I have recently had a new neighbor move in downstairs. She is an indoor chain smoker and now my apartment stinks.
She moved in at the beginning of September and it was warm so she would smoke on her patio in the evenings but if my AC was running somehow the smoke would blow in through my vents and if I had my windows open the same would happen. Now that she has been my neighbor for a little over a month and the weather has cooled considerably so she is smoking inside. My furnace is in a closet that is now filling with smoke from her apartment and I cannot run my furnace without the smoke filling my apartment.
I know my apartment complex can’t tell a tenant not to smoke but I want to know what my rights are as a non smoking tenant. I shouldn’t have my health compromised because of an inconsiderate neighbor. I can’t run my heat and it is going to be 29 degrees tonight!
Has anyone else had this problem or know of anyone? I’m looking for advice before I talk with my complex about my option.
Don’t ask your link is good information. I live in a pretty large complex in the Kansas City Metro region. I’m going to search for Kansas state law. I’m glad I now know where to start. Thanks again!
Laws differ from state to state. Try googling “covenant of quiet enjoyment” and your state or city’s name.
Have you informed your landlord and given him/her the chance to fix the situation somehow? Because even in a state that would permit you to break the lease in similar circumstances, it would only be after the landlord was notified of the problem and failed to act.
Yeah, I’d say your FIRST stop is informing the landlord or apartment management and telling them there’s a problem. How can they fix it if they don’t know?
Smoke coming into your apartment is a big problem and if they’re any good, they’ll try to fix it. Even if you leave, their next tenant in your apartment might object too.
I had a similar problem, with heavy smokers moving in next door and filling the entire common area with smoke, which seeped into my apartment. The management installed some heavy-duty weather-stripping and it pretty much solved the problem.
I have a co-worker whose landlord moved him to a new unit for that very reason. It was inconvenient for everyone, but better than being woken up at night by a nasty acrid smell. (The neighbor was so addicted he/she had to get up at least twice during the night to smoke.)
Provided there are no prohibitions on smoking in they apartment complex I don’t believe it’s fair to characterize your neighbor as being inconsiderate. Unless you’ve made her aware of the problem she might be completely oblivious. Talk to your apartment managers and I bet they’ll try to do something about it. Whether it means more weatherstripping, better air filters, or whatever.
I rent out a 1 BR condo in Orlando and was just contacted by their next door neighbor last week. They want me to fix this same problem. My renter smokes and it is bothering the tenant nextdoor. I feel for them as I am a non-smoker but I can’t for the life of me do anything about it. The walls were just not built to completely contain odors or smoke. The association basically said, “we can’t do anything.”
Have you talked to your neighbor about it? She probably isn’t aware of the problem so she keeps smoking indoors. Our basement tenant smoked and it would waif through the floorboards of our rented house and I just told her about it. She was really sorry about it and offered to smoke only on the patio. Most smokers realize that cigarettes stink, are unhealthy and are willing to compromise.
