Landlords lead push to ban smoking at home

[The Straight Story]

Landlords lead push to ban smoking at home

When apartment dwellers in Belmont, Calif., complained about cigarette fumes from down the hall, the City Council sprang into action on their behalf, outlawing smoking in apartments and condos and threatening to ticket violators.

When tobacco-control activists in Massachusetts embraced the same cause, they made a tactical decision that seemed surprisingly meek in a state long recognized for its prohibitions against harmful habits: They rejected the idea of governmental regulation.

It was one thing, they figured, for lawmakers to banish smoking from restaurants and bars. It was something else entirely to deploy city or state laws to prevent apartment tenants and condo owners from smoking in their own homes.

So, instead, they are leaving it to market forces, convinced that the supply side - landlords - will listen to the demand side - nonsmoking tenants - and adopt smoke-free rules.

It appears to be working.

"Now renting! Smoke-free apartment living" trumpets a banner billowing from a blocklong apartment house rising in the shadow of TD Banknorth Garden. And a soon-to-be-released survey from Northeastern University shows broad support for smoke-free living among tenants, a finding that activists plan to share in coming months with landlords, tenants, and condo boards.

"This isn't government shoving it down the tenants' throat," said Jim Bergman, who directs the Smoke-Free Environments Law Project, which tracks the movement nationally. "When you start putting restrictions on where people can smoke in their home, even if it's a rental home, they might feel that's an infringement of their rights in a greater way than having smoke-free workplaces."
...

Stephen Helfer, who has fought on behalf of smokers' rights for years, said there is nothing subtle about efforts that he argues will further marginalize the poor and the mentally ill, who smoke at rates higher than the state average.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/04/24/landlords_lead_push_to_ban_smoking_at_home/

[LeftyMom]

1. There was already a thread on this exact article. Sorry, I know you love a good smoking thread.

[The Straight Story]

3. Damn, and I missed it? Thanks for keeping up on it for me

:)

[LeftyMom]

10. I used to work as a property manager

We were in the process of converting 1/3 of one of our properties to smoke-free, experimentally, to see if we could do it and still find tenants quickly. Getting rid of the smell when people have smoked in a unit can get expensive fast.

So I found the thread interesting for that reason.

[The Straight Story]

12. I can certainly understand that

And I can see why folks who own a rental would not want folks smoking in there. No problem with that from me.

As long as the person owning the place has the choice - I am for it.

Having the government telling you that you have to allowing smoking would be wrong to me, as it would be if they told you could not allow people who smoke to live there.


I am just pro-choice on this issue (of smoking in rentals/bars/etc).

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. I love how the tobacco lobby spins it into a "Help the poor and mentally ill" issue.

:eyes:

And by "it", I don't mean just this, but ALL anti-smoking anything that gets done.

[Speck Tater]

5. I was mentally ill until 56 days ago when I quit smoking. It's a miracle! I'm sane again!

:sarcasm:

[Uben]

4. One apartment complex?

I think it is great that someone is providing smoke-free apartments, but as the owner of 160 units in Dallas, good luck enforcing it.
It will be impossible to enforce and even harder to evict for violations. If you want change like that, you will need legal statutes.

[tammywammy]

13. You know really

I think if it's non smokers moving it, it won't really be a problem. I mean, as a smoker, I would NEVER just light up in someone's home and I can't imagine that a non-smoker would want a smoker smoking in their house.

And I think I could have added a few more "smoker" and "smoking" to this post. ;)

[Fumesucker]

26. I'm a lifelong non-smoker and it doesn't particularly bother me

To have the occasional cigarette smoked in my home..

A chain smoking relative living there would be a different story, they would spend a lot of time outdoors..

[pnwmom]

25. If you've had complaints about smoking, couldn't you not renew the lease

when it came up?

[Muttocracy]

6. I would think it would be an insurance issue. nt

[adiabatic]

8. Only between the insured and the insurer.

...

[tammywammy]

7. Most of my friends and I smoke

But none of us smoke in our homes. I'm the only one that owns a home, and the rest live in apartments, we always smoke on the balcony and have ashtrays (no butts on the ground, except one here or there, we don't throw them down on purpose).

I don't mind if there's smoke free apartment (by landlord choice, not governmental mandate).

[The Straight Story]

9. Choice is a good word to me

Sadly, to some, it is a bad one - like the RW fundies who want to limit choice, to others.

I just don't get why there are so many others out there who want to control the lives of people.

[tammywammy]

11. Since the beginning of time there have always been men/women that wanted to control others

I think it's just human nature.

:)

[Diane R]

15. And I just don't get why there are so many who want to kill people with their smoke (I have asthma).

[The Straight Story]

16. And where would be forced to do so (other than breathing in car pollution outside)?

If there was a smoking bar and non-smoking one, which would go into? Don't you like having a choice in such decisions?

[Muttocracy]

17. When I lived upstairs from smokers, I didn't have a choice. nt

[The Straight Story]

19. Ok

But how does that relate to bars, etc, and landlords being able to have the choice to ban it?

You don't have a choice where to live?

[Muttocracy]

21. I didn't have veto power over who moved into the building, or a list/map

of smoking tenants before I moved in.

[tammywammy]

18. So, that would serve a purpose for you

You could CHOSE to live in a smoke free apartment. And then the smokers could chose to live in a smoking apartment.

[Boomerang Diddle]

22. Soon smoking out on your balcony will be banned.

n/t

[tammywammy]

23. Yes, I know it's only a matter of time

At least I'm not in California where it's more likely going to happen sooner rather than later.

[Canuckistanian]

14. As a former landlord (by choice), I've rented to a series of smokers

And that smell just doesn't come out. It's in the wood, embedded in the paint and in the carpets.

You can clean, but that smell will come right back.

There were a few prospective tenants I couldn't rent to because they admitted they didn't like the smell.

[johnnie]

20. I have no problem with landlords making that call

I believe that every business owner should be able to have a choice when it comes to smoking in their establishment. Too bad it isn't working out that way though. Can't wait until liquor starts to get the same treatment.

[Arugula Latte]

24. Don't blame 'em at all. If they own the building, why should their tenants

make it basically uninhabitable for other people? The stench of cigarette smoke lingers in buildings for years.