Anybody have any good ideas to help enforce a non-smoking policy with out evicting? I have some good tenants but they sometimes smoke inside my unit. I am looking for a way to keep them but not have the smoking going on.
Any ideas??
Joe
What’s wrong with eviction? Tell them stop smoking or start packing. Should be good enough motivation…
You could ask them politely to read the Surgeon General’s Warning that says something like “If you smoke this, you will die.” WHEN that doesn’t work, request they inhale gasoline before lighting-up (outside of course). WHEN that doesn’t work, wait for them to die a slow painful death and stop renting to smokers!
If you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt they were smoking in the unit and it wasn’t their “friend”, maybe you’d have a shot at evicting if it’s in your lease. Otherwise, what the hell do you expect smokers to do? Stand outside to be considerate? HA!
Actually, yes…and deservedly so. I love looking out the window in a driving snowstorm and seein all of the adicts that have so little control over their own actions…
Keith
Nothing compliments lung cancer like pneumonia.
Sounds like you aren’t following your own lease. They probably realize by now that you’re bluffing, so they’re going to do what they want. Hopefully, you have a good deposit and can use to pay for the smelly carpets that you’ll replace. If they do it a lot, they may cause a fire or the smoke will seep into the walls, etc.
I hope their rent is worth all this.
Hope your insurance policy covers the structure when the tenant falls asleep smoking in bed and burns the place down. Can you tell I hate smokers?
I think every non-smoker hates smokers. I would never hire someone who smokes. It shows a lack of mental toughness to have to use a crutch when you get a little stressed out. Taking a 10 minute break every hour on the hour means they’d work 80 minutes less than a person with intelligence. Can someone explain to me how a stimulant such as tobacco can calm someone down? Am I an idiot (don’t answer that!) or don’t stimulants increase the activity in the CNS? Sounds like good marketing to me…
Smokers also raise your company insurance rates, take more sick days, etc. All and all a drain on your company. Not to mention if they have to interface with MY customer I don’t want them smelling like smoke.
I stay so far away from smokers that when there is an inconsiderate one standing in the doorway at a store and I walk passed, I get an awful headache from it. I heard the physical addiction last 3 days after quitting, after that, it’s all mental. Since most go right back to smoking sooner or later, it shows how mentally weak they are. Anyone who needs a band-aid for their problems (alcohol, tobacco, narcotics, food, etc.) is weak!
I have been called a health freak more than once so that might explain my distaste…
Just add in a “SMOKING DEPOSIT” just like you would for a pet. Make it ridiculously high. Because you have to repaint, recarpet, everything.
The DEPOSIT should be non-refundable. If they refuse, then out they go!
Did you know that 50,000 people each year DIE from 2nd hand smoke. Yes 2nd hand. They didn’t even smoke themselves.
I am still trying to figure out how we can ban the use of cell phones without a handsfree device while driving, but we can not ban cigarettes?
In that case don’t call it a deposit because its not a deposit, call it a fee.
Two reasons - taxes and lobbying…
Keith
Keith,
I would agree with you on the lobbying, but I would wager to guess that our country is in a net loss situation with cigarettes. Yes there is a bunch of taxes on a pack of smokes, but how much do we spend in cancer research? Lawsuits? Medical assistance? Non-Smoking laws, signs, and my favorite…picking up all the butts that have been tossed out as litter.
In 3 hours in Chicago last year, on 1 beach, volunteers picked 30,000 butts from the sand. This year they say they are going to try beaches in LA and see what they find. Could be scary!
In my state I’d estimate the per pack taxes to be over $2 a pack. Most of the cancer research is being funded privately. On the whole most of those taxes are probably going into the state’s pocket. Lawsuits are going after the tobacco companies. No smoking signs are what about $5 each? You can buy enough for most of the state on the cig sales for one small gas station.
I live in a condo, and one day a smoker moved in the unit below me. Her smoke curled up into my unit every night and day. As soon as I came home and opened the door it smelled like an ash tray and was especially bad during the hot and humid days. Long story short, I kept asking her if she would get a smokeless ashtray - she told me to close my windows. I called the owner of that unit, and she said it is her right to do what she wants in her unit.
I called the every health, city, and state department you could think of - they all said she had the right to smoke unless it is “posted” that you can not smoke and in CC&R’s or in your lease agreement.
So what I’m trying to say is if one tenant is not happy with another smoking, it can make for a very uncomfortable situation for all. We all became enemies. I would call the owner at 5:30am when she started smoking her Shermans, or I’d knock on her door at 6am. It was sweltering hot and this nasty smoke would wake me up. Closing the windows was not an option - I live by the beach and we do not have air conditioning because we rarely get that hot or humid.
Low income tenants smoke! In fact, I’d bet that the majority of tenants nationwide smoke. It is a fact of life that as the income level goes down, the smoking rate, beer drinking rate, and drug abuse rate goes up. If I didn’t allow smoking in my low income buildings, I’d be OUT OF BUSINESS!
I don’t like it and I don’t smoke, but I have gotten accustomed to getting that rent.
Mike