Balcony smoking scene likely to have long run

People in Germany who smoke on the balconies of their homes could be sued in the future if their smoking is deemed to be ‘excessive’, according to a story in the Electronic Telegraph.

Germany’s supreme court has ruled that Germans can sue their neighbours for excessive smoking on their balconies.

The court did not define what was excessive, but ruled only against the amount of smoke the ‘average person’ would find bothersome.

However, in the case before the court, a couple had complained that their balcony was rendered unusable in the afternoons and evenings because their new downstairs neighbours smoked 20 cigarettes a day on their balcony.

The Telegraph quoted Wolfgang Janisch, who, writing in the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, warned that the verdict could ‘pave the way for countless other cases’.