I rent an apartment in what is ostensibly a smoke free building. The lease mentions this explicitly. My downstairs neighbor smokes inside, and the smoke enters my apartment somehow. Cracks, vents, who knows. It disturbs my sleep, for one thing, but it also just pisses me off: I can’t get away from it unless I go outside. Despite attempts by both me andy landlord, the tenant simply refuses to knock it off.
Addition complications:
– We’ve both been here more than a year, and are thus both month-to-month without a current lease
– The landlord is a Chicago cop who owns several rental properties and prefers cash rent. If you know what I mean. And I’m sure you do.
– He is also totally afraid of tenant confrontations and in any dispute always decides in favor of whichever tenant leaves him in peace. I. e., against the complainer. The squeaky wheel gets the boot.
I googled, but couldn’t find anything on this specific issue, beyond vaguely stated rights of “enjoyment.”
Can I withhold rent? Is that even possible in a month to month rental? Is there an enforcement remedy of any kind?
Beyond legal advice, I’m also open to brainstorming: what would you do in this situation?
FWIW I have the feeling there’s not really anything I can do about it. And without going into detail, trust me that moving is literally not an option. Not in the foreseeable future.
Why are you month-to-month? Did neither you nor the landlord renew the lease for some reason? If you don’t plan to move for the foreseeable future, why don’t you just ask for a new lease? Then you have protection against the landlord randomly deciding to get rid of you, raise your rent, etc.
I have no idea about your actual legal rights, other practical options, etc. but I can recommend the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing. They may be more than a tad slammed right now, though, with all the people behind on rent for pandemic-related reasons.
In a thread a month or so ago on a similar topic a poster detailed out buying a good quality air purifier set up (similar to a dehumidifier) to run in their apartment and reported that the wire purifier greatly eased the problem. Consider trying that-perhaps another Doper can find that thread.
Especially since a move isn’t feasible and it’s unlikely you’ll get relief from a landlord with inertia on their side.
Even if it did, OP is not a party to the other tenant’s contract with the landlord, so the fact that the other tenant might be violating contractual obligations to the landlord is of no help. What would matter would be if the OP’s contract with the landlord placed an obligation on the landlord to keep the entire building smoke free. But I doubt that’s the case.
I think if it comes to legal recourse, what matters is statutory renter’s rights.
I looked up some sample non-smoking leases and they come in two forms. One goes on and on about how the tenant signing the lease cannot smoke and that tenant must keep any household members and visitors from smoking. But that’s it - it only ever talks about the tenant signing the lease, not other tenants and leaves open the possibility that I may have a non-smoking lease, but your pre-existing lease might permit you to smoke.
The other sort prohibits smoking , requires tenants to notify the owner/manager of violations by other tenants - but also very clearly states that a smoke free environment is not guaranteed.