Cooking smell - herbs and spices

[cadence]

Hi everyone

I feel a bit uncomfortable posting this as I worry people may take offence and consider me a racist which I'd like to think I am certainly not. But my question does specifically relate to people from a certain background, so I apologise in advance if it is considered inappropriate. Forum adminstrators please remove if necessary.

My question - has anyone rented to Indian people who like to cook with spices? I love Indian cuisine eg: butter chicken, but I dont like the smell of some of the herbs (which other Asian cultures like Malaysian and Singaporean also use). When I inspected a property for sale a few years ago, it was vacant but I recall the distinct scent of spices as I walked into the property and the sales agent told the visitors that it was previously occupied by Indian tenants. The smell was particularly strong and not of a herb I liked. I was looking to buy to live in, so I wondered whether it was possible to get rid of the smell? I didn't look into this further as other things came up and I ended up buying an investment property.

I was thinking about framing the question more generally - how do you remove scent in general, but one of my best friends is actually Indian (born and bred in Oz - her home has no scent whatsoever) and she seems to think that the scent of spices (after prolonged period of cooking) takes longer to dissipate than other scents. Is there any truth to this?

Has anyone actually encountered this, ie: tenants leaving behind extremely strong scent of herbs/spices in the property. If so:
Does carpeting (instead of timber floors) make the scent harder to remove?
Does the scent actually get into the walls?
What did you do to remove it?
Were you able to remove it?
How long did it take to remove?

As I said, no offence intended and I hope none is taken. I'm well aware the issue of cooking smell is not confined to people from Indian backgrounds. But for the purposes of this thread, I am only interested in the scent from the Indian herbs and spices.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Goofy]

i am afraid the only way to ever get rid of the smell is to repaint, re carpet, and replace the blinds throughout.....

I once had a property that still had the smells we are referring to 3 years after the tenants had vacated the property. The smell gets into literally everything....

 

[chran]

I don't think you need to worry about racism with your post jigglypuff - I can see it's about smell, never race.

It's true that cooking smell can linger around for a long time (years) because the vapours are absorbed by the house (porous materials - internal walls, grouts etc) . It depends on how often the potent ingredients are used and also on the house (flue, ventilation, carpets etc). Like Goofy said, it'd take major effort to get rid of it.

IMO you can't get rid of the smell without spending $ on reno. Question is how much reno is required.

 

[liverpoolharryk]

Have to agree the smell of the curries are extremely hard to get rid of and can take a ver, very long time.

 

[DaveM]

Have to agree the smell of the curries are extremely hard to get rid of and can take a ver, very long time.

And sometimes a few flushes too ;-)

 

[cadence]

Hi everyone, thanks for your input. Your comments are all taken on board.

To those that have had the experience, how long were the tenants living in the property? can you get a lasting smell from occupation in a 6-12 months period?

Would you ever consider signing such tenants on for 6 months and monitor the smell level? eg: if it gets really bad during periodic inspections, then give notice to terminate at end of 6 months and look for new tenants. Or would you prefer to leave your property vacant for a bit longer to find different tenants?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Tuppence]

FWIW, we have tenants who fit this description. We were a bit iffy (whiffy? ) when we took them on, but decided to go ahead because we knew our unit would soon need a full internal paint anyway.
We expected them to stay 12 months, and they're now a couple of months into their second 12-month lease. They have been model tenants (*looks around for wood to knock on*) - to the point of paying their rent a couple of days early two days after the birth of a second baby.
The PM's inspections have been six-monthly and all is good. We're still expecting to paint when they do move on. But it's been worth it anyway, so far at least.

 

[The Y-man]

We've had tenants from the subconitnent, and no issues whatsoever rerenting it afterwards to others of different culinary specialities.

The Y-man

 

[srini]

Being Indian, I can honestly say that yes, the smell lingers.

However, regular cleaning ensures it does not linger for years. We've been in a townhouse for 2 years. Regular airing, using the rangehood and weekly cleaning is all its taken so far.

 

[The Y-man]

You could always overpower the Indian culinary scents with some Chinese ones!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinky_tofu

I hear the "real deal" is quite awesome - leave that in the kitchen for a few days and.....

The Y-man

 

[Jen_PFR]

We have rented to Indian people and have had both experiences; one group (three bachelor guys) left the place reeking. They had a short tenancy (a couple of months?) and in that time the place smelt very, very strongly of Indian food. Turns out, it came down to the fact the guys weren't used to cleaning (or keeping things clean) - the whole place was coated in fat/oil, which harboured the smell. (I should probably note that I absolutely adore Indian food and it didn't worry me at all, but my husband was disturbed by the smell - even though he also likes Indian food.)

We had to go through and absolutely scrub the entire place (I'm talking ceiling in the kitchen, on top of cupboards, etc etc - every nook and cranny you can think of), and finally hired an ozone machine, which helped to clear the remaining smell out. Here's the guy we hired it from: http://www.ozonesolutionsoz.com/index.html
This was effective, but you have to make sure all the cleaning is done first, so there isn't really a quick solution as such.

We have an Indian couple at the moment in one of our properties, who keep the property spotless, and there isn't any smell whatsoever. I really do think the difference is how fastidious the tenants are - that seems to be the key determinant.

 

[wylie]

We have an Indian couple at the moment in one of our properties, who keep the property spotless, and there isn't any smell whatsoever. I really do think the difference is how fastidious the tenants are - that seems to be the key determinant.

I think this must be the key to it. My son's unit was rented for six months to an Indian family. There was no cooking smell when they left, but the white melamine inside the drawers in the kitchen was stained yellow from the spices.

We have Indian tenants in one IP and there is never a cooking smell.

 

[landlordWis]

Indian tenants

My best friend growing up was from India and her family's house smelled of spices, etc. The upside was that I wasn't living there and could leave.

We recently decided to rent our personal residence out to an Indian family. They lived there for two months and although on a personal level they were a very nice family..... I regret the day they moved in. My house is so smelly. And I mean unbelievably stinky, it's overpowering. I can smell it before I even open the front door.

The woodwork (old beautiful bungalow style house), kitchen cabinets, and walls smell and have kind of a greasy film on them. I've been cleaning for days on end. Using the vinegar/water solution, ammonia, bleach, Febreeze, Muphy's oil, etc. We even tried painting the walls. I am now having a professional cleaning service come in to try and rid the house of the odor. It's just everywhere.

Also, it there is a big red stain in my carpet and on my stove top and various other areas. Anyone know what the 'red' stuff is?? The tenants have not responded to my requests for additional information.

This is a very good post and I appreciate the validation that this is a true issue. Who knew I had to put a section in the lease for excessive odors!

 

[BV]

Would you ever consider signing such tenants on for 6 months and monitor the smell level? eg: if it gets really bad during periodic inspections, then give notice to terminate at end of 6 months and look for new tenants

I think if you wanted to find tenants who don't use asian spices you'd be waiting for a long time.
Even my wife uses them in her cooking and she's scandinavian

If smells worried me, the first thing I'd do would be to install a powerful rangehood and would have it ducted to the outside. That's what we've done in our home.
Another thing you can do is to install air vents in the rooms adjacent to the kitchen.

Cooking smells tend to stay mostly in the kitchen so if in the future you decide to move in you'll probably need to wash the kitchen walls and ceilings with warm soapy water and then repaint them.

 

[aijii]

Also, it there is a big red stain in my carpet and on my stove top and various other areas. Anyone know what the 'red' stuff is?? The tenants have not responded to my requests for additional information.

Wine ? Blood ? Tandoori ?

 

[Sez]

A very real problem which has been brought up! I have had both good & bad experiences with this in the past. I've had countless Indian couples / families in properties I manage with no odour left behind, I've had the same where the smell was left behind very strongly!

Carpets do tend to hold the smell better, I have had cases where a REALLY good clean and deodourise get the smell out of the carpet and curtains but the biggest problem is the walls. I think as already mentioned a lot of the smell is in the grease. Everything has to be cleaned and be prepared to re-paint after a good clean.

One thing which has (in some cases) helped in the past is get in right after the tenant has moved out, you can get some moisture and odour absobtion products from your local supermarket. Stick these around some of the stinkiest rooms, make sure you open up kitchen cupboards and drawers etc. and give the house a really good airing out. Combined with a really good clean this has worked for some landlords without resorting to repainting, carpeting & replacing window furnishings.

When you are spending money on your property, don't use tiles with grout, get a single splashback - eliminates it getting into the grout for future tenants, it's the little things!

 

[cadence]

i didnt end up signing her as someone else offered about 5percent more which makes a diff as it's negatively geared. A lot of good ideas and constructive comments here. Will no doubt encounter this situation again in future.

 

[roxy]

smell coming through wall

this may be a bit off topic but does relate to cooking smells

i bought a unit a little over 12 months ago - i rented it out for 12 months then last week the tenants left & i am planning on moving in after i renovate it

the inside of the unit smelled funny, i couldn't work out what it was

parents thought it was the carpet -the tenants had just had it steam cleaned but it still smelled so i ripped it up

gyprocker thought it may be rat urine - but i have gutted the unit & didn't see any droppings/evidence of rodents

tonight when i went to the unit i opened up the bedroom door & there was this overpowering stench - the bedroom room reeked, the neighbours were cooking at the time & although all the outside windows & doors were shut - the cooking smell was somehow coming through the wall & was stinking out my bedroom. (& the rest of the unit)

What can I do? obviously i can't stop the neighbours cooking, but at the same time I don't want to live in a place where my bedroom gets stunk out every night at dinner time!!! I am also worried the smell is going to ruin my clothes/furniture/bedding (as it ruined the carpet)

the smell in the unit reminds me of a dumpster bin in an alley behind a restaurant

& If i try to sell the unit - no-one is going to want to buy a stinky unit!!!!

the unit most definitely did not smell 12 months ago when I bought it (& the tenants next door responsible for the smell only moved in 3 months ago)

 

[Sez]

What kind of cooking are they doing next door? Is it outdoor cooking? My first step would be to contact the agent who manages the property and put forward a request to the owner that some additional ventilation be installed for the property next door as what is there is just not cutting it! If you have no luck from that then your local council can be a wealth of knowledge too.

Of course we don't want to stop the tenants from making dinner any way they want too however, some consideration for neighbouring properties must be taken into account and I am sure that some middle ground could be found.