Second Hand Smoke

Here's a new one!!

Tenant moves in Monday. Calls Tuesday and said the cigarette smoke smell coming from the apartment next door made her throw-up and very ill. She was too sick to go to the emergency room.

I sent a letter that day to the tenants next door reminding them they can no longer smoke (their lease was renewed a week earlier and they are now under our smoke-free rules).

New Tenant calls the next day and says a strong chemical smell made her throat burn. She thought it was coming from next door, again.

Both times, I sent 2 people, who are sensitive to smoke and odors (me included), to her bedroom and smelled nothing! She is claiming to smell this at night.

On Thursday, she calls and says she can't live there because it is making her very sick. She wants me to change her lease to end a week later and give her the security deposit back. She said she'd pay for 2 weeks while she's had her belongings there.

She's going back to her old place until she finds something. She paid up through the end of the month.

If you didn't smell anything I'm wondering if she's just trying to get out of her lease for some unknown reason. She claims that it's during the evening- I'm not sure how your on-calls work but I would have her call the manager on-call when it's happening and have that person go out to her apartment at that time to verify that there is even a smoke smell.

We are pretty strict with our lease and would not allow her out of her lease without paying termination fees, giving 60 days notice, and being a resident for at least 6 months. Obviously if she has a doctor's note telling her she needs to move out now that would change things a bit but otherwise we stick to our lease.

It might be one of those situations though where if you think she might be a big problem resident you just let her go to save future hassle, legal fees, etc. The only thing you have to remember is once you allow it once you have to allow it again....

I had one similar to that. I met the resident when she said she was smelling the smoke and I smelled nothing. I made myself dizzy trying to smell something other than her over-flowing garbage, large dog and the tuna she was smearing on bread for the 3 kids dinner. I ended up meeting her 3 times total trying to smell smoke.

I sent Maintenance in to caulk around every tiny crack and crevasse. He missed the dryer exhaust vent which is where she next decided the smoke was coming from. After we caulked that she claimed she was getting headaches from the neighbor who was smoking outside his patio. That resident had asked her the previous week to pick up dog feces after it used the area outside his patio as a potty stop.

The manager had already transferred her once for complaining about another resident and put her in a larger apartment for the same rent as the smaller one. I ended up re-leasing her from her lease. It just wasn't a win for us to have the two residents at war. I agree, there is a hidden agenda, she wants out of her lease for some reason, and it is easy for them to get a Doctors note saying it is possible the neighbors smoke it making them ill. I would probably make her go to that hassle and expense though.

Have you tried going in the morning? I'm very sensitive to cigarette smoke (I'm actually allergic), so even if someone was smoking near my home the night before I'll have a reaction (albeit more mild) to it the next day, because cigarette smoke doesn't exactly dissipate very quickly ... and if it's getting into her apartment, it's definitely going to linger. If she complains that she's smelling it at night, I'd get her permission to have someone come to her apartment bright and early the next morning to try to verify the smell, or come to an understanding with an on-site staff member or on-call team member to be ready for her call (and let her know who to call to have that person come immediately) as soon as she smells it; that helps put it back on her to be able to verify it rather than you having to take her word for it.

Even if it can't be verified, though, maybe you can transfer her at no (or reduced) cost. If she refuses that, or any other comparable solutions, I'd think she's just trying to get out of the lease, and at that point I wouldn't see a need to waive termination fees or anything since you'd offered a feasible alternative to her and she refused!

Update...The new tenant moved out and we gave her the deposit back, plus unearned rent for the rest of the month. I have leased it and the next tenant is moving in 2 weeks. I didn't mention before that the original tenant transferred to another unit because of the smoke and the tenant's snoring.

Pest control came Thursday and I asked them to look for signs of smoking inside. He said there was a full ashtray in the kitchen (they still could have brought it in from smoking on the patio). He also said the place had housekeeping issues.

He also said the tenant on the other side smells smoke,too.

I am going to inspect it next week. I plan to talk to the tenants in person and tell them that if anyone smells cigarette smoke coming from their apartment, we will evict them. The owner has given me permission. Since we just renewed their lease, I know they can't afford to move.

We gave them 90 days notice they would no longer be able to smoke inside upon lease renewal. It was their choice to stay and not smoke.

I just saw a tenant next door to the model, where I work, walk out of the door with a half-burned cigarette in his mounth. Really!!!!!! I smelled smoke the last time I was in the apartment and warned them about smoking. I don't smell it, though, coming through the walls.

Maintenance guy smokes, so I doubt he could smell it.