I thought in Toronto you can have a fire as long as you have food around it (i.e.: for cooking a meal) and that you are a minimum distance from, approx 5m, from any building / structure?.
We used to have that sort of loophole here in Clarington, but when the fire pit boom happened 3-4 years back and everybody and their brother in the subdivisions started having big open fires (with a weiner on a stick sitting nearby as justification) they eventually closed that loophole. If that loophole ever existed in Toronto, I doubt it does anymore as well.
I thought in Toronto you can have a fire as long as you have food around it (i.e.: for cooking a meal) and that you are a minimum distance from, approx 5m, from any building / structure?
Have had many such fires with friends in Etobicoke / Mississauga in their yards and never an issue. I'd have one here but in a townhouse it won't go well I'm sure...although I smell it sometimes from some neighbours.
If someone calls and complains and smoke travels into a neighbours house, or enough for them to complain. Will ask you to put it out nicely .. decline or give us a hard time. We do it with the added bonus of foam and police called to assist and a fine.
What is a lawyer gonna do about an AC unit if it's on his property? Most in my neighbourhood are at the side. Just happens that my place ends shorter than the neighbour and their AC is just about outside my window.
Most places have a bylaw that says how far from the property line an ac has to be.
Mine does not meet the minimum.
I'm not too worried. My neighbour is the guy who installed it.
For a small fee, I know a couple guys who will come and "explain things" to him. No more issues guaranteed. He'll likely cut your grass for you after they're done.
I have a bunch of comparable lawsuits I found settled in favour of the complainee covering almost identical situations. The situation isn’t as simple as you think, this isn’t my thread though so I won’t expand.
Most places have a bylaw that says how far from the property line an ac has to be.
Mine does not meet the minimum.
I'm not too worried. My neighbour is the guy who installed it.
If he was burning dry hardwood there would be less of a problem. As you noted he is burning construction lumber, that stuff is super wet and smoky. Just like my fireplace, put wet wood in and you get smoked out, dry much less smoke.
Having said that there are rules against burning anything outside in the city these days. If my neighbour was burning wet wood and making lots of smoke I would have a problem with that (like you do), if it was dry I likely would not care... You can always try pointing this out to him and see where it goes (don't care if you have a fire, smoke coming my way and I will call it in).
Heck, starting my charcoal would smoke my neighbour until i changed my method of starting it. It's about respecting your neighbour too.
You wouldn't have any way to burn some charcoal next to his house and make it smoke a whole lot so his whole house smells like it ? The wind would have to be on "your side" though
If you have talked to him then he knows, he's just being an arse. I have the same problem right now, we both have fire pits but I wait for the wind to be nil/nothing and make sure it is blowing away from his house. I think this is his first home and just doesn't realize, yet. It seems to be a Sunday afternoon thing for him, the yard/house cleanup.
My issue is I don't want to meet the neighbours so therefore I don't want to approach them to bring it up
The above was what I was going to suggest. Wait for the wind to switch and have the smokiest BBQ you can. May cost you a bit, but fight fire with fire (legally).
If you have talked to him then he knows, he's just being an arse. I have the same problem right now, we both have fire pits but I wait for the wind to be nil/nothing and make sure it is blowing away from his house. I think this is his first home and just doesn't realize, yet. It seems to be a Sunday afternoon thing for him, the yard/house cleanup.
My issue is I don't want to meet the neighbours so therefore I don't want to approach them to bring it up
The above was what I was going to suggest. Wait for the wind to switch and have the smokiest BBQ you can. May cost you a bit, but fight fire with fire (legally).
Maybe a different approach.. but perhaps you two can play nice and work on a better and more efficient fire pit with holes on the bottom (like a dakota fire hole) to help him burn stuff more "completely" which will mean less smoke?
"Less" smoke might not be "less enough" for the complainant, and at this point, the person being complained about probably isn't interested in making "less" smoke (they probably don't care about what anyone else thinks).
The fix is the same one that everyone else in an urban area does: don't burn your garbage or yard waste. My municipality (Peel Region) collects it curbside.
My direct neighbor has been doing this whole open fire pit thing. I'll come home and my whole house is covered with smoke and it gets inside and is a impossible to get it out. I've tried to mitigate the issue by talking with him first. No luck, doesn't want to listen, threw some by law in my face (I live in Toronto). Fire department called, he gets a warning. That was last year. Just came home he is at it again. Called Toronto Fire and I am sure he got a fine this time.
He angrily approaches me with threatening **** etc, run you down on your motorcycle, you better watch out, it's on, nonsense.
So things have escalated and I am worried about some repercussion on this. More worried about damage to my property, my stuff etc.
Yeah screw that POS. I wouldn't play nice after hearing that comment. Still call the Fire Dept. anytime he's burning ****. I'd do any and every legal thing I could to piss him off.
He likes to sleep in on the weekend? Get up and mow the lawn right when legally allowed. He's outside having a fire? Blast some annoying music as loud as possible. If you're single...bone his wife. She's probably fugly but do it anyways. Also, if he comes to have another of his talks make sure you record it.
"Less" smoke might not be "less enough" for the complainant, and at this point, the person being complained about probably isn't interested in making "less" smoke (they probably don't care about what anyone else thinks).
The fix is the same one that everyone else in an urban area does: don't burn your garbage or yard waste. My municipality (Peel Region) collects it curbside.
exactly, toronto is actually pretty good at picking up whatever you leave at the curb, heck most of the time someone else will snatch it before the city does.
I have some very nice neighbours however they have done some lousy, un-neighborly things. About 6 years ago, they removed a giant tree from their side yard. When they re-landscaped, they filled in their drainage swale -- since their grade is about 18" higher than mine their water now floods against the side of my house. Later they shaved 3' off a the cedar hedge we chare on the lot line. The pruned it back to the trunk which all but killed what was a beautiful 20' high privacy hedge -- I have to cut the whole thing ddown now as it's become a patchy eyesore.
What can you do? If you choose to live beside a neighbour you might have to put up with their bull.
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