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Ummm... what does it smell like? I kinda don't really want to know, but that's the only way you can figure out what's causing the odor.

Could be that an animal died in the walls? Is there a basement?Mayo factory nearby? Is a neighbor cooking cabbage nearby?

Maybe your neighbor stashed a dead body in the walls...

I'd go with dead animal somewhere. Maybe the winds change in the evening and unfortunately you're downwind...

Can you find a general location of this odor? When the smell isn't bad? Yikes. Good luck.

if the carpet's a little old it could be that. Spills and pets accidents cause mold underneath and you don't even know it's there.
try a shampooer.

I am so sorry that you have a smell in your place. I had one a few months ago; I know what "nearly impossible to live with" means. The variety of The Smell is important - what can you tell us about it?
Do you have radiators, and does the boiler come on in the evening? The heat may cause additional odors to be released. But a small animal such as a mouse would surely have dried out by now (it is unappetizing, but it is also what happens).
If your neighbors smell it too, then get them to call management as well - more squeaky wheels will let them know it's a bigger problem. That is, if it's a deceased-mammal smell, or sewage sort of smell.
If it's a chemically smell a call to law enforcement may be in order - they probably know drug manufacturing odors, not to mention their deceased human odors.
Best of luck - keep us updated!

THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE; CONSULT AN ATTORNEY SHOULD YOU DESIRE/NEED LEGAL ADVICE.

Generally, there is an implied warranty of habitability in all residential leases. Because the warranty is implied, it need not be expressly set out in your lease. It is very possible that a strong odor can make a place unsuitable for human occupation.

You may find this helpful:

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/problems.shtml

You may also find this helpful:

http://www.caltenantlaw.com/Habitability.htm

Excerpt: "What is an 'uninhabitable condition?'

There is no strict legal definition, only guidelines. Civil Code 1941.1, Green v. Superior Court, and some other cases describe around it. . . . It can be a bad smell, or noise, that is a nuisance, or construction debris in the back yard. . . ."

THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE; CONSULT AN ATTORNEY SHOULD YOU DESIRE/NEED LEGAL ADVICE.

I had the same problem. The landlord told me the smell would go away eventually, but it was so bad I couldn't sleep in my bedroom. Finally, I made it clear that the smell had to go or I would call the city and the rent would go into an escrow account until the smell was gone. That got him moving.

When he arrived, he said he couldn't smell it (lie - it was bad enough to make me gag). Then he said he was guessing it was the "faint" smell of a bird's nest. Whatever. I finally got him to understand that the smell had to go, so he reluctantly and with much huff had his workmen start ripping out the ceiling. They got 3/4 of the way through the room, and the landlord was acting pretty smug because we hadn't found anything when, PLUNK, down fell the body of a dead rat the size of a 6 month old puppy.

The moral of the story is that you have to INSIST that the problem be addressed. Call the city. Call an attorney. Do what you have to do. This is your home. You do not have to live with that kind of smell, regardless of what the landlord says or whatever half measures he tries to make.

PS - Just like your smell, the dead rat smell would come in waves at different times of the day. But at night, it was awful. I am guessing that as the air cools at night, the scent descends and begins to permeate the room. And I would describe the smell as rotten meat dipped in honey.

That is so gross.

One night I found a neighbor in my old apartment with his refrigerator in the hallway. He swore there was a disgusting odor coming from the wall behind it. He was right. Something dead in the walls. That was all the detail I asked him to share.

Good Luck!

Do you think it may be a neighbor smoking really skunky marijuana? It smells like dead animals and that would explain why you only smell it at certain times. I had that problem at my old apartment. The neighbor's smoke came through their heater into mine and into the apartment.

I would say dead rat in the walls too, except that the smell from a dead rodent shouldn't last more than a few weeks at most. Did you have any time period where there was no smell at all? That could indicate multiple dead rodents...

we had the same problem in the house I grew up in once... turns out a stray cat had died under the house (we wondered why we hadn't seen it for a while...).

I once worked in an old house that had a nasty smell that came and went. It was a raccoon's den. They have more than one den at a time, hence the smell comes and goes with the animal.

Do you live near a landfill? When we first moved into our place, we noticed a sulfur-type smell but only at night. It was quite terrible and I had a heck of a time tracking down what was causing it. It could have been mistaken for sewage or rotten eggs. It turns out that a landfill 2 miles from the place released landfill gas every weeknight around 7pm.

I've twice had a bad smell in places I was renting and turned out it was something really easy to fix - some old light fittings have a plastic in them that eventually degrades and smells really bad, like a dead animal or worse. Only smells when the light has heated up the plastic a bit. I was able to pull all of this type of plastic off, crumbled away actually, or you could replace the fitting.

We had that problem once, years ago. Only in the evenings! It drove us nuts. Turns out somebody hid one of the painted Easter eggs inside a lampshade, on the frame - just above the light bulb. Every evening the heat from the bulb heated the rotting egg... but we couldn't place the smell! It took weeks.

I wonder if you've got something near a hot light bulb that's making the smell, like what we had?

Good luck!

The animal doesn't have to be dead, by the way. Probably not the same problem you have, but an otter was living under our summer cabin for a short time last month. WHEW! Bad, bad smells.

Years ago, the apartment that we lived in would smell absolutely horrible in the evening. We would come home from work and our entire apartment had this pungent smell. Turned out to be a neighbor's cooking!

You've probably got a dead varmint!

Had a dead rat stuck in a pipe in a bathroom re-model in my old house... it smelled like death itself had been there and then died while eating a mayo sandwich that had also been left to rot. Ugh.

MOVE!

Unless something gets done to get rid of the oder, you've got no reason to stick around.

We have a sewerage treatment plant across the park from us, but we never get the odour, however, 400 metres down the road it's really stinky, particularly in the evening when there is a sea breeze. Ask your neighbours if they have the same problem, you may be surprised.

i have the same problem,, and asked one of my elder friendz, and she said may be you are not using one of your toilelts !!
and she was right !!
i started to use the second toilet , and when i did, it stopped smell stinky ...

We suffered from nasty smells that came and went. Found out our downstairs neighbor was living on a strange diet entirely composed of fermented cabbage and rotted liver. He would keep the liver in containers in a closet under the stairs until it was well rotted and then make a concoction of the cabbage and liver. After 2 years of this, he died, poor fellow. The landlord told us that his nasty cooking ate through 3 sinks -- one porcelain and 2 stainless steel! I felt bad that he died from his insane eating habits (which he ascribed to Eastern Medicine principles) but I'm glad the smells are gone. Whew!

I have nothing productive to say. It is very late at night (or more like morning) and I found myself wandering the Apt Therapy website, and stumble upon THIS. I just have to say the above comments are some of the most craziest, and entertaining accounts I have EVER read. Thanks Pamela for asking the question that prompted these replies. I hope the smell in your living space goes away, and as for the rest of the Apt Therapy readers/contributors...I

This sounds like an episode of Seinfeld.

John Wayne Gacy lived in Chicago so that pretty much rules out IBDB*.

You'll have to describe the smells.
Where is it strongest?
Where does it come from? Wall, vent, floor, overhead, cabinet?
Directional? North, east, south west?
Does it shift?

I have an incredible olfactory. Fly me out and I'll sniff it out.
Oddly enough, my wife is anosmic, can't smell.
(I like to say 'my wife doesn't smell'.)

*IBDB = Insulation By Dead Body

re: "...the smell from a dead rodent shouldn't last more than a few weeks at most"

Well, ours did.

I noticed a smell in the laundry room, and thought it came from the drains. However, the smell got gradually worse over a period of two months, until I finally figured out it had something to do with the drier. When I opened the drier door, it stank to high heaven (I thought it was mould or something wet and disgusting in the seal), but clothes that had been dried smelled fine.

Of course, my genius husband had it in one: he said a mouse had died in the drier vent. And when he went to check, lo and behold, there was a dead mouse...

All told, it was 2 to 3 months of stink.

I'm betting you've got some sort of dead critter somewhere...

OMG Rapunzel that's...just....EWWWW!!

keep working with your landlord on this if you want to stay: it is in the landlord's interest to solve this problem (there was already a prompt response from him to try to solve the problem, there seems to be no indication that s/he won't go on trying... team work will get this done... incidental pleasure, the landlord and you will get to know each other more in a positive friendly way: gold)

AT - I find this picture really disturbing. Are those giant cockroaches crawling all over a house? *shudder*

I had the same problem in my apartment when I used to live in California.

We had moved into a brand new apartment with brand new appliances and after a few days of living in it, there was a wretched smell. My roommate and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from...but the smell seemed to come around during the afternoon or anytime the temperature was warm.

Then, one afternoon we decided to use our oven for the first time and we made a pizza and baked it. After 15 minutes into baking it the horrible smell came back and was more potent than ever that it almost made us gag! When I opened the oven the smell was so bad I had to cover my mouth and my roommate had to go outside for air. I threw out the pizza. I opened the broiler of the bottom of the oven and there was rat poop and rat hair. EWW! Gross!

We complained to landlord and they gave us all new appliances and cleaned the apartment thoroughly and had a pest control come in.

Thank God the problem was fixed.

(Changing the subject on the rat story....)

Also, another thing is....
I know in certain parts of California (such as Ontario, Chino, etc) there is a wretched smell in the evening and early morning of cow maneur. I know they used to picked up the cow maneur during that time of night and the smell would last till the following morning. So I don't know if the smell consist of either of the stories I've told you.

I hope you find the nasty smell!

also check on plants near the home... some plants have really nasty flower smells... and will bloom in the late afternoon or evening... they can look really nice, but literally smell like something died!!

when a rodent died in my place, the smell did not dissipate for four weeks. it was 'round the clock horrible. learned not to use poison.

I'm not an attorney, but have always been on top of making sure my landlords adhere to building or fire codes.

Tenants' legal rights, building codes, fire codes, etc. vary between states and cities. If you suspect a wild animal is living in part of the building or has died somewhere, leaving it alone may be in violation of building codes about pest or rodent control. Look for a tenants' rights organization in your area for advice on the situation.

If it is, in fact, a violation, give your landlord a description in writing of the issue, rehash the details of what he has done and what you have asked for so far, make sure to put the date on it, and keep a copy. All too often, step #1 in pursuing legal action is submitting written notice and allowing a certain amount of time for the problem to be addressed before suing, withholding part of your rent, or terminating the lease without penalty; your landlord will likely be aware of this, and the mere threat of legal fees may be enough to scare him into acting.

Another nasty story.

Back in college I lived in a house that all of the sudden developed a horrible smell. Narrowed it down to the kitchen then finally to around the fridge. I finally looked behind it and in the drip pan for the condenser coils I found a ziploc bag with what looked like yellow grits inside. The bag had finally given out and the liquid (which I think was the remnants of chicken) was leaking out and being heated up by the fridge's coils. I think the whole thing was a prank by someone who didn't like us or the previous renters.

If it's a weird maple syrup like smell....chances are it's a dead rat.....possibly a raccoon or possum...what ever it is be prepared to be GROSSED OUT!!

We had a huge rat die in a storage closet at work.... there was a faint smell that got stronger everyday...it was DEATH.....RAT DEATH.......it was so gross!

I'm certain it's a dead animal (or neighbor)

I live two doors down from a crappy restaurant, in a row of buildings sharing common walls East Coast tenement style and sometimes if their venting fan is off my apt fills with the smell and smoke of their cooking - like a rendering plant and bad meat. Fast food venting can also smell like a rendering plant -stinky fat/death. If it's not that, its probably a dead animal. I bet a pal's dog would sniff it out for you, they love dead things. By the way, I think you MUST update us and tell us what it is when you find it, with pix please! (OK, maybe not pix)

Oh, this is all so horrible- I feel for you.

I had the same problem in one of the first apartments I rented. We moved in during the spring, and everything seemed fine. As the days heated up, we started noticing an incredibly rancid smell inside our apartment (which was townhouse style). We tried everything- cleaned everywhere, tossed out all of our food, moved appliances. Nothing worked. We noticed that the smell only came in the evenings, when the air was hot and still.

As it turns out, we were across the river from a rendering plant. In the summer the heat made the smell much worse, and our apartment would literally suck it in while we were gone during the day. In the hot nights, it was unbearable.

Guess that's why our rent was so cheap...

What are those horror movie bugs all over the building? Are they attracted to the smell? The bugs are reason enough to move.

Could be a bedbug infestation. Apparently, they emit a sweet and musty odor when there are enough of them. Gross.

Does it smell like rotten eggs?

I hope it's not this
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/06/florida.chinese.drywall.family/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

check the drip pan under the refridgerator, something might have drowned in it.

We had a persistant dead animal/rotting fish/horrible evil smell in our last place all from one old ceiling light fixture. It took months for us to figure out what it was, but once the light was replaced, the smell was gone!

So since your smell primarily comes in the evening, I second the suggestion to check out your ceiling light fixtures. Turn them on for a while so things heat up and then get up on a ladder/chair and take a whiff. If you're ambitious, turn off the breaker and unscrew the fixture from the ceiling so you can smell the backside :) of the fixture and the wiring. You'll know for sure if that's the source of your bad smell.

I wonder if you could tell your landlord you intend to hire a building inspector or someone with wide experience like that, and deduct the cost from the rent. The person you hire might be able to figure out the problem, or the threat might inspire action from the landlord. (Not advice, just brainstorming.) Or maybe a health department official??

I suggest using governmental/public resources to help you. Call the city or county building inspectors to come out and take a look (and a sniff). Next, call the city attorney's office for information on slum housing enforcement. While the rest of your place may be fab, an odor such as the one you describe constitutes uninhabitability (see above discussion). It also can constitute a health hazzard. Call the health department too.
On a personal note, I'm not sure I'd want to find out what's causing the stink. I know moving is expensive and time consuming, but I'd rather endure that then find out what (or, God forbid, who) is buried in the garden.

I have the same problem, a nasty smell that only happens at night and sometimes dissapears for few days to a week, the smell doesnt seem to come from anywhere particular even tho I havent seen any pests around, it does seem to smell ike a raunchy animal smell. just so odd for it to be so strong and then completely go away...I wish I had an answer for you, but if you ever get one plz let me know aja--@htmail.com