How To Deal with Nuisance Caused by Short-Term Tenants Smoking Cannabis in Shared Living Spaces
Living close to others, like in apartment buildings or complexes with shared rules, means everyone needs to be considerate. You have the right to enjoy your place, but you also can't be a major disturbance to your neighbors.
Lately, with more short-term rentals around, a new problem has popped up: short-term renters smoking cannabis. This is causing headaches for people who live there permanently.
What's Considered a "Nuisance" Legally?
Basically, a nuisance is anything that messes with your ability to use and enjoy your property, especially your home. But South African courts say it must be more than just a little annoying – it needs to be unreasonable and cause real inconvenience.
The main thing the law looks at is whether the bothersome thing is reasonable or not. There's no strict rulebook here. It's about balancing things out: your right to enjoy your property versus what your neighbour is doing. When deciding what's reasonable, courts consider how bad the problem is, how often it happens, and how long it lasts.
Cannabis smoking in shared living spaces is becoming a common example of when this "nuisance" law might apply.
What Can You Do If It's Happening?
- Talk to the Building Managers: Most complexes have ways to complain to the body corporate or trustees. The rules might even let them fine people or control short-term rentals. The body corporate could also make a general no-smoking rule for common areas or set aside a smoking spot away from everyone else.
- Officially Complain: Many building rules let you report nuisances to the chairperson of the body corporate. If talking to them doesn't work, you can take it to the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS).
- Get Help from CSOS: If the smoking (or anything similar) keeps causing big problems, you can file a complaint with CSOS. They'll look at how often it happens, how bad it is, and how it affects residents. If they agree with you, they can order the person to stop or make stricter building rules.
What Past Cases Show (and What Makes It Tricky)
Previous CSOS cases give us some clues about how hard it can be to win a nuisance claim:
- WG v EP: Someone complained about a bad cannabis smell, but the person in charge didn't find any proof from other residents or the building managers to back it up. The ruling said a nuisance must seriously affect normal comfort, not just be something someone is extra sensitive to. This shows you need solid evidence from multiple people.
- LM v WE: Someone complained about their neighbour's cannabis smoking. But the court pointed to a Constitutional Court ruling that says adults can use, have, and grow cannabis privately for their own use. Since no laws or building rules were broken, the person smoking won. This highlights that it's tough to restrict cannabis use if it's happening privately and doesn't clearly bother others.
- BGE v LP & Others: Someone said their neighbour's vaping was causing them breathing problems and major discomfort. The court said a nuisance needs to be objectively unreasonable, and serious health issues could be a reason to step in. However, the case was thrown out because the building managers weren't officially part of the complaint. This shows you need to include everyone involved in your complaint.
So, if you want to make a nuisance case, you need to do it right, include everyone who needs to be involved, and be careful how you approach CSOS. You need good proof and a clear legal reason for your complaint.
In Conclusion
Even though cannabis is legal in some ways now, property owners still have ways to protect their peace. If talking to people doesn't solve the problem, CSOS is there to help. The best chance of winning is to have a well-documented case that shows the problem is seriously messing with your daily life and even your health.