I bought my condo and should have the right to do what I want inside my unit. 

Q.  I've just recently moved into my first place. I'm 22 years old and have been on a great path..I've graduated college and moving forward with my career. I purchased my condo in a suburb very close to Chicago, IL. I wanted my freedom, be able to live comfortably and not to mention the way I like to live! I have a lot of friends and many of us have just graduated college so we're still having fun. I am very respectful to my neighbors... I keep noise levels down, I clean common areas, I try to keep the peace as much as possible but I feel as if I pay mortgage so I should be able to do whatever I choose in my owned unit. I am a smoker of marijuana and my boyfriend smokes cigarettes --now my boyfriend does not live with me so the cigarette smoke is not constant but when he is there he smokes. The marijuana smoke is probably constant but I light candles and other things to keep my neighbors from complaining but I do not think that I should be forced to go outside every time I smoke... that's the reason I bought a condo of my own and have no roommates! I should have say so and not be inconvenienced or deprived my ideology of comfort in my own home. I'm not sure what I can do to bring this up in our next building meeting .. I kind of want to bring my lease, documents stating that I can smoke in my unit, make it where my board can't force me to go outside... I'm just looking for pointers and advice. ME

A.  Dear ME: When you live in a multi-family building you cannot do just anything you want inside your apartment home. Whenever your actions affect the quality of life for the others the activity must stop. That means loud music, jumping up and down on the floor if you live above others, and smoking, which cannot be contained inside the apartment. It makes others very ill to the point of struggling to breathe, and causing cancer and heart disease.

The condo board is correct in banning the indoor smoking.

If you want to smoke inside you need to rent a single family home where the owner does not care.

Why was I charged for smoking in my apartment?

Q&A. I recently moved from a place that I rented for a few weeks over two years and when I signed the lease, there was no language that explicitly prohibited smoking inside or outside of the apartment.  I smoked outside on the balcony near the living room...
Smoke of any kind is sucked back inside a building through windows, doors and any cracks around them, even when closed.

...and occasionally inside the living room and always cleaned the carpets, windows and walls regularly.
Unfortunately the chemicals in tobacco smoke are dangerous and embed themselves into everything they touch, making it impossible to clean out – replacement is necessary to accommodate future residents to protect their health.

I also never smoked in any other room including the bedroom, bathroom and hallway. 
Smoke cannot be contained in one room of any building. In fact it fills all surrounding apartments outside the smoked-in apartment as well.

I always left a window open with a fax fixed to blow the air outside.
There is no air filtration or fan system that can force all of the chemicals (which cause the smell) outside to prevent permanent damage.

When I asked visitors if my place smelled like smoke, no ever replied “yes” or even “a little.”
No one wants to offend or hurt the feelings of someone who smokes. Non smoking visitors to your home are not going to make you, their host, feel bad. And if the guest smokes they will not smell it anyway.

I was informed by the property manager that they “had to replace all the carpet and primer the walls due to nicotine damage” and that the full amount for both were being held from my deposit.  There were no burns or damage to the carpet other than normal wear and tear and in the state of California, I cannot be charged for painting after two years because of normal wear and tear. 
Carpet and padding replacement and primer paint is not required when doing normal “touch-up after normal wear and tear”. The smoke damage is above and beyond. They were justified in keeping the deposit. You can also be billed (and sued) for the costs above and beyond your deposit.

They denied my request for a walk through and never contacted me after I moved to set one up even though I asked them to.  They also failed to send me a notice in writing during the mandated 21 days and contacted me by
phone only after I contacted them on the 22^nd day to inquire why I hadn’t received an itemized list or a refund.  In California, I read that I have the right to a full refund if they fail to contact me within 21 days.  
You are absolutely correct on this one. Take them to court and you “may” get your money back. Unless you did not give them the correct forwarding address and they sent it to your old apartment address, receiving it back undeliverable.

Please visit my web site Smoke-FreeHotels.com when traveling, for a breath of fresh air.

Jacque Petterson
Smoke-free Housing & Travel, LLC

How do I prove smoke is coming into our office from an apartment downstairs?

A.  I am glad you contacted me rather than just writing off the employee's concerns. It is very common for someone with health problems exacerbated by tobacco smoke to notice it when others do not. Just as an example, I have asthma and my husband and I purchased a condo only to find out the renters below smoked inside. Neither my husband, nor his family members that visited, ever smelled the smoke, but it affected my breathing to the extreme - even sending me to the emergency room. We were forced to move and sell that home.

There are a very large number of organizations working on this problem all over the U.S. and at least five other countries. Within that group are a number of professionals trying to find a way to "prove" the problem exists. It only takes a minute amount of tobacco smoke to cause a health problem. The particles are very fine and embed in the lungs, getting into the blood stream. Because it only takes a tiny amount to do serious damage we are finding it difficult to actually "prove" it. Just the fact that so many are working on this is the only statement I can give you at this time that explains the problem is very serious and common.

We do know that tobacco smoke cannot be contained inside even separately enclosed areas of any building. If air or water can seep through the walls so can the smoke. The smoke can travel through baseboards, electrical outlets, even sheetrock. Here are two quotes relating to apartment buildings, which apply to any building, that may help:

"I believe there is an enormous amount of pent-up demand for SF multifamily dwellings.  When I was at the EPA's Office of Air Policy Analysis, as long ago as 1980, smoke infiltration in MFDs  (multi-family dwellings) was the NUMBER ONE COMPLAINT we got from the public." 

James Repace, MSc., Biophysicist
Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor, Tufts Univ. School of Medicine, and REPACE ASSOCIATES, Inc.
Secondhand Smoke Consultants
101 Felicia Lane, Bowie, MD 20720, U.S.A.

"Air quality surveys in apartment buildings in Chicago revealed that 60% of the air in apartments comes from other units."

Diamond RC, Feustel HE, Dickerhoff DJ.  Ventilation and infiltration in high-risk apartment buildings.  LBL Report # 38103 p.4, UC 1600, March, 1996.

Here is a link to a statement from the California Air Resources Board noting the extreme dangers to health of even small amounts of the smoke from other parts of a building (apartments specifically noted). Here are links to lengthy scientific documents filled with a lot of helpful information and showing how convoluted is the process of "proving" the problem exists: http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/tcrb/monographs/10/m10_2.pdf  / http://exposurescience.org/pub/reprints/Ott_EHP_1999.pdf

In order to protect your new employee, not to mention you and your other employees from developing breathing problems (I have seen this happen many times), your landlord would need to ban smoking inside the entire building, requiring all smoking to be outside and at least 50 feet from the building (50% of the complaints we get are from smoke being sucked back into buildings from nearby smoking). The landlord should know that it is perfectly legal to ban smoking inside an apartment, and that they risk a lawsuit, if not now - eventually, for allowing renters to contaminate the air for others in the building, causing or exacerbating potential serious illness. If they would like more information, please ask them to contact me.

A smoking tenant moved into the condo above me, and everything I own reeks.

Q.  Please help. A smoking tenant moved into the condo above me, and everything I own reeks. Please advise.

A.  I am so sorry you are in this situation. I'm afraid I am not going to give you the encouraging news you want to hear. You are probably stuck, with your only option as moving.

What it boils down to is, although we should have the right to a smoke-free home, outweighing someone else's right to smoke in theirs, the problem is we are not far enough along in education so the rest of the world understands this. If it hasn't happened to them they don't think it's a big deal.

There is no question this is a nuisance that infringes on your right to a healthy, safe home that you can enjoy (a paragraph in all CC&Rs). There is no question the smoke travels through the air space owned by the association. But getting the Board of Directors to understand and agree is another story.

About your only hope is to find enough people in the building that are also bothered by the smoke and go as a group to the next meeting requesting that the building be declared non-smoking, including inside the units. If your board has never heard of this, they will tell you they "can't" do that. I have attached to my email reply back to you enough information for you to copy for them to show they "can" do this.

Some condo associations that do agree to change the CC&Rs and make a smoke-free building choose to grandfather the smokers, but this is not necessary, and should not be done as the smoke is a very serious health risk for you. You will see in the article attached, "Judge finds shs a nuisance..." this building changed the rules immediately and it was upheld in court.

The BOD can, though, say they don't want to get involved, and it is between you and the smoking neighbor/homeowner. If you were to choose to sue the HOA (i.e. yourself) and lose, your CC&Rs probably state that you would then owe back all the legal fees (the reason my husband and I did not sue and my husband is an attorney). You can sue the neighbor, but again, be prepared for very high legal bills and little guarantee you will win. There have been condo owners that have tried this and lost "everything they owned". One ended up living in a low income apartment with smokers around him.

We are so far from getting the needed changes when it comes to this issue, but we are making progress. The City of Temecula, California recently passed an ordinance requiring all apartments to include a minimum of 25% contiguous smoke-free units. The City of Belmont, CA has just written an ordinance that will require ALL multi-family housing, including condos (excluding townhomes), to be 100% smoke-free within the next 18 months or so. They are expected to pass the ordinance in the very near future. You should contact your city council rep and state representatives to tell them about the problem and what these other cities are doing so they are made aware for future reference. One person, just like you, convinced the Belmont City Council to take action.

I have been in your shoes and was forced to sell a condo literally to survive due to my asthma. I loved our condo and still miss it today.

They smoke in our co-op hallways, stairwells and elevators.

Q.  Would you be able to tell me what my best course of action is for a Coop in New York City that allows smoking in hallways and stairwells and elevators. I am a tenant of an owner of the coop. I have told her about the smoking and she said she contacted the property manager but he doesn't get back to her. I contacted the coop sales and they said others had complained also. He put signs on every floor. They were taken down within two days. He said they would go back up. It's been two weeks and nothing. The smoking continues. It can be seen in the hallways as well as smelled. It smells up everything I own and takes over my apartment with the stench.

Rent is due in a few days. I don't want to be accused of not paying yet paying empowers my landlord to believe she doesn't have to do anything but call the property manager. 

The people also smoke in their apartments. It leaves burn marks on the wood floors in the living room and bedroom. I cleaned those marks off they are back again.

Thank you for any help.  Our 311 says to call 911

A.  I would advise you to pay the rent, but unfortunately if the owners of the building choose not to create smoking regulations, keep the signs up, and/or enforce a no-smoking rule you are in a bad position. You should also know that if you do not already have a respiratory problem made worse by the smoke (which can be life-threatening for some) you could actually develop asthma that can last the rest of your life. You really need to get out of there. If you have a lease that does not expire for some time I would look through it for a clause that states you are entitled to a healthy living environment. Maybe you can get a note from a doctor. I would definitely contact the local health department. You need to tell your landlord that you cannot live in a smoke-filled home and need to be released from your lease.

Here is an article on how co-ops are banning smoking in NY http://cooperator.com/articles/890/1/No-Ifs-AndsOr-Butts/Page1.html. This next article notes it may be illegal for people to smoke inside your hallways and other common areas http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE7D8143FF934A3575BC0A96E948260 . If this is true for your area you may want to call the local police station (I would not use 911) and ask who would enforce the law. It may be the fire department or the health department. See how they can help.

You can also take the articles above to your co-op board and encourage them to create and/or enforce a no smoking rule.

You must know though that taking it out of the common areas will not stop the smoke from filtering from other private units.

My new apartment was previously rented to smokers. The landlord painted the walls and installed new carpet, but the smell is horrific.

Q.  I just moved into an apartment that was previously rented to chain smokers. The landlord installed new carpet and painted the walls (not the ceiling or the inside of the cupboards). I am a (outside) smoker, and even to me the smell is horrific!!! It feels thick on my skin, makes me gag, and has even woken me up at night. I have a 10 y.o. and a 1 1/2 y.o. and I am wondering if there is any health effect to my children, just from the smell alone? I set off a bomb that is supposed to get rid of smells from fires this morning (I will see how it works when I get home). But I am afraid that it won't get rid of the harmful gases that have permeated the walls and ceiling. Also, will the smell get into my food and on my dishes, and if so, is it harmful for us to digest? This whole situation and doing research on the internet has definitely inspired me to quit!!! Thank-you in advance for any information that you might have.

A.  I am so glad you are making an effort to do the research. I am currently co-writing an article for the National Apartment Association's magazine about smoking in apartments. Here is a paragraph from the article that explains the proper way to prepare a smoked-in unit before new residents move in.

Kennedy Restoration, a restoration maintenance company in Portland Oregon, in developing an estimate of the cost of cleaning a smoker’s apartment specified the need to replace carpeting and vinyl appliances as well as possible replacement of other flooring or sub-flooring, lighting fixtures, cabinets, and ceiling fans.  In addition, the company uses special sealants to control odor before painting.  The company estimated the cost of cleaning a two-bedroom, two-bath smoked-in apartment at approximately $15,000.

It is very unlikely your management company did all this before you moved in so your children are definitely ingesting the left over chemicals that are "outgassed". I don't believe you have to worry about the food and your plates, but the air quality is a real problem.

You should also be aware that even though you are smoking outdoors the chemicals are embedded in your clothing, hair and skin. When you come near your children they will be exposed to the same dangerous gases, along with what comes out of your lungs when you breathe. It is pretty much impossible to smoke and not cause a problem for your little ones. (Hope that, too, will give you a boost to quit.)

You are like many who smoke today in that you do not smoke inside your home and don't want anyone else's smoke in there, even from residents before you.