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Information Page #4
Suggestions for Transitioning to and Managing
Smokefree Apartment Buildings
Rules for Tenants Who Smoke (If
You Are Allowing Smoking in Part of Your Building):
Many apartment owners already require
an additional security deposit for small pets. It may be possible
for owners to impose an additional fee when renting an apartment
to a new tenant who smokes. Certain clauses can be inserted in
the rental agreements and addenda that make the tenant responsible
for any damage caused by smoking. For example, "Tenant shall
be responsible for all damage to draperies, carpets, paint, and
other interior surfaces as a result of tar and nicotine deposits
due to smoking."
Establish a smokefree policy in common areas including outdoor
areas around swimming pools and barbeque areas. If you set up
areas where people can smoke, be sure the smoke is not drifting
into another tenant's unit.
Making the Transition to a Smokefree Building:
As tenants who smoke move out,
inform your current tenants of your intention to convert the
building to a smokefree building. Advertise the available apartment
as smokefree. When you interview prospective tenants, ask them
on the rental application whether they smoke or allow others
to smoke in their home.
There is no law that prohibits asking tenants to acknowledge
in the lease or month-to-month rental agreement that they do
not smoke and will not smoke or allow smoking in the unit they
are renting from you. In a month-to-month rental agreement, you
can ask the tenant to agree that if they or their visitors begin
smoking, they will move in thirty days.
Managing a Smokefree Building:
Provide information to your building
manager and tenants about the reasons for converting to a smokefree
building.
Develop a protocol for your building manager to follow if there
are complaints from tenants about a resident in violation of
the policy or from tenants who smoke and are unhappy about the
new policy.
Post "This is a smokefree building," or "no smoking"
signs in elevators, stairwells, laundry rooms, garages, hallways,
and outdoor play areas.
If you wish, designate an outdoor area for smoking which will
not affect nonsmokers. (It is not necessary to have an outdoor
smoking area or to allow it on the premises.)
Prepare written warning notices to send to tenants who may be
violating the no-smoking policy. Send a copy of the notice to
the tenants who have made the complaint.
Interview with Shirley Weber, an owner who has offered all of
her rental units as smokefree since 1980:
"The reason that I have kept my buildings smokefree is that
smoking is a major cause of fire fatalities. I have had some
angry people who were disappointed that I would not rent to them
who accused me of discrimination. My understanding is that you
are permitted to put 'no smoking' in your rental ad, but not
'no smokers.'
"My smokefree buildings are not an attempt to accommodate
people who have severe problems with chemical sensitivities.
"My tenants acknowledge in the month-to-month rental agreement
or the lease that they do not and will not smoke. They also agree
that if they begin smoking, they will move in thirty days.
"In all the years that I have been doing this, there were
two people who had to move out, a woman and her child. The woman
moved in as a nonsmoker, but began to smoke again. I gave her
three months to stop smoking or move and she moved. We were both
very sad about it.
"It is true that the more particular you are about your
prospective tenants, the longer it may take a rent a unit, but
I feel very good about keeping my buildings smokefree."
Final Note:
The law is clear that there is no legal or constitutional right
to smoke, even in one's dwelling, according to John Banzhaf,
Professor of Law at George Washington University and director
of Action on Smoking and Health. Frank J. Kelley, the Lansing,
Michigan Attorney General has said that owners may refuse to
rent to smokers and they can restrict smokers to certain buildings
within their complexes without violating federal and state anti-discrimination
laws. (Detroit News, May 5, 1992.) Interviewed in the
same report, even the tobacco industry agrees. Tom Lauria, a
spokesman for the Tobacco Institute acknowledged that private
business owners have the right to determine what is best for
their own property.
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The Smokefree Apartment House
Registry is administered by S.A.F.E. (Smokefree Air For Everyone)
and Community Partners, Los Angeles. The Registry is made possible
by funds through the Proposition 99 Tax Initiative. |
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Page 1
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What is the Smokefree Apartment
House Registry? |
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Page 2
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Why Are Smokefree Apartment
Buildings Needed? |
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Page 3
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What Laws Might be Applicable? |
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Page 4
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Suggestions for Transitioning
to and Managing Smokefree Apartment Buildings |
Comments? Questions? EMail Smokefree
Apartment House Registry
Created 06/19/02 - Updated 08.04.2004
- Built by Nightwatch
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