“There is a tremendous unmet demand for smoke-free housing in America, and it boggles my mind that the real estate industry has not recognized that and tried to profit from it.”
– James Repace, a biophysicist who researches the effects of secondhand smoke in collaboration with the Tufts University School of Medicine, in today’s New York Times
Has Blair Kamin said anything printable on the project as yet? Can’t find anything in their archives.
Whoops, wrong thread – meant this to be on the earlier one.
If you don’t want smoke in your home then don’t smoke in your home. Or do these people want to tell their neighbors that they can’t smoke either?
I’d like to tell my downstairs neighbors not to smoke. Jerks.
Jane & other non-believers: From a landlord’s perspective, eliminating smokers makes a lot of sense. I manage a 90 unit building and all the units share exhaust ventilation vertically. That means that if someone is heavily smoking near the vent on the 1st floor, there is a chance that floors 2-8 might get a whiff or more. Additionally, when it comes time to turn over the apartment, I MUST replace the carpet if they were smokers and chances are pay 150-200% more for paint and cleaning.
So charge their deposit for smoke damage. That’s what its there for.
carpet = $700 and paint = $700-$1200 all on a $750 deposit.
Maybe there could be a “smoking surcharge” on the security deposit at the beginning of the lease, just like many landlords have a “pet surcharge.”
$700 – $1,200 for painting? Is that the high bid?
Any other landlords out there paying that kind of number in a 90-unit building?
Joe- have you ever seen a 60yr old apartment (read bad plaster) that has had a chain smoker in it for 10 years? Not a pleasant paint job.
Alan,
Thanks for the clarification, i.e. $700 – $1,200 wasn’t the typical cost for a normal annual turnover.
In response to Jane, who asked “…do these people want to tell their neighbors that they can’t smoke either?”
Of course they do. That’s the whole point.
Honestly, if landlords want to prohibit it in their lease, they can do it. There probably is a justifiable dollars and cents reason for it. However, last I checked, cigarettes, cigars, and pipe tobacco are legal products which are almost completely banned from public spaces. If people can’t smoke in their residence, what’s the point?
Does anyone know of a condo building that has smoke-free in the by-laws? Is it a legal option?
My wife would be the first to buy in the building.