A condo owner’s claim that her neighbours’ use of scented laundry products created an “overwhelming stench” and a legal nuisance has been dismissed by B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal. The woman was asking the strata council, which is responsible for managing the common assets and common property of the complex, to enforce its nuisance bylaw and to order her neighbours to stop using scented laundry products altogether. In her claim, the condo owner said, “the smell of scented laundry products has prevented her from using her balcony and opening her windows since 2018,” according to tribunal member Alissa Reynolds’ decision. However, evidence submitted showed the first formal complaint was made in 2023. The strata council took a number of steps in response, including assembling a committee to investigate the “laundry scent complaints,” the decision said. The investigation included identifying all dryer vents near the unit of the woman who complained, attending the neighbouring units, and asking the residents to stop using and dispose of any scented products, according to the decision. A notice was also sent to everyone in the complex asking them to refrain from using scented products. “I find it is not possible for the (strata council) to identify the ongoing source of (the woman’s) complaints, given it has now eliminated the closest dryer vents,” Reynolds wrote. “The (complex) is located in a densely populated community with several neighbouring apartment buildings and businesses, and the scent could be coming from outside the (complex).” Further, the tribunal found if the source of the scent had been identified—it would not have violated the nuisance bylaw. The legal test for whether something is a nuisance is whether it is an “unreasonable, continuing, or repeated interference with a person’s enjoyment and use of their strata lot, Reynolds’ decision explained, adding “it must be substantial or non-trivial.” The woman said the scented laundry products created a “terrible fumes” and submitted a letter from a physician saying she has multiple chemical sensitivities—but she did not provide evidence the scents “wafting” from dryer vents, specifically, were hazardous to her health, the decision said. “I find laundry scents are the result of a reasonable and lawful activity and ordinary citizens must tolerate a minor degree of neighbourhood loss of amenity or slight annoyance,” Reyholds wrote. “I find a reasonable person would not find the interference to be substantial or non-trivial.” The complaint was dismissed.
