀️

Chickadee, they bought the house new, so no previous owners; however, yes - I've been in the house (and there are still photos of the house available online), and know exactly where the hood is located. They have the same builder as us, and presumably the same type of ventilation system - so I have no idea why they would have chosen to install a vent through their brick wall.

I'd refrain from referring to it as cooking smells, since that only gives them a reason to become defensive about the food they eat. Doesn't matter what ethnicity they are. Lots of people cook with garlic and onions.

I'd call it exhaust from their range.

If it is in violation of the International Mechanical Code, then it probably is a health and safety violation.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The International Mechanical Code (IMC) is a convention concentrating on the safety of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. It is published by the International Code Council (ICC) through the governmental consensus process and is updated on a three-year cycle to include the latest advances in technology and safest mechanical practices. The current version of this code is the 2018 edition. The IMC protects public health and safety for all building heating, cooling and ventilation related design, installation and inspection by providing minimum safeguards for people at homes, schools and workplace. Fuel burning appliances, cooling systems, heating systems appliance venting, location and protection of appliances and many other such issues are addressed in the IMC.[1]

The IMC is the most widely used mechanical code in the United States and is also used as the basis for the mechanical code of several other countries.

My suggestion is to not talk about cooking smells and do not send the letter. As you said you were going to do, give it a little time and if you do not hear back from the city inspector, call them. If they determine that it is not a safety issue, then work through your HOA to resolve the nuisance issue (odors).

I've been following along and didn't feel the need to chime in since you had a good direction. However, I think Bunny's suggestion of "exhaust from their range" is a really good substituion for "cooking smells". Just keeps it neat and to the point. Good luck with this - I would be unhappy as well.

Ida. People are often insulted by things the 'insulter' never intended as an insult. You thought I insulted you once, when that was not my intention at all. What insults or offends one does not necessarily offend another. Or it does. If someone told me my cooking odors bothered him/her, I'd be offended. If I told you I don't like your decor no matter the reason, you'd be offended, and rightly so. Don't look for trouble.

I agree about the letter. It’s a good venting tool but no good can come out of sending it.

Another angle though is that you are looking out for them. If it’s illegal it could also be a danger to them.

Things like this make my blood boil. I really dislike when personal quality of life issues are affected negatively while the other person benefits.

I've been sick the past couple of days but kept thinking about your problem. Any news?

There's got to be a logical reason they went to the trouble and money of installing the new vent. Can you look on google maps to check and see if there's a vent on the roof from the fan?

What caused them to do this is my question. If the roof vent failed for some reason, wouldn't they fix that instead of putting a new hole in the wall?

And if the builder neglected to install it properly or not install it at all, then why wouldn't he be held liable for the vent?

Or the person who inspected the house after it was built? There's a story there that I'm dying to know. lol

Also, how often do they cook with those spices?

I emailed the division today that is supposed to be contacting me, asking if they can provide me with a "next steps" update on this. I don't know anything more than I did a few days ago, and that is that the vent is illegal. I haven't really given much more thought to the reasoning behind why they might have had the vent installed, or what they'll do once they can no longer vent into our property, and not to sound snarky at all, but I really don't care. Those issues aren't my concern; I just want the illegal vent to be removed or disabled and trust that it will be at some point (hopefully not too far down the road).

Not your story but this happened...,you may have seen articles about this.

A vegetarian runner posted on the Nextdoor app asking for people to keep their windows closed while cooking meat. Needless to say, there was a lot of black lash .

Again, different to your situation but be careful about using the term cooking odors in your letter, if you do send a letter. You don’t really know if this family might have a strong social media presence and use your written words against you.

Meat cooking was offensive to vegan runner

eta; comments are in the twitter feed

Oakley wondered why your neighbors didn't just fix the original vent, if there was a problem with it. You mentioned they are a multigenerational family, so perhaps they converted a different room into a second kitchen and therefore needed another vent...except it was installed illegally into a side wall.

The location of the vent is exactly where their cooktop is located in their kitchen. As I said, I've no idea why they installed what they installed.

Maddielee, I've seen that story. Point taken about avoiding the phrase "cooking odors", although God knows that's exactly what we're dealing with here. Onions, garlic, curry ... we ain't talkin' soft serve ice cream scents wafting on the breeze. ;-)

Ida, I sure hope the problem is taken care of and soon. I’ve been on your lovely patio and know how close it is to that vent. I can well imagine how it must be.

There’s a popular Lebanese restaurant on the edges of the Stockyards, very good food. Well, one night, we were eating at a restaurant on the same block, and walking up to it, the cooking smells from the former were nearly overwhelming. Very strong — I was holding my nose. And I like the food!

I’m just sensitive to certain cooking smells. A friend of ours owned a donut restaurant a long time ago ... I couldn’t be around him until he changed clothes from cooking all day. Ugh! I love donuts, but man the oil smell is strong! Same with fast food smells (French fries, etc). One more — my DD’s boyfriend is vegan and the other night, they were frying up some meat substitute sausage thing ... omg, I was gagging. I actually got a massive headache from it, it was all over the house. It really stinks (pun intended) to be sensitive to odors.

Anyway! I understand how it can be. Hoping it’s resolved soon! :)

Thank you, Jinx! (Did you notice the cute little birdbath in my photo above? I am so eager for this area to bloom and fill in again! Looks like I've definitely got some weeding to do ... and soon.)

I think I know the Lebaneses restaurant of which you speak. Somehow, cooking smells at the source never seem to reek as strongly as cooking smells when they're ventilated. Simmering in the pot, the spices and other goodies smell wonderful to me, but wafting through the air outside? No thank you. Of course, once those smells wind their way through the house, it can definitely make a person queasy. DH loves to make burgers on the stove, and the patties he buys have a ton of garlic in them. That is not an enticing smell afterward; in fact, it often smells downright farty. Ewww.

So…how was the issue resolved? Asking for a friend😉

I miss IdaClaire (Jen), although I do "see" her on Instagram. 😢

She has a new incarnation here. I think there was a resolution thread about this issue. Hopefully, she will post about both things!

Hey, I'm here. Just hyper-focused elsewhere so not posting much at the moment. 😘

Oh, and the issue was resolved by hiring an attorney who wrote a demand letter to the neighbor. They removed the smelly smokestack, but the entire ordeal was just ridiculous and a sad example of the means required to right a wrong when one person assumes they have the freedom to do as they please, without regard for the community in which they've chosen to live.