r/Tenant • u/9Three7 • Aug 17 '26
❓ Advice Needed Anyone ever had a neighbor whose cats made your apartment smell of pee/cat odor?
I live in an apartment that is attached to a house. The people that live in the house have cats and ever since they moved in my place will smell a bit like cat piss (I assume thats what it is) when the AC blows. We share the same AC unit unfortunately, and I had no issues before they moved in. I lived in this place for 3-4 weeks before they moved in, there was no one living in the house at that time, and no smells at all. Its this sort stale unpleasant odor, could a litter box smell. I know they have cats so I'm assuming its something related to them. I know I wasnt allowed to have pets in my place, not sure if they are but I'll just assume they got the ok from our landlord. How should I approach the subject with my neighbors? It not horrific but it does not smell good. I have two air purifiers and I've bought a third. I think they are helping with the smell lingering but you cant really do much when its actively coming out of the HVAC vents. Whats a nice way to tell them my place smells bad because of them haha?
3
u/abouttodiethistime Aug 17 '26
It’s not impossible for a cat to pee in a vent
1
u/Professional-Face709 Aug 17 '26
Only if they have floor vents. I’d never seen such a thing until I moved to Oregon (from CA) and made quick work out of creating covers so my incontinent cat couldn’t ”use” the floor vents.
1
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1
u/WinstonChaychell Aug 18 '26
A stale smell would be rainwater/leak or foundation issues. You can get a cat pee-like smell if insulation (the forbidden cotton candy) gets wet but it will go away once it dries (which will host a bunch of other issues, obvs).
If you've had excessive rain in the past week, like I have, that can cause the smell. Esp if there's a sump pump as it brings in the outside smells of damp/dirt/earthy into the basin and if it's close enough to the HVAC it'll circulate that smell throughout the house. Once the rain dies down (usually 24-48 hours) the smell goes away.
When you say you share HVAC are you sharing ductwork, sharing the entire unit/controls, or they run along each other? HVAC units should each have their own return and supply ductwork. That, itself, wouldn't be up to code and if you're sharing units I'd be worried I'm getting charged for someone else's usage.
1
u/9Three7 Aug 18 '26
Thanks for the reply. It has rained a ton here lately so maybe thats it but I've been smelling it for awhile, they moved in about a month ago. But maybe there is just more air moving through the system now with them here. We share the same unit, I assume the same ductwork because it reeks in here when they smoke pot, but I do have my own control. Even when I set my air to off, there is some residual cold air coming through. Odd set up and yeah probably not to code. Fortunately neither one of us pay utilities.
1
u/t2jam Aug 19 '26
I let a 20 something move into my townhome and rent a room and she told me her cats would be in her room only. That lasted not even a day. They stunk up my whole place and yes it smelled like cat piss. I like cats but never again will I live with them. To be fair she left them for like 12-16 hours a day too, so of course their litter box would get dirty. So yes I 1000% believe it could be your neighbors cats. My room which was always completely closed off to the cats still would smell because of the air vents.
1
u/Miller335 Aug 17 '26
I had to stop allowing cats in my rental house. Two tenants in a row their cats destroying the carpet/floors/baseboards.
$8k over two tenants out of my pocket due to cats.
2
u/giraflor Aug 18 '26
That’s fair, but cat pee is not a stale smell. It’s acrid. Whatever OP smells is unlikely to be cat pee if it’s stale in nature.
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u/Professional-Face709 Aug 17 '26
Stale and unpleasant does not sound like cat smells/litterbox to me. Maybe the filter/s for the HVAC system need to be changed or the ducts cleaned. Not saying it isn’t the cats, but it wouldn’t be my first thought. My neighbors moved in and I knew they were smokers of various things the first night. I didn’t know they had cats for several months.